Earlier this year I read and loved Claire van Ryn's second novel Where the Birds Called Her Name which I reviewed here. I knew then that I was going to have to go back and read this book, which was her debut novel.
Allira is a journalist who works for Folk magazine, a quality publication that focuses on people and history of the area. One day, she is sent to a nursing home to interview a man only to find out that he had passed away. One of the nursing staff suggested instead that she speak to Nora, a dementia patient who never has any visitors. Nora spends her days looking after her baby, a doll that she dresses and takes care of. Allira finds herself returning over and over to spend time with Nora, and hears disturbing snippets which makes her want to unravel the truth of what happened to Nora.
The modern story is set in 2019 but the heart of the story is in 1953 where we meet Nora as a young girl. She lives with her parents in a small town in Tasmania. Her mother is a very rigid woman with very definite ideas on how Nora should behave, and who Nora can never seem to please. Nora's father is both a carpenter and the town's undertaker. Nora assists her dad by stitching the lining into the coffins, and is beginning to learn some of the undertaker tasks.
One day a young man comes to the family home to deliver some wood and his truck breaks down which means he has to stay in the shed until it can be fixed. Michal is a German-Polish immigrant who has come to Australia for a new start and to provide for his mother and sister back home. Michal sees Nora for who she is and not who her mother expects her to be, and he is skilled at carving. It isn't long before feelings grown between the two young people. He carves Nora a wren from huon pine which becomes a symbol of their love when they are separated.
As Allira begins to piece together Nora's story of love and tragedy, she begins to understand that there is a way forward from her own past traumas, both in her personal and professional lives. I loved the relationships that Allira had with her husband Hamish and her best friend Rae, and of course between Allira and Nora.
I really enjoyed this book, especially the historical time line, and the dementia storyline was very well handled. There are some unlikely coincidences that draw all of the strands of the story to a nice conclusion for many of the characters but that is forgivable. It is a really good debut novel, and now I will be waiting impatiently for Claire van Ryn's next book to come out.
Finally how beautiful is this cover? And the detail of the thread in the bird's beak is very clever too given that it ties in with the story
I am sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host.
Rating 4.5/5
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