Shadows of Winter Robins (Louise Wolhuter, Ultimo)

Louise Wolhuter’s second novel, Shadows of Winter Robins, is cinematic and engrossing from the get-go, spiked with suspense and twists aplenty. Wolhuter is clearly a writer in command of her craft, and one to watch in the future. In the 1990s, Winter Robins finds herself orphaned as a young girl. She is sent from wintry northern England to an isolated beach property in Western Australia to live with her unconventional (and somewhat frightening) extended family, dominated by her artist grandfather. Is it paradise, or is it hell? Strange things happen, and she can’t quite grasp the connections between people. The family abruptly disintegrates, and she moves to Perth with her grandmother. All seems well until hidden childhood traumas resurface in her adult life—snippets of memories and mysteries involving missing girls, suspicions of her uncle’s involvement, and issues of adultery, parentage, and violence. Soon, the reality she thought she knew begins to dramatically unravel. As in her first novel, An Afterlife for Rosemary Lamb, Wolhuter strongly utilises setting, this time beautifully evoking the salty tang and scrub of the remote West Australian coast. Wolhuter combines an entrancing and often startling plot—which interlaces multiple storylines—with memorable imagery and rhythmic prose, and her deft hand at drawing complex characters makes Shadows of Winter Robins a gripping and highly recommended read for fans of Liane Moriarty and Holly Ringland.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Joanne Shiells is a secondary English teacher and former editor of Books+Publishing. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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