The Outcast

Panic clutched at his stomach. He had never been on his own in the dark. Not even when hunting the onehorned ground hog. So to contemplate walking alone among the mistfilled gravel pits with a firebrand to light the narrow track and then, if he did not slide into a stony grave, to face an unfriendly cluster, was frightening indeed.
The cluster will surely be the same as everyone else. They will treat him like a monster; they will be frightened and say that a mega throwback is bad luck. But it is because he is different that Fish find real friendship for the first time in his life. Friendship that makes him strong, strong enough to follow his own path, whatever the cost…
*Shortlisted, Best Novel – Young Adult, Aurealis Awards, 1997
Ages 12+