Strangers At The Port is an intriguing novel set on the greenest island of an archipelago in the southern Mediterranean Sea. The island’s leader is the shipmaster, as he is the richest inhabitant. The population make a living from fishing and wine. Life changes completely after a combination of events. Prisoners are brought to the island; a nobleman visits; and the vines start to wither.

These events and their aftermath are seen from three viewpoints. Giulia was 10 when change occurred. She had limited life knowledge, and this naivety informs her narrative voice, where superstition and coincidence play a large role. The archduke is an erudite, wealthy traveller, and gives an outsider’s view of life on the island. All is not as it seems. He becomes ill and unsettles the island by leaving at short notice. Giulia’s elder sister, Giovanna, narrates the final part. This is told well after the fact, when the family has left the now unproductive island, and have emigrated to ‘the new place’, Australia.

Giulia narrates her story to the ‘professor’. Despite its naivety, Giulia’s narration is assured, as is the nobleman’s. The tone of Giovanna’s narration lacks that confidence. Her narration also involves this professor, who prompts her memory. This is a subtle challenge to the way history is written, where a historiographer steers – and possibly completely alters – the story according to their own biases.

Curtis’s writing is beautiful, and this novel’s three-part nature allows the story to be examined from different perspectives. Superficially, this is a folk tale. Beneath this is an interrogation of memory.

Reviewed by Bob Moore

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lauren Aimee Curtis was born in Sydney. She is the author of Dolores, which was shortlisted for the Readings Prize, the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, and selected as a New Statesman Book of the Year. In 2023, she was named on Granta‘s Best of Young British Novelists list.

She holds a PhD in literary studies from the University of Technology Sydney, where she wrote her dissertation on works by Renata Adler and Elizabeth Hardwick.

Her latest novel, Strangers at the Port, was released in August 2023.