This novel tells the story of members of the Dixon family through three narratives about a century apart.
 
In an effort to help his father who has fallen into debt, young Hugh Dixon bravely approaches his Uncle Walter, a wealthy lawyer, from whom the family has been estranged. Rather than being rejected, Walter is able to assist and Hugh begins to form a bond with Walter who recognises the boy’s artistic talent and also tells him something of a sensational tale from the 1850s involving his own father, Martin.
 
It is 1854. When the notorious bushranger Lucas Wilson and his partner Liam Dalton (a recent escapee from Port Arthur) raid the Dixon farm, Martin, a budding journalist, asks to go with them in order to write Wilson’s story for the newspapers. Wilson agrees, but blindfolds Martin on the route to their secret hideaway. Roy Griffin is another recent recruit and escapee who has ulterior motives. Martin discovers that Nowhere Valley is more than just a refuge for criminals and that Wilson plans a self-sufficient Utopia. Martin has more than a scoop, and finds himself increasingly drawn into Wilson’s schemes and dreams, until Griffin causes an upheaval that results in tragedy.
 
The third narrative returns to the early 1950s as Hugh is on his way to recognition as an artist and meets Bob Wall, an old friend from childhood who is also an artist. He helps him find a job with an illustrator and cartoonist, Max Fell, who has a secret sinister side. When Bob is arrested for murder, Hugh asks his Uncle Walter to defend him.
 
I was thoroughly captivated by this book and wish I’d known about it previously (published 2012). If you have visited Tasmania and know its history, you will have the benefit of a deeper understanding of this story in which a family and community struggle to shrug off the darkness of the past.
 
Although extraordinarily beautiful in places, the island still can’t avoid echoes from history in its inky black waters of Macquarie Harbour with its rocky portal of Hell’s Gates, the ruinous outposts of misery that were Sarah Island and Port Arthur with its Isle of the Dead, the solitary confinement remnants at the Cascade Women’s Factory, the roar of ocean breakers that roll across the world from South America and incessantly pound the West Coast – an infernal and eternal booming sound that could send you mad – contrasted with that unique silence of the mountains and the primeval forests that have witnessed the unspeakable. All of this might be felt if you have sensitivity to such things and this last novel by Christopher Koch captures this superbly through its characterisations and prose.
 
This passage from the third narrative:
 
“The past is a dimension that can’t be escaped, however hard we try. Old Van Diemen’s Land had claimed Bob Wall: that past which most people here preferred not to think about, just as they preferred to forget their convict ancestors. Only the present was thought to be clean and harmless: modern was good. But when Bob entered the Hobart Gaol, the bland and transient present was dissolved. He was locked not just in prison, but in the nineteenth century. It had never gone away, that sombre old century; instead it was hidden and preserved behind the high sandstone walls in Campbell Street, waiting for recruits from outside.”
 
Five stars

amazon.com (Kindle)

amazon.co.uk

Booktopia

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​Phew! Finally, with this eighth book, I managed to conclude my reading of the Seven Sisters series, albeit with varying degrees of emotion: while I was often enthralled, there were times when I was also irritated by some plots and characters.
 
In this, we finally discover the past of the mysterious Pa Salt [Atlas Tanit/Bo d’Apliese], father of the Seven Sisters, six of whom are adopted. As the d’Apliese [anagram of Pleiades] sisters all gather on Pa’s mega-yacht Titan [anagram of Tanit] to commemorate the first anniversary of his death, they are given copies of his diary to read and we are drip-fed the story of his life with cliff-hangers at the end of every chapter as it switches back and forth with the present day. The final revelations are no surprise as numerous clues were dropped in the earlier books as to what might be the situation. Everyone’s lives are tidied up.
 
I’m aware that Lucinda Riley passed away before she could conclude the series and one can detect a more casual style in use here, presumably that of her son and co-author, Harry Whittaker. There are a number of historical slips that the more skilful and meticulous Riley would have avoided. Added to which is one of my personal anathemas with the use of those awkward phrases, “she was sat” or “I am stood”, that weirdly have crept into common usage in England. Not only are they poor grammar, they just sound plain clunky. Editors please, no!
 
Of course, the book is also far too long and even more over-written than Riley’s own earlier work, as it goes off at unnecessary tangents with bloated swathes of cheesy dialogue and saccharine “good folk” always coming to the rescue of Atlas in the nick of time as he attempts to avoid the dastardly Kreeg Eszu [another hokey anagram of Greek Zeus] and who is forever on his trail. It also ties together the stories of all the seven sisters and gives each of the lesser characters gallant reasons for their existence [with or without anagrams]. Even if you have read all of the books, you are unlikely to remember everyone or every aspect of their lives in detail, so I was at sea myself a number of times, trying to recall the back stories of the sisters, their modern-day issues and relationships, never mind the tangled and tortured pasts of their ancestors.
 
Still, in spite of around 5,500 pages to tell this massive saga, most of these books have offered pleasant enough reading experiences, with the historical back stories definitely superior most cases, the exception being this one which could have done with a fiercer edit.
 
Although I’ve read all the books, I haven’t written reviews on each but give barely two stars to my least favourites and four-plus for a couple of others. Therefore, an average of 3 stars overall. 

This novel was written over 25 years ago and reflects a simpler and easier writing style that may now seem old-fashioned to many, but it is still an absorbing and highly entertaining read that had me hooked.
 
The dramatic opening chapter sets the scene well as World War I veteran, Captain Jack McKenna, is gunned down on the steps of his Queensland home in a confrontation with police and bailiffs sent by bankers. His disabled widow, his daughter (Emma) and twin sons are left homeless and destitute. What follows is a long saga in which Emma is determined to care for her family, seek restitution and to see justice done. In the process, she will fall in love with a man whose life is complicated by dirty politics and she will make decisions that don’t always go to plan, some with disastrous consequences, and she will encounter moral and social prejudices, the ugly side of religious orders, anti-female opinion and even racism before life finally resolves itself for the better.
 
Rising out of the Great Depression, a hardline organisation known as the New Guard becomes a force to be recognised with across the country, being opposed to social benefits or help for the unemployed, and displaying thuggish behaviour. Those with wealth or standing in society show indifference towards the poor or those whose skin is a different colour. A brave few individuals take a stand against authority, often to their physical and mental cost, and through all of this Emma must establish and find her place.
 
There is history here that perhaps not many younger Australians know about and much of what took place in the 1920s/30s is reflected in what is happening around the world today in which fascism and right-wing movements are again on the rise. Abuses by the church, anti-immigration and racism are still hot topics today. So, on many levels, this story remains contemporary, and that makes it worth reading.
 
This would have been a five-star read for me, except the ending is a little rushed and the wrong man survived the Spanish Civil War to return to Emma’s arms. The other one in her life was a far superior individual on every level.
 
Four stars

amazon.com
 
Print copies may be found in second-hand bookshops.