Forensic scientist Antonia Kovács arrives home in Strahan after old bones are discovered in the wilderness. The job will give her a chance to see her father, a retired police inspector, as she worries about his deteriorating health.

Tom Pilar receives a solicitor’s letter with an unexpected inheritance: a house in Queenstown and $45000, left to him by someone called Slavko Cicak. The name doesn’t ring any bells until Tom remembers Slavko was a mate of his father, Ivan. Both were Croatian immigrants to Tasmania. But Tom met him only twice and doesn’t know why Slavko has left him this inheritance, which comes with a stipulation: Tom must bury Slavko’s ashes with those of his daughter, who died in a hit-and-run accident in Queenstown in 1959.

In this powerful and haunting novel, Bartulin weaves together stories of migration, new beginnings and the impact of the past on the present. From wartime Croatia to the hard-working, hard-drinking timber and mining towns on Tasmania’s west coast, the threads of a mystery are gradually drawn together. In lyrical prose, Bartulin evokes both the beauty and ruggedness of Tasmania, and the grief and hardship that is present in so many lives. The Unearthed is highly recommended.

Reviewed by Melinda Woledge

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lenny Bartulin is the author of Death by the Book aka A Deadly Business (2008). His poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including HEAT, Meanjin, and New Australian Stories. He is also the author of the novel The Black Russian.

Lenny Bartulin was born in Hobart in 1969 and lives in Sydney.