Set in Australia, Mia’s Magic Wand takes us on a fugitive journey from Sydney Harbour to the Kimberley. A mother, a father and a monk all want to fix what’s f****d with the world. Each loves to gamble. The mother gambles with politicians, the father gambles with weapons and the monk gambles with God. 

The plot revolves around an archive of blackmailing videos—The Magic Wand—owned by billionaire philanthropist, Tate Wolsey. Tate can have anything he wants, except for Mia, so he assaults her. But he underestimates his wife, Claudia. Outraged, she steals the Magic Wand and gives it to Mia. All hell breaks loose and Mia ends up with the last surviving copy of the Wand.

A federal election looms, news of the theft of the Wand leaks out and prominent politicians begin to worry. One of them, the Federal Police Minister, makes a deal with a jailed murderer, Dog, who holds a grudge against Mia. In quick succession, Dog is released from jail, Tate’s wife is murdered and Mia’s daughter is kidnapped.

Late one night, Mia arranges to hand over the Wand in exchange for her daughter but the deal goes sideways and a gun battle erupts. In the chaos, Mia and Red rescue their daughter and flee to the mountains—still in possession of the Wand.

Trekking to a highway, they hitch a ride with a truck driver and travel to the Kimberley. But Dog is still at large and a bloody struggle plays out. 


This is a multiple point of view story: each of the three characters taking their chapter by turn.

Mia's Magic Wand

The day of the funeral has arrived. Mia stands at Caradoka’s sunset window, hands lifted up to an air vent, cool air flowing down the armholes of her nightie. It’s the first time she’s been able to lift her arms up this high since she got out of hospital three days ago. Five more days and she can have all eight stitches out of her ‘zipper cut in the tummy’, as Oksy calls it. 


 She stretches a little higher, trying to touch the vent the way she once could. The wound twinges and she lowers her arms, Janie’s bracelet sliding down to her left wrist. Lifting her arm, she looks at the bracelet’s stones: Bulika, the city of darkness, seeming to glare at her. She moves the stones around until the lovely blue and green of Mara, the healer, sits in pride of place. She prays that this awful day will be a Mara-kind-of-day. 


Chapter 19 — Mia