Bloodhound

"Irresistible . . . generous, warm and fearless."—Kerryn Goldsworthy

"[Koval's] accessibly written foray into the science of DNA and familial lineages, and what makes us who we are, is beautifully intertwined with her meditations on identity and belonging. Koval also seamlessly blends first-hand testimonies and documents from the war into her family history."—Books+Publishing

Ramona Koval's parents fled Poland and settled in Melbourne. As a child, Koval learned little about their lives—only snippets from traumatic tales of destruction and escape. But she always suspected that the man who raised her was not her biological father.

One day in the 1990s, long after her mother's death, she decided she must know the truth. A phone call led to a photograph in the mail, then tea with strangers. Before long Koval was interrogating a nursing-home patient, meeting a horse whisperer in tropical Queensland, journeying to rural Poland, learning other languages, and dealing with Kafkaesque bureaucracy, all in the hope of finding an answer.

A quest for identity recounted with Koval's customary humor, Bloodhound takes hold of the reader and never lets go. It is a moving story of the terrible cost of war and of family secrets.

Ramona Koval is a writer, journalist, broadcaster and editor. From 2006 to 2011 she presented Radio National's Book Show, and she has written for the Age and the Australian. In 1995, Ramona received the Order of Australia Media Award for her work on Radio National.