An emotionally powerful novel of family and loss from award-winning and internationally acclaimed author Tony Birch - one of Australia's best storytellers.

'We're supposed to be long gone from this place. Either in the ground or on the move. Early days, they murdered us. Now, when they spot us around here, the farm boys with their cowboy hats and shiny leather boots that haven't seen a hard day's work, it's like they come across a ghost. That's all we are to them. Ghosts.'

Growing up in a tough town, Lee Morgan is his brother's protector. Billy is three years younger and rarely speaks to anyone he doesn't know. He is always looking for adventures and slipping away from under Lee's watch. Billy is too young to know the dangers - but Lee, at thirteen, has heard his mother's stories of missing children never found and Welfare who take kids away.

Lee listens but he's also learned that he doesn't need to do something wrong to be in trouble. He focuses on playing basketball like Michael Jordan ... and looking after Billy. Until one night, he messes up and the spotlight is on them both.

With Welfare looking for him, Lee just wants to go home - but what a black teenager wants is never going to matter. Then Billy disappears. And Lee can only hope that someone, somewhere, will make it right ...

Tender and unforgettable, You Missed My Heart is a poignant story of brotherhood, violence and the racism disguised as care that shatters Aboriginal families to this day.