‘A lot of people run away to Broome. It is the perfect place to run to. So far away, so remote, so of itself and nowhere else. Many come here because they don’t fit anywhere else. This place is very tolerant of strangeness. But you can change your life here. That is Broome’s promise.’

Reviews

‘Broome is an absolutely different Australia . . .That’s what comes off the page in this modest, almost slatternly piece of writing, which nevertheless has the compulsion of a heat wave in the way it evokes a deeply different world in which races and culture ooze into each other in the sun and sensuality.

The charm of the book is the frankness of the talk the authors elicited and the deep enchantment and strangeness of the world they encounter which clings to this story like a sweaty shirt. Let’s hope it gets a re-run.’

Peter Craven, The Australian

‘Broometime ends on a note of poignant nostalgia, leaving the reader with similar emotions. Lovely writing, being accepted, and at the same time knowing they will have to go, and come back, and go again.

The authors are perceptive, analytical, honest about their multitude of characters and events. Everything is normal but somehow never ‘normal’. And after a while, you forget that the book has two authors. Have nine months in Broome subtly altered their individual identities? The great thing about this book is that is is abundantly generous.’

Sasha Soldatow, Australian Book Review

‘Broometime reads like a passionate, wondering sometimes cheeky, sometimes angry, unfailingly generous account of living in an extraordinary town.It contains some of the least patronising discussion of Aboriginality I have ever read.’

Robert Dessaix

Broometime is available through the National Library of Australia

click here to borrow