Four Years with Jhunti

Book 1 in the White Drekesh series

Just because it's hard, doesn't mean it's impossible 

Young Kal runs away from home to find himself at the mercy of the Jhunti, a reclusive tribe living in the mountains of Australia. The Jhunti are fearful of white people destroying their way of life. Despite their misgivings, they agree to take Kal in after one of their own, Nemid, volunteers to look after the boy.

Life is hard with the Jhunti, but good, and through Nemid, Kal experiences what family and kindness are all about for the first time. Though, not everyone is pleased. Fighting racism at every turn and struggling to learn the Jhunti ways under the distrustful eyes of the tribal leaders, Kal’s welcome is wearing thin. He and Nemid have a difficult road ahead if they are to stay together.

Buy this book:

Regular print paperback on Amazon.com.au (Australia)

Regular print paperback on Amazon.com (USA)

LARGE print paperback on Amazon.com.au (Australia)

LARGE print paperback on Amazon.com (USA)

Testimonials

Four years with Jhunti is a story that is enthralling to the reader and difficult to put down. It is imaginative and certainly will appeal to a wide range of readers both young and old.
- Barbara Sharp

I loved the beautiful descriptions of the environment and was enthralled by the portrayal of the Jhunti culture. Four Years with Jhunti got me thinking about a way of life where people have to be self-reliant in order to meet their own material needs. I found myself immersed in the Jhunti’s various beliefs and roles such as those related to Healers and the claiming season. It also made me appreciate the pivotal role of storytelling in a culture without the written word.
I was struck by the narrow-mindedness which can arise from people in isolation and the similarities between people from vastly different worlds. From Nemid’s desolation and grief for dead loved ones and the compassion he shows the runaway boy Kal, to the pettiness, spitefulness and small-mindedness of people like Aunt Talks Too Much.
A beautiful book that I have now read three times and enjoyed every word.
- Frances Annal

Four Years with Jhunti is an engrossing story, well-written, entertaining and moving. It will appeal both to adolescents and their parents.
Juliet Summers is a talented author with the power to make an imagined world startlingly real.
- Katharine Betts

Four Years with Jhunti Book 1 in the White Drekesh series is a wonderful story told through the eyes of Chris Daniels, known as Kal. Kal is a young white boy who runs away from an abusive father. He ends up living with a secretive tribe called the Nahill. Through Kal’s experiences we are given a sophisticated discussion of the positive and negatives of traditional and Western cultures. All the contradictions and challenges of the meeting of these two cultures are explored. If this sounds tedious it isn’t. The story is riveting and I cannot wait for Book 2 and learn what Kal does next.
- Carolyn Worth