Status: Presumed Extinct

By Lynda Osborne

Hugh Whitaker's world is turned upside down-literally. His father, a veterinary oncologist, has accepted a work assignment to save the Tasmanian Devil from extinction, its numbers decimated by the fatal Devil Face Tumour Disease. Soon after arriving in Tasmania he meets Connie Sampi, an indigenous Tasmanian. She is everything Hugh isn't... tall, athletic, confident and a naturally inquisitive adventurer. They are thrown together by a camaraderie only two lonely youngsters can share, yet their relationship is built on more than mutual attraction. Hugh shares with her the biggest secret of his life. He is convinced he's spotted a thylacine... a Tasmanian tiger. Connie is torn between her loyalty to her Grandfather, a tribal elder and local tracker, and her allegiance to Hugh, a surly, overweight loner from England. It was hard to believe this boy had seen a creature presumed extinct for decades, until she sees it herself. Hugh's nemesis, park ranger Spencer Tate, is a racist thug. He overhears the kids talking about their secret. If true he had to get his hands on the creature. It would be his ticket to a life of luxury. The thylacine, the largest carnivorous marsupial of modern times had been hunted to oblivion during the early 1900s. Since then only tantalising, unsubstantiated sightings of it had surfaced, cementing the beast deep in Tasmanian urban legend. That is, until Hugh glimpses the strangest creature he has ever seen. That sighting leads Hugh and Connie into the adventure of their lifetime.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1941859216
• ISBN13: 9781941859216
• Release Date: April 2015
• Publisher: Pegasus Pony
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12