Not all diaries are as riveting as this, surely? Fragments, observations, acute detail conversations shared or overheard moments of work and reading and agonising a marriage coming to an end.īut these diary moments are pared back, chosen they move forward with a momentum that is as much "What is going to happen?" as it is "Oh for god's sake, truly?!", interspersed with internal shouts of "Run away! Leave him! Get.
Helen Garner on writing, shame and finding space to thrive Download 22.3 MB
CN How to End a Story: Diaries: 1995–1998 by Helen Garner And while there is great sadness and hardship here, this surprising novel is ultimately about beauty, nature and an epic love. Hannah Kent is known for her dark historical novels Burial Rites and The Good People. Within the wondrous Australian landscape, Hanne and Thea's love becomes something mythic and eternal. And when they arrive in their new home, it blooms into something greater than them both. Their daughter Thea is a kindred spirit for Hanne, and their friendship soon blossoms into something more – something that the teenagers are initially unable to name.Īs Thea and Hanne make the dangerous journey to Australia, their connection deepens. She doesn't have a friend – until a new family arrives in Kay. Tall and awkward, she describes herself as "the cuckoo born to a songbird. Our heroine is Hanne, the teenage daughter of one of the community elders. This migration story will be especially familiar to South Australian readers, as Kent's boatload of religious refugees is closely modelled on the group of German settlers who established Hahndorf, now a popular tourist village, in the Adelaide Hills.īut at its heart, Devotion is not really about history. Eventually, they are offered the chance of a new life in Australia – but to get there they'll need to travel for six months on board a cramped and disease-ridden ship. The community of Old Lutherans holds secret church services in the forest, and dreams of a life free from religious persecution. Hannah Kent's sumptuous novel opens in Kay, in Prussia, in 1836. So, who would have guessed that this historical novel, which centres on a long boat journey from Prussia to South Australia, would be one of my favourite reads of the year?
Hannah Kent is one of The Bookshelf's Star Reviewers Download 52.6 MBįirst up, a confession: historical fiction – especially historical fiction that includes a long boat trip – is not my favourite genre of writing.