Scan barcode
hayesstw's review
4.0
Frank Clark, an Australian soldier, wounded in the First World War, marries Ada, an English orphan, and takes her back to Australia with him. They try farming in south-western Australia, but life is hard, and their two daughters grow up, one helping on the farm, and the other working as a maid in a nearby hotel. A visit from an English cousin and his friend leaves the younger daughter, Edith, pregnant, and she sets out to find the father of her child in Armenia, just before the Second World War breaks out.
It is a book about travel, about friendship and loss, and about the way in which peoples lives connect for a while, and are then parted and they never see each other again, or sometimes met again in unexpected ways. In that way it seems similar to real life, where the twists and turns of the story are not driven by plot, but often by chance, or spur-of-the-moment decisions. [a:G.K. Chesterton|7014283|G.K. Chesterton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1365860649p2/7014283.jpg] once wrote that truth is always stranger than fiction, because fiction is a product of the human mind and therefore congenial to it. And so this story has a ring of truth, and seems close to real life.
Yet it also has a dream-like quality. I don't know about other people but many of my dreams involve preparing and planning for things that never seem to happen, because something else intervenes and turns things aside at the last minute.
It is this combination of realism and dream that made the book interesting to me, wanting to see what happens in the end, because one never knows what to expect.
It is a book about travel, about friendship and loss, and about the way in which peoples lives connect for a while, and are then parted and they never see each other again, or sometimes met again in unexpected ways. In that way it seems similar to real life, where the twists and turns of the story are not driven by plot, but often by chance, or spur-of-the-moment decisions. [a:G.K. Chesterton|7014283|G.K. Chesterton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1365860649p2/7014283.jpg] once wrote that truth is always stranger than fiction, because fiction is a product of the human mind and therefore congenial to it. And so this story has a ring of truth, and seems close to real life.
Yet it also has a dream-like quality. I don't know about other people but many of my dreams involve preparing and planning for things that never seem to happen, because something else intervenes and turns things aside at the last minute.
It is this combination of realism and dream that made the book interesting to me, wanting to see what happens in the end, because one never knows what to expect.
kali's review
5.0
A short novel, but an epic. Set in 1930s/40s, following three generations across the world, from SW Australia to London, Turkey, Armenia, Syria, and back 'home'. Edith Clark yearns, and does want she wants, taking her baby to places that exist as mythological fantasies, to search for a father for her son. I cried so hard on the second last page as I didn't want to finish. Because I knew that when I did, I would be wracked with longing to 'take off'.
lucyrutherford's review
1.0
I have to admit I skim read the last few chapters. I started reading this book because I have read so few local Perth authors which I definitely have to remedy! I know Joan London is generally praised as a good author so maybe I'd like her other novels but this one just left me thinking what was the point of all that. I enjoyed the beginning, the setting up of British settlers in WA's south west after WWI. How Edith's parents were not at all suited to their new home. But the rest of the story I found somewhat contrived. It's understandable that Edith would want to travel and find the father of her child but it seemed really dumb to leave the safety of England and think she could just find Aram in the whole country of Armenia during the outbreak of WWII. The rest of the book contained characters and descriptions that while occasionally interesting in themselves, just seemed to happen without any point to them. There were themes that were interesting that could have been explored in detail, mostly around nationality, but those were just touched on with most of the story taken up with pretty dull descriptions of Edith's day to day life in Armenia and then trekking it back to Australia, with some random Russian service stuff thrown in. Perhaps if Edith had been a more likeable or interesting character I could have gone along with the story, but she comes across as selfish, uncaring and pretty boring. Jim is portrayed as much more interesting what with being half Australian and half Armenian but fitting into neither country, but he's only given a point of view at the end. Maybe the story from his perspective would make a more engaging read.
sarahxify's review
4.0
I found this hard to get into at first. The prose is sparse and pared-down, and the characters are quite flat, in my opinion. As the book went on, I still wasn't particularly convinced by any of the characters, but the story was very compelling. The author writes busy scenes set on the streets of Armenia and isolated farm scenes in the Australian book, and somehow gives them the same feeling of loneliness and despair whilst also having a very strong sense of place. This was incredibly well-done, and I enjoyed the book and its overall mood.
More...