The Drover’s Son

By Leah Purcell & Dub Leffler

Reviewed by Margarite Igras

Australian actor, director, playwright and novelist, Leah Purcell is well known for her many skills. She wrote and performed in an adaptation of Henry Lawson’s famous short story, The Drovers Wife and was the lead actor, writer and director of the film The Drover’s Wife The legend of Molly Johnson. Her credits continue as author of the award-winning novel of the same name and the director of The Drover’s Wife – The Opera in 2026. The Drover’s Son was inspired by her earlier work but is aimed at a younger 5+ audience. Together with multiple award-winning illustrator Dub Leffler’s haunting illustrations, this is a story where text and paintings blend into a heartwarming tale about the cautious meeting, and friendship between a boy and a First Nation’s warrior.

Set in 1893 in the Monaro Alpine region of southeastern NSW, a mother and her four children live in a home hidden behind a ridge, boulders and a thicket.  While her husband is away droving sheep for months at a time, the eldest son Danny, almost 12-year-old, takes on the role of man of the house. This role is conflicting. Will he join his father and become a drover or is there another path for him? It is an unlikely friendship between Danny and Yadaka, an Aboriginal man, and their yarns around a campfire that finally gives Danny peace of mind.

The text is beautiful, but together with the illustrations, each page becomes a rich visual narrative depicting loss, resilience, respectful friendship and connection to Country. From the striking cover, the vast landscape depicted on the end pages, and the stoic and at times moving illustrations within the 40 pages, this is a story to share and then have a yarn about.

A part of the story will always stay with me. It is the poignant gesture of the mother clenching her fist and placing it gently on her dead baby’s forehead. As she blows through her fist she says, “Always with you”. A custom Yadaka understood.

Puffin 2026

Leah Purcell

Dub Leffler