Summary

Tarena Shaw has just finished her law degree but isn't sure she wants to be a lawyer after all. What place does a black lawyer have in a white system? Does everyone in Sydney feel like a turtle without a shell?

Drawn to Thursday Island, the home of her grandparents, Tarena is persuaded by her family to take on her first case, to reclaim a butterfly pearl carving that's been stolen from the family. Part of the evidence is a man with a guitar and a very special song.

Butterfly Song moves from the pearling days of the Torres Strait to the ebb and flow of big-city life, with a warm and funny modern heroine whose story reaches across cultures.

Butterfly Song is also a parable about native title, and connection to land, story and song.