Shipped halfway around the world to spend the summer with her mom's
eccentric Australian relatives, middle schooler and passionate violinist
Louisa is prepared to be resentful. But life at the family's remote
camp in the Tasmanian rainforest is intriguing, to say the least. There
are pig-footed bandicoots, scary spiders, weird noises and odors in the
night, and a quirky boy named Colin who cooks the most amazing meals.
Not the least strange is her Uncle Ruff, with his unusual pet and veiled
hints about something named Convict Rock.
Finally, Louisa learns the truth: Convict Rock is a sanctuary
established by her great-grandmother Eleanor--a sanctuary for Tasmanian
tigers, Australia's huge marsupials that were famously hunted into
extinction almost a hundred years ago. Or so the world believes. Hidden
in the rainforest at Convict Rock, one tiger remains. But now the
sanctuary is threatened by a mining operation, and the last Tasmanian
tiger must be lured deeper into the forest. The problem is, not since
her great-grandmother has a member of the family been able to earn the
shy tigers' trust.
As the summer progresses, Louisa forges unexpected connections with
Colin, with the forest, and--through Eleanor's journal--with her
great-grandmother. She begins to suspect the key to saving the tiger is
her very own music. But will her plan work? Or will the enigmatic
Tasmanian tiger disappear once again, this time forever?
A moving coming-of-age story wrapped up in the moss, leaves, and blue
gums of the Tasmanian rainforest where, hidden under giant ferns,
crouches its most beloved, and lost, creature.
