In Under the Shade, debut author Blake Innes interweaves stories of three key identities to create an intriguing, sometimes challenging meld of Indigenous Australian mythology and moving drama. One identity is the group of Wulgi – ascended spiritual Elders able to inhabit a point in time in an assumed form and observe. The second is Walken – an orb of light attended by seven orbiting light-beam companions – who has the power to create and destroy landscape and the lifeforms within. The third identity, whose poignant story gives the novel momentum, is Edee (a.k.a Andee), a Karlaboodja man. Edee’s narrative converges with that of the swagman in Banjo Paterson’s ‘Waltzing Matilda’, offering an unconventionally reimagined past for this Australian icon. Innes has a flair for dialogue and vivid telling detail. Under the Shade is a product of his PhD work on misrepresentations of Indigenous Australia in the dominant Australian history.