Limberlost (Robbie Arnott, Text)

Fifteen-year-old Ned helps his father and sister on the family orchard while his brothers are away at war. Seeking escape from his sister’s worry and his father’s silence, Ned traps and shoots rabbits and sells their pelts, hoping to save enough money to buy a small boat to sail the local river. Ned remembers the story of a murderous whale he heard when he was a boy, and the summer that his father took him and his brothers out to the river mouth to face the monster. He longs to repeat the experience and return to the water. Time passes and we see Ned at various stages in his life and the things that bring him joy and sadness over the years. But always we return to that pivotal summer, which echoes throughout his life to come. Limberlost is an exquisitely moving and intimate story that is more rooted in realism than Arnott’s previous works, but still carries the wonder and subtle magic his writing is known for. Through Ned, we experience the painful eagerness of youth and the casual brutality of nature and humankind. Arnott masterfully explores masculinity, brotherhood and familial love, and layers his tale with a haunted, almost Gothic, atmosphere. Limberlost is another astonishing book from one of Australia’s most electrifying young authors. It will no doubt be appearing on prize lists in the near future.

Chloë Cooper is a writer and library assistant in Meanjin.

Category: Reviews