Locust Girl — Merlinda Bobis

Most everything has dried up: water, the womb, even the love among lovers. Hunger is rife and survival desperate, except across the border. One night, a village is bombed for attempting to cross the border. Nine-year old Amedea is buried underground and sleeps to survive. Ten years later, she wakes with a locust embedded in her brow. A magical fable, this is a girl's journey through devastation and humanity's contemporary wound: the border. Deeply ingrained in both the system and individual lives, the border has cut the human heart. So, how do we repair it with the story of a small life? This is the Locust Girl's dream, her lovesong -- For those walking to the border for dear life, and those guarding the border for dear life.