At the beginning of Hurdy Gurdy a character asks, ‘Why is the world so bad … why isn’t it more fun?’
While there’s plenty here that confirms the badness of the world, fun, at least in the form of dark satire, is prevalent. Set in a climate change-ravaged Australia in the future, Ackland’s tale shows women doling out a raw form of feminist retribution. One that some readers might think is long overdue.
Amid a bleak landscape, a small troupe of circus performers tour the countryside. Queenie, the eldest, is their leader and exerts authority over the younger members. Particularly Win, who is 19 and has been anointed by Queenie as her successor. This, as becomes clear, is a role that extends far beyond managing the circus. Under the guise of hairdressing, Queenie dispenses her own brand of vigilante justice to men who exploit women and children (euphemistically called free shaves) and her own brand of help to their victims (euphemistically described as reclamations).
As the men start mysteriously disappearing, along with the unwanted pregnancies of the women, it becomes clear that Queenie’s form of female protection is uncompromising. Queenie and her circus are offset by a second thread in the story that follows a rabid evangelist and his long-suffering handmaiden who travel the same roads fulminating against alcohol, abortion and adultery. The two are set on a collision course, propelling the story toward certain catastrophe.
Ackland is a powerful writer. In bare and austere prose, she imagines a world of relentlessly hard edges. One where no-one gets a second chance and justice is as merciless as the sun that scorches the scarred earth.
Reviewed by Anne Green
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jenny Ackland is a bestselling author and podcaster who lives in Melbourne, Australia. Her first novel, The Secret Son is about truth and history, set in Australia and Turkey. It was was published in 2015. Her second novel, Little Gods, is set in the Mallee, country Victoria, and concerned with themes of girlhood, resilience and the mess of family. It was published in 2018.
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