In her novel, Winch comments on the many insidious issues facing Indigenous Australians. In addition to supplementing the narrative with a saturation of substance abuse, she encapsulates others with her inclusion of the impossible housing issues, employment concerns, financial distress and the general failure of the government to address the current crisis for a disenfranchised people. Much of the novel takes place in the impoverished housing projects: complexes that are largely erected, funded and controlled by the government. The ironically named ‘Paradise Parade’, which is the housing project that May first lives in, is completely derelict and wholly unsuitable as a family home. It is obvious that the houses have not become this way through the mere passing of time, as May’s Mum had also lived in an equally squalid estate in Goulburn. The novel makes it clear that living in these projects is not a choice, but a mandate by the government. May’s sense of estrangement sees her travel around the nation in search of her family, and a place where she belongs, and is oddly reminiscent of the colonial powers of the past, which had pushed her ancestors away from the habitable land.

Whilst her inclusion of some of the more pitiful places throughout the states is essential in addressing the crisis, Winch balances settings that are quintessentially Australian, such as the truck stops, roadside cafes, small country towns and even the rodeos where punters place their bets. May’s iconic memories make the places in the tale tangible; her split-second memories of a moment in time are sensory-driven and often instead of colours or sights, the reader is associated to smells, sound, taste and sound.