Synopses & Reviews
Pobby and Dingan live in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, the opal capital of Australia. They are friends with Kellyanne Williamson, the daughter of an opal miner, but only Kellyanne can see them. Pobby and Dingan are imaginary.
Ashmol Williamson, Kellyanne's brother, thinks his sister should grow up and stop being such a fruit loop. Until the day, that is, when Pobby and Dingan disappear--the same day that Ashmol and Kellyanne's father is accused of "ratting" (poaching on someone else's land), the worst sin an opal miner can commit.
As Kellyanne--grief-stricken and suddenly, mysteriously, ill--begins to fade away, Ashmol recruits the whole town in a search for Pobby and Dingan. In the end, however, he discovers that only he can find them, and that he can only find them if he too believes they are real.
Funny, deeply moving and told without a wasted word, Pobby and Dingan--the debut of a prodigiously gifted new writer--is an enchanting story.
Synopsis
The small daughter of an Australian opal miner has two imaginary friends, Pobby and Dingan, who disappear when the father is accused of poaching another's claim. Her brother then attempts to find Pobby and Dingan to save his grief-stricken sister.
Synopsis
This ecstatically received debut novel is at once a beautifully rendered narrative of childhood loss and a powerfully simple fable of the necessity of imagination.
Pobby and Dingan are Kellyanne Williamson's best friends, maybe her only friends, and only she can see them. Kellyanne's brother, Ashmol, can't see them and doesn't believe they exist anywhere but in Kellyanne's imagination. Only when Pobby and Dingan disappear, leaving Kellyanne bereft, does Ashmol realize that not only must he believe in Pobby and Dingan, he must convince others to believe in them, too.
About the Author
Ben Rice lives in London. This is his first book.