Arnott’s writing has understated elegance and lilts to poetic rhythms. Its beauty hides an emotional punch made more powerful by its slow reveal. This is the story of Ned West, an adolescent boy trying to navigate his present and find his future.

Ned’s father runs an apple orchard outside Beaconsfield in rural Tasmania. World War II has begun and Ned’s older brothers, Bill and Toby, have signed up. Ned’s left with his taciturn father and a sharp-edged sister, Maggie. On the neighbouring farm lives his best friend, the talkative Jackbird, whose younger sister, Callie, patrols the paddocks like a parade ground, with a shotgun cocked on her shoulder.

The novel concentrates on summer holidays in Ned’s youth, alternately loops forward to chronicle his adult life, before returning to that seminal summer. Death sits heavily on the narrative: from the story of the mad whale drowning seamen which begins the novel, to Ned’s shooting and trapping of rabbits, the unknown whereabouts of (and sparse communication from) his brothers, through to the logging of old-growth forests as an adult.

There are signs of life and hope. Ned has trapped, but not killed, a quoll. He helps it recuperate with the guidance of the local vet, Estelle. The pelts from the rabbits generate money, with which Ned purchases a boat – a long-held dream. Like the quoll, it’s nursed back to health by Ned. In his adult life love blossoms, although the identity of Ned’s wife is initially kept from the reader. Hardship on the farm and in his married life aren’t far away, however. Large sacrifices are sometimes called for.

The writing is magnificent, and the characterisation of Ned is superb. A must-read novel.

Reviewed by Bob Moore

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