Temperance (Carol Lefevre, Wakefield)

Award-winning author Carol Lefevre’s latest novel, Temperance, is the touching story of a woman attempting to make sense of a childhood memory. The book begins in 1963 in South Australia, where 10-year-old Fran and her two siblings live with their single mother Stella above her cafe. Stella grinds day and night to support her family after the death of her husband. She lives in survival mode, so when free-spirited Mardi arrives in her life to paint, drink and potentially woo her, Stella’s life takes a fast turn towards adventure. Suddenly, the children are bundled into a car with Mardi to begin their new life in Byron Bay, but while taking an overnight pit stop in a small town called Temperance, something strange and frightening happens, resulting in the group returning home as quickly as they left. We’re not quite sure what happened because Fran is too young to understand clearly—there was heat and noise and fire and perhaps a man burning. This skewed memory follows Fran and her siblings for the rest of their lives. We follow them into the 70s, 80s and 90s, and see the subtle ways that night and its aftermath haunts them. Like Kate Ryan in The Golden Book, Lefevre explores the volatile nature of memory and the complexities of moving forward when pieces of the past are missing. She looks at grief, secrets and, importantly, the deep waters that rage beneath quiet women. Temperance is for readers trying to make sense of their past in order to understand themselves better.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Danielle Bagnato is a book reviewer and marketing and communications professional. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Category: Reviews