Limprecht has created a studiously researched narrative about acceptance, love, and the human condition, from a time and place we know far too little about. The Coast is equal part heartbreaking, desolating, inspiring, and uplifting.
Hidden within the seldom-read chapters of Australian history books, is the treatment of those suffering from leprosy and the seclusion they suffered in the quarantine housing division called lazarets. The Coast is a non-linear narrative that follows a handful of stories that intersect in the tiny lazaret community at The Coast Hospital just outside of Sydney in the early 20th century.
Alice and her mother, Clea, share one of the lazarets. Having been separated from her daughter at the age of two, Clea was brought to this place after her debilitating illness was discovered. They are reunited seven years later when Alice herself is admitted. The years pass and The Coast is all that Alice knows, but she soon begins to wonder about the world outside the lazarets. When Guy arrives at the hospital, Alice is taken by the worldly and adventurous stories he brings with him. The Yuwaalaraay man, who lost one of his legs fighting in World War I, befriends Alice and love begins to blossom.
Limprecht reproduces the setting with captivating descriptions of the Australian coastline; her metaphors and figurative language are agelessly Australian.
The characters become like family, The Coast Hospital like home. I longed to return to their pages as often as I could. What a devastating realisation it was to close the final page.
Reviewed by Samuel Bernard
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