Entertainment
15 May, 2022
FNQ author Ghis Gallo debuts coming of age novel
Queensland author Ghis Gallo’s innate knowledge of outback Queensland and life on a cattle station provides the backdrop to a suspenseful drama in her debut coming of age novel, The Jump, released this month.
For 17-year-olds Jamie and Melissa, growing up in a small outback community is the epitome of a simple life that revolves around friendships, fishing, and the annual cattle muster.
That is until one fateful day, when the teenagers, witnessing the horrific death of a backpacker, dive headfirst into a moral dilemma interlaced with guilt, fear, and conflicting agendas.
According to Ms Gallo, The Jump springs from a strong sense of place and the intrinsic familiarity of time spent camping, exploring, and seeking adventure on some of North Queensland’s most remote cattle stations.
“The book is set in a landscape and lifestyle that I know intimately, which from first appearances may seem romantic, but has its fair share of ‘warts and all’,” she said.
“It is a setting that inspired what I believe is a page-turning story full of dramatic twists and turns and an inconvenient truth.
“For characters Melissa and Jamie, their once carefree existence is destroyed simply through being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“But it is how they and others respond that keeps readers searching for answers and enthralled to the very end.”
Ms Gallo’s publishing director, Kit Carstairs of Nightstand Press, said she was captivated by The Jump from the very first chapter.
“When I couldn’t put it down while reading it as a raw submission, I knew I had to publish it,” Ms Carstairs said.
“The characters take hold of you and don’t let go, even after you’ve finished reading.
“It is a story that has stayed with me, and I’ve enthusiastically shared this title with as many readers as possible.
“Ghis is a stand-out first-time author, and I feel privileged to be publishing her book, The Jump.”
Gallo’s friend and associate, one of Far North Queensland’s well-known graziers and former owner of world-renowned tourism icon and natural attraction, Undara Lava Tubes, Bram Collins, praised the writer’s debut novel.
“Ghis has captured the people of the Australian bush beautifully,” Mr Collins said.
“The dialogue is filled with colloquial Australian bush banter, told with authenticity and humour.”
The Jump is available online on Amazon, Goodreads, and paperback at Tableland Books.
