PAUL'S PICKS [Book Reviews of Publications by Local Authors]: "The Lost Child" by Suzanne McCourt

Visit Paul Karp's Poetry Website at:

https://kapow2016.wordpress.com/ 

 [Book Reviews of Publications Penned by Our Community's Local Authors]

Mentone Public Library is committed towards promoting local history and the local literary talent of the City of Kingston and surrounding municipalities; the Cities of Bayside, Glen Eira and Port Phillip in the Bayside region of Melbourne Australia.

Mentone Public Library is pleased to have recruited Paul "Percussion & Poet" Karp to source and review the local literary pearls of publications you might be yet to discover.

This month Paul's book review pick is Suzanne McCourt's:

The Lost Child

'I put my head under the blanket. I am a wombat in a hole...'; and

'...my fingers are witchety grubs, wrinkled and white...'

Suzanne lovingly evokes her child character Sylvie's early affinity with native fauna to help her make sense of life through her struggles growing up in the South Australian Coorong town, Burley Point during the 1950's and 1960's.

The novel spans Sylvie's pre-school years to teenage-hood, through which she finds wonder despite her far from perfect parents, despite her rarely forgiving older brother, and despite her playmates who all seem to have better lives than her.

But there is no lasting bitterness or self-pity. Sylvie's emotional intelligence helps her navigate childhood disaster after disaster. She draws solace and inspiration from her brother's Phantom comics she secretly reads despite the risk of total admonishment if caught. She desperately wishes for Phantom's supernatural powers and she practices his jungle cunning and stealth.

Suzanne's novel rates as a feminine companion to Raymond Gaita's 'Romulus My Father'. Both novels are set in temperate rural Australia during the 1950's and 1960's, in both novels a parent is treated for mental illness, in both novels the child main character excels at school.

A wealth of imagery and convincing characters lends this novel to being made into a highly watchable Australian film comparable to 'Romulus My Father'.

Suzanne's intricately detailed childhood memories are often expressed with a child's priorities foremost. 

An example is;

'Hannigan's veranda has red and blue tiles that are good for hopscotch.'

The richness of this novel betrays the blandness of its title 'The Lost Child'.

I'd suggest a change of title to 'Secrets by the lakes'. 

The coastal Coorong lake environment looms large in this novel, 

like a mysterious, living character in itself.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

http://suzannemccourt.com.au/

To experience the richness of Suzanne's writing talent 

and emotional depth is a true privilege.

To experience the presence of Suzanne's warmth and strength in person 

is twice the privilege.

And Mentone Public Library have been blessed on a number of 

such occasions with Suzanne both as guest speaker and supportive library patron.

   Suzanne McCourt (Appeared Saturday, 25th October 2014)
http://mentonepubliclibrary.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/octobers-literary-tryptych-at-mentone.html 

It is always a joy and reassurance of the human spirit to have Suzanne's company.

Suzanne McCourt grew up in a fishing village on the South Australian coast, the setting for her debut novel The Lost Child (Text, 2014), which was longlisted for the 2015 Miles Franklin Award. Her short fiction and poetry have been published in journals and won prizes. The Last Taboo: A Love Story, shared first prize in the 2016 Griffith Review Novella Competition. Suzanne is currently working on her second novel, which is set in Poland and Russia. She has received a 2017 Varuna Residential Fellowship to further this project. She blogs at ‘The Essential Mirror’, www.suzannemccourt.com.au/blog.

After losing her beloved dog, Suzanne and photographer, Peter Derrett, OAM, produced a series of gift books on the wise and wonderful ways of old dogs. She has also introduced the Story Dogs Literacy Program into more than 25 Melbourne primary schools and continues to expand its reach with over fifty trained volunteers and their dogs. Over the years, she has travelled extensively, spending long summers on a canal boat in France and sailing through Pacific waters with her husband, enjoying their shared love of the sea.

Mother of two and grandmother to one beautiful boy, Suzanne now lives close to the bay in suburban Melbourne. She recently amazed herself by becoming a local lifesaver. When she’s not walking the new dog, she likes to get out on her kayak: once a pod of dolphins played with her for almost an hour.