Suspected of bringing misfortune on her people, thanks to her ill-omened red hair, nine-year-old Peat is driven from her home by her father, the leader of her village. She sets out alone across a dangerous land, with no particular aim in mind, but soon picks up a mischievous animal companion (worthy of a Pixar film) and falls into the clutches of the marsh aunties, friendly but untrustworthy swamp-dwelling witches, who teach her the art of storytelling.

Hunt’s inventive imagination makes Song for a Scarlet Runner a delight. Peat’s journey takes her to wild and strange places, any one of which would be a marvellous setting for a book on its own: treacherous swamps full of hallucinatory mists; the bustling underground city of Hub; the desolate land of the Siltman, with his pack of giant dogs.

The book explores serious themes – the price of immortality, the sorrow of homesickness and abandonment, the importance of freedom – without being heavy-handed or moralistic, and the touches of whimsical humour ensure that it never becomes too grim for young readers. Older readers, though, may find it lacking in sophistication at times: the setting, while intriguing, could do with more in-depth world-building, and the implications of certain plot points are never fully explored. However, keeping things simple in this way makes for a quick pace and ease of reading appropriate for the pre-teen age group.

Original, humorous, and full of wonders, Song for a Scarlet Runner is worthy of being shelved alongside Australian children’s fantasy classics like Emily Rodda’s Rowan of Rin and Garth Nix’s Sabriel.