I have just read a truly magnificent book! An Afterlife for Rosemary Lamb is about people with secrets; people with pasts; people whose present lives are overshadowed by their pasts.
Winifred is a small town on the mid-Queensland coast and the story centres on the inhabitants of nearby Magpie Beach: Rosemary is married to Eddie whose family own the butcher shop in Winifred; Meg lives alone since the death of her partner, Sonny; and Lily and her husband, Norman, who is suffering from dementia, live in a house overlooking the ocean.
Rosemary initiates a friendship with Meg and eventually Lily joins them.
A nine year old girl has gone missing from the town and police have been unable to find any clues pointing to where she has gone or who has taken her.
These are the bones of a dark, complex, fascinating story. Pasts are delved into, secrets are uncovered and people are not who they appear to be. Louise Wolhuter’s writing is beautiful, lyrical, and I found myself reading the same page twice in a lot of places. There are twists and turns and shocking revelations as the plot unravels.
Think Tim Winton with punctuation: that is about as close as I can get to describing this book. I would recommend it to anyone who loves mystery stories, insightful character studies, and generally becoming totally immersed in evocative, atmospheric story telling.
Published by Ultimo Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment