The flight of the emu - Rachel Anderson

Brought up 'in care', Mak has no family and little memory of his past. When an eccentric, single woman named Evelyn Cairns expresses interest in adopting him, he is delighted and astonished. Then, without warning, he is taken to live with new foster parents, and all contact with Miss Cairns abruptly stops. However, Mak is determined to hold on to his hopes of a life with her, resents his new parents, and relations in his new home quickly become intolerable ...

Then Mak learns that Miss Cairns has died, and no one had thought to tell him. He is utterly grief-stricken. However, with the discovery that he is a beneficiary of Evelyn's will, things start looking up. His foster parents arrange for some of the money to be released for an overseas trip, which they hope will bring the three of them closer together. But things don't quite go according to plan ...