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White Heart
A first novel filled with the magic of childhood and the poignant transition to adulthood of Farley Willow and her brother Ambrose. White Heart is a novel that evokes the ever-present beauty of Tasmania from sea-shore to the south-west wilderness. Ambrose searches for evidence of the last Tasmanian tiger while Farley journeys into native American ritual. A novel about the fragile landscape of the human heart.
312 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1999
2 people are currently reading
261 people want to read
About the author
Heather Rose
7 books487 followersHeather Rose is the bestselling Australian author of eight novels. Heather writes for both adults and children. Her adult novels include Bruny, The Museum of Modern Love, The River Wife & The Butterfly Man.
The Museum of Modern Love won the 2017 Stella Prize, the Christina Stead Prize and the Margaret Scott Prize. It was shortlisted for the Australian Literary Society Medal and longlisted for the IMPAC Awards. It has been published internationally and translated into numerous languages. Both stage and screen rights have been acquired.
Bruny, published 2019, is a political thriller, family saga and a novel about the new world order. described as 'more a hand grenade than a book' What would you do to protect the place you love? And how far will the Australian government go to placate foreign interests?
Heather’s first novel White Heart was published in 1999. It was followed by The Butterfly Man in 2005 – a story based on the disappearance of British peer Lord Lucan in 1974. The Butterfly Man was longlisted for the IMPAC Awards, shortlisted for the Nita B Kibble Award and won the 2006 Davitt Award for the Crime Fiction Novel of the Year written by an Australian woman.
Heather writes the acclaimed Tuesday McGillycuddy series for children under the pen name Angelica Banks with award-winning author Danielle Wood. The series begins with Finding Serendipity with sequels A Week Without Tuesday and Blueberry Pancakes Forever. The novels have been shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards for best fantasy children's fiction and are published internationally.
Heather lives on the island of Tasmania.
The Museum of Modern Love won the 2017 Stella Prize, the Christina Stead Prize and the Margaret Scott Prize. It was shortlisted for the Australian Literary Society Medal and longlisted for the IMPAC Awards. It has been published internationally and translated into numerous languages. Both stage and screen rights have been acquired.
Bruny, published 2019, is a political thriller, family saga and a novel about the new world order. described as 'more a hand grenade than a book' What would you do to protect the place you love? And how far will the Australian government go to placate foreign interests?
Heather’s first novel White Heart was published in 1999. It was followed by The Butterfly Man in 2005 – a story based on the disappearance of British peer Lord Lucan in 1974. The Butterfly Man was longlisted for the IMPAC Awards, shortlisted for the Nita B Kibble Award and won the 2006 Davitt Award for the Crime Fiction Novel of the Year written by an Australian woman.
Heather writes the acclaimed Tuesday McGillycuddy series for children under the pen name Angelica Banks with award-winning author Danielle Wood. The series begins with Finding Serendipity with sequels A Week Without Tuesday and Blueberry Pancakes Forever. The novels have been shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards for best fantasy children's fiction and are published internationally.
Heather lives on the island of Tasmania.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 20, 2019
Best not to read the last fifth in a cafe - heart breaking. A beautiful book, with a favourite theme embedded - Tasmania.
July 13, 2021
White Heart mesmerised me. Part love letter to Tasmania, part learning to let go, and part journey of self-discovery through a calling to native American spirituality, the writing is truly outstanding. If you want to feel the mist of the Tasmanian wilderness settle like a chill-wet kiss on your skin, and then have it baked unforgivingly dry by the New Mexico sun, this book will take you there. I think, overall, that’s what White Heart did – it made me feel – especially my heart. The relationship between siblings Ambrose and Farley is not one you’re likely to ever forget. This was the first time I’d read Heather Rose’s writing, and I’ll be sure to seek out her other works.
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August 9, 2011A truly beautiful story, it shares some many perspectives and is wonderfully written. I could not put it down,finsihed it on two plane trips. An excellent first novel!
August 22, 2025
Having read a number of Rose's books I was intrigued to read her debut 1999 novel, which has been reissued recently.
Siblings Farley Willow and Ambrose grow up in Tasmania. he becomes a mountain man; she becomes a mother and bookstore owner in Melbourne.
Much of the book is about Farley's interest in Native American spirituality which I found somewhat tedious (as I did in the author's later book Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here).
However the writing is good despite being a tad slow. It is about grief, love, loss and life.
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
Siblings Farley Willow and Ambrose grow up in Tasmania. he becomes a mountain man; she becomes a mother and bookstore owner in Melbourne.
Much of the book is about Farley's interest in Native American spirituality which I found somewhat tedious (as I did in the author's later book Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here).
However the writing is good despite being a tad slow. It is about grief, love, loss and life.
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
September 13, 2017
A beautifully written novel evoking in some chapters the Tasmania that I love. A seeming side track into American Indian spiritual practises was jarring at first but made sense by the end.
September 8, 2025
It was a strange story. So much attention and text devoted to american Indian spirituality and no reason why is given, until the very end when the reasons come to be known.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews