Ache 9781460750384 Books
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Ache 9781460750384 Books
Earlier this year I read Eliza Henry-Jones’ debut novel ”In the Quiet” and was transported to the unique landscape in a small rural area outside of Victoria, Australia, the colloquial expressions, and the mesmerizing quality of Henry-Jones writing, so when I saw that her new novel was out, I knew I wanted to read it as soon as possible.Set in a rural area of Australia on a mountain, where the lyrebirds make their home in the forests surrounding the home where Annie grew up, where just the year before, a bushfire devastated the whole community. Neither Annie nor her daughter, Pip, have fully recovered from the trauma, although they narrowly escaped the fires and returned to the city, where they’ve been ever since. That is until Annie’s uncle phones telling her she needs to return.
And so she leaves the city with Pip, leaving behind her husband Tom, Pip’s father, and returning home. Last year’s memories still haunt her, and she returns to a town changed from the one she remembers from her early years, so much destruction and so much anger. Annie’s filled with so much confusion and sadness, as though she’s packed it all inside her as so she can leave it there, behind her. There’s also the other side of her knowing that this is the place her heart yearns to be. Hoping to find the beauty and the life in what remains. Hoping to share that with Pip.
”The mountains had always been quiet, but it was like the unimaginable noise of the fires had sucked all sound from the mountain along with everything green. There was no sound of clattering leaves in the wind now. There were no birds. No sigh of grass.”
As the details of the fire slowly come to light, the feelings of those living there, those who lived through the fire also are shared, the bitterness and the fear, anger and hate are also shown, acts of vengeance and hate showing the rage of those sure they know who to blame.
Nature, itself, is a character, ever present, the temperamental winds, alive and waiting for Annie to sleep, whispering to her while she dreams. When she was a child, the trees spoke to her, and still, she feels the vibrations of the trees as breathing, alive.
”She has the carving of Luna in her hands. She runs her fingertips over it, marveling at how alive it feels. How it is alive in the way a swimmer is, holding her breath under water.”
She misses the lyrebirds, the mimicking, the sounds they hear and imitate. She loves all animals, her horses, the chickens, can’t imagine her life without them. Can’t imagine this town continuing without healing, without hope.
”The house creeks. The branches outside move. Everything is unsettled. She hears the sighing. It is sadness, uncertainty. It matches hers.”
What emerges in the end is a story of a tragic event, and all that follows, the way that tragedy has morphed into something larger, damaging the town not only physically but destroying their trust in each other. They stand around pointing fingers, watching their broken town as if to say “See? See what’s happened?” Unwilling to let go of the blame, the anger, the grief enough to just fix it, to begin the work to repair the buildings and themselves.
Ordinary people struggling with extraordinary problems, trying to find a way to leave the trauma behind them, but refusing to let go of that internal ache that never seems to leave them, they’re so intent on holding onto it.
”Ache.” That physically painful yearning for what was before, a past that seems idyllic in reflection, the pain of watching our children struggle, of watching those we love die, of watching the world we loved morph into something ugly. Still, it can be beautiful again. Hope exists, but we have to find it in ourselves.
Eliza Henry-Jones writing has a quiet beauty, a hushed, raw emotional loveliness that embraces life with all of the grief and sorrow as well as the splendor.
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Ache 9781460750384 Books Reviews
Henry-Jones has qualifications in psychology, grief, loss and trauma counselling and completed an honours thesis exploring bushfire trauma in fiction. So there are probably few people as qualified to write a book about the aftermath of bush fires; the post-traumatic stress that comes with fear and loss, and the regeneration that follows. Of course it also helps that Henry-Jones writes beautifully and sympathetically and cares deeply about the people and places in her books.
Henry-Jones doesn’t provide us with much detail of the bush fire which so traumatised Annie, her daughter Pip and the town of Quilly until late in the novel. She deftly ekes out elements until we eventually learn more about the fire which endangered Annie and Pip and inadvertently caused the death of Annie’s beloved grandmother, Gladys – amongst others’. It was a fire that destroyed a town and its residents, testing their resilience beyond what they could ever have expected.
Annie grew up in Quilly and has struggled to settle into city life with her husband Tom and Pip, though she’s lived away from the farm (and mountain) for many years. In the year since the fire she and Pip have both become increasingly agitated and anxious… although 6yr old Pip is (understandably) far worse at hiding the impacts than her mother.
So, it only takes a call from her uncle to have Annie returning to Quilly for an extended Christmas vacation, with Pip – leaving her husband Tom frustrated at his wife’s lack of consideration and his place in her mind as an afterthought.
Once in Quilly we meet Annie’s eccentric mother Susan, her uncle Len and his wife (and Annie’s childhood bestie) Rose.
Henry-Jones does a wonderful job with our characters. I really liked Annie and the novel’s written from her point-of-view (in third person for those who care about that stuff) so we know what she’s going through. Her confusion. Her sadness. Her trauma and anxiety. Pip’s also a wonderfully drawn character and I think Henry-Jones nails the 6yr old’s voice and it’s really through Pip we travel the journey to recovery. And then of course there’s Susan, an artist, far more complex than she could have been and exactly what Annie and Pip need.
Nature, and the bush and its life also form key characters. We learn that when Annie was young she felt the trees spoke to her, and she still likes the feeling of the wood ‘alive’ in her hands as she whittles.
Henry-Jones writes beautifully and there’s a sentimentality in her writing that is sad and poetic but not at all twee.
I was also enveloped with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia as I passed through the lives of Annie, Pip and Susan. Annie spends a great deal of time remembering her childhood with Gladys, Len and Susan. It occurs to her that her life on the mountain offered a magic she’s struggled to replicate and she wonders what Pip will remember of her childhood.
Of course there’s a (more serious) underlying message in this book. One of hope and resilience. Much of the book focuses on the aftereffects of the bushfire and of the way tragedy has ravaged the town, its people, the mountain’s wildlife and even Susan’s ‘broken’ house which she refuses to fix.
Henry-Jones does a wonderful job at capturing the devastation and the overwhelming sense of grief.
But slowly and surely, there’s a sense of movement. Things start growing. Wildlife starts returning. Positivity emerges and people start healing. Indeed, Annie and Pip’s emotional journey and recovery is very much mirrored by the mountain and its inhabitants.
This novel beautifully captures everything from love and passion to anxiety and grief. I also think it says a lot about its author and her passion for people, places and her respect for the land. And – most importantly – it left me with a sense of hope.
4.5 stars
Earlier this year I read Eliza Henry-Jones’ debut novel ”In the Quiet” and was transported to the unique landscape in a small rural area outside of Victoria, Australia, the colloquial expressions, and the mesmerizing quality of Henry-Jones writing, so when I saw that her new novel was out, I knew I wanted to read it as soon as possible.
Set in a rural area of Australia on a mountain, where the lyrebirds make their home in the forests surrounding the home where Annie grew up, where just the year before, a bushfire devastated the whole community. Neither Annie nor her daughter, Pip, have fully recovered from the trauma, although they narrowly escaped the fires and returned to the city, where they’ve been ever since. That is until Annie’s uncle phones telling her she needs to return.
And so she leaves the city with Pip, leaving behind her husband Tom, Pip’s father, and returning home. Last year’s memories still haunt her, and she returns to a town changed from the one she remembers from her early years, so much destruction and so much anger. Annie’s filled with so much confusion and sadness, as though she’s packed it all inside her as so she can leave it there, behind her. There’s also the other side of her knowing that this is the place her heart yearns to be. Hoping to find the beauty and the life in what remains. Hoping to share that with Pip.
”The mountains had always been quiet, but it was like the unimaginable noise of the fires had sucked all sound from the mountain along with everything green. There was no sound of clattering leaves in the wind now. There were no birds. No sigh of grass.”
As the details of the fire slowly come to light, the feelings of those living there, those who lived through the fire also are shared, the bitterness and the fear, anger and hate are also shown, acts of vengeance and hate showing the rage of those sure they know who to blame.
Nature, itself, is a character, ever present, the temperamental winds, alive and waiting for Annie to sleep, whispering to her while she dreams. When she was a child, the trees spoke to her, and still, she feels the vibrations of the trees as breathing, alive.
”She has the carving of Luna in her hands. She runs her fingertips over it, marveling at how alive it feels. How it is alive in the way a swimmer is, holding her breath under water.”
She misses the lyrebirds, the mimicking, the sounds they hear and imitate. She loves all animals, her horses, the chickens, can’t imagine her life without them. Can’t imagine this town continuing without healing, without hope.
”The house creeks. The branches outside move. Everything is unsettled. She hears the sighing. It is sadness, uncertainty. It matches hers.”
What emerges in the end is a story of a tragic event, and all that follows, the way that tragedy has morphed into something larger, damaging the town not only physically but destroying their trust in each other. They stand around pointing fingers, watching their broken town as if to say “See? See what’s happened?” Unwilling to let go of the blame, the anger, the grief enough to just fix it, to begin the work to repair the buildings and themselves.
Ordinary people struggling with extraordinary problems, trying to find a way to leave the trauma behind them, but refusing to let go of that internal ache that never seems to leave them, they’re so intent on holding onto it.
”Ache.” That physically painful yearning for what was before, a past that seems idyllic in reflection, the pain of watching our children struggle, of watching those we love die, of watching the world we loved morph into something ugly. Still, it can be beautiful again. Hope exists, but we have to find it in ourselves.
Eliza Henry-Jones writing has a quiet beauty, a hushed, raw emotional loveliness that embraces life with all of the grief and sorrow as well as the splendor.
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