Forever & Ever

Talia is sixteen, pregnant and angry. Her family is broken. She's looking after her unwell mother. Her dad's gone. At school she is shunned. And Johnny—the one person she thought she could count on—just walked away.

Johnny is Barkindji, smart and confused. He's struggling with the weight of his parents' expectations: he wants to please them, but is the future they've planned for him the one he really wants? He makes a decision he knows he'll regret: leaving Talia behind.

Set in a Murray-Darling river town simmering with deep-seated prejudice, Forever & Ever is a gritty, heart-wrenching love story. As secrets long-buried rise to the surface after the death of Talia's estranged uncle, Talia and Johnny are forced to confront not only each other, but a dark and painful past.

But some love—no matter how impossible—never lets go.

Allanah Hunt is a proud queer Barkindji and Malyangapa woman, and a lecturer at the University of Queensland. Her short stories have been shortlisted for various awards. Forever & Ever is her first novel. Allanah lives in Brisbane.