A review by salve58
No More Boats by Felicity Castagna

5.0

I have to confess... I'm not the biggest reader of Aussie books and I find that Aussie stories set in a specific time can be slightly cringy. This however is a brilliant read that sets the place and time perfectly. The micro story of the Martone family that is contained in the wider narrative of Australian racism is so well done. Castagna nails her character descriptions and manages to tell a big story with small words. As someone who grew up alongside the Italian migrant community I can see people I know and the lives they lived so clearly- I can now also see what I never saw, the complicated stories many of those smiling neighbours from my childhood carried with them.