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451:, but one that emphasises "the connectedness of creatures: animal, human, and other worldly". She said the novel's "greatest strength" is George's characterisation, and described Rawson's handling of the trauma he experienced as "subtle and skilful". Wright also called Henry "a delightful and fascinating character". She did, however, feel that the voice of the shapeshifter, while "lyrical and fittingly alien", sometimes comes across as "overdetermined", which tends to "lose ... its novelty" after a while. She also criticised the novel's structure, saying that the purpose of some parts of the narrative are not clear, particularly some of the secondary characters, whose stories appear incomplete. But overall, Wright called it is "an ambitious novel" the way it "bend and blend genres".
353:, but after a few failed drafts Rawson shelved it. "I don't generally write realist fiction and I really struggled ... It just wasn't my style". She began working on another book about an alien exiled from its home world. Then it occurred to her that the two stories could be combined: an octopus-like alien looking for a new home meeting her great-great-grandfather on a shipwreck. Rawson said the novel takes place in Australia in the mid-19th century, when white settlers did not know what they would find in the unexplored bush and oceans. Finding an alien probably would have been no more surprising than a
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He wishes he were never rescued from the wreck. The alien returns to the ocean and gently touches George with its tentacles. It sends him images of
Bridget wrapped around him on the wrecked ship, and explains who it is and where it came from. It shows George how its world was ruined by colonists, and how the survivors fled to another dimension and ended up in Earth's oceans. It tells him it is alone and cannot find any of the others. George tells her there used to be similar
430:, Christine Sun remarked that just as the alien tries to be human, the human becomes an alien by his inability to be "normal" anymore. She felt that the bond between Henry and the alien benefits both – they each get a new perspective on the world they are struggling to fit in to. Sun noted that by imagining what could have happened to Rawson's great-great-grandfather, she turned an apparently ordinary man's life into something extraordinary.
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Rawson's great-great-grandfather, and
Bridget Ledwith, the only female survivor. George Hills went on to marry his fiancée Eliza, with whom he bore eight children, including Henry. George died at 86 in 1916. Ledwith's identity remained "a source of mystery and controversy" for years after the wreck. Rawson said that beyond this historical setting, the events in
424:". He pointed out that there are two narrative streams, "lyrical realism and the experimental", which quickly merge to produce "something truly unique and disquieting". Rivett said Rawson depicts the past as "both a recognisable Australia and ... an alien landscape". Writing in the Australian literary magazine,
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In an attempt to ease his torment, the alien reveals itself to George as
Bridget. But when George sees the woman from the wreck, he immediately attacks her, and the alien quickly morphs back into a cat and flees. A distressed George goes to the shore, takes off his clothes, and floats in the water.
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Having an alien as one of the book's characters enabled Rawson to explore writing from the point of view of another species. She said it was "technically difficult", but added that her alien "is a metaphor ... she stands in for all the other species that humans just don't give a rat's arse about."
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on Henry's back, and believes that to be her work. The alien is hiding in plain sight in George's household disguised as a cat, and when Henry is born, attaches itself to his back. As Henry grows up, the alien periodically infiltrates his mind and gives him glimpses of her lost world. When George
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smashes into a reef off the coast of South
Australia. George Hills, a ship's steward, is one of a number of survivors clinging to the remains of the ship for eight days with no food and water. He is protected from the bitter cold by Bridget Ledwith, an elusive passenger he had seen earlier on the
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in South
Australia. For eight days survivors clung to the remains of the ship and slowly died from exposure and lack of food and water. Rescue attempts from the shore were hampered by bad weather, but eventually 24 of the 113 passengers and crew were saved. Among those rescued were George Hills,
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and assumes the shape of the first creature it sees, a passenger named
Bridget Ledwith. When the ship is wrecked, "she" finds herself with George, and protects him by wrapping herself around him. The real Bridget drowns, but George is rescued, and the alien goes into hiding.
365:. Rawson remarked, "To me, is a big deal ... it feels like Australian literary culture is shifting to be a little more comfortable with the idea of speculation … shifting slightly towards more blurry ideas of what reality is and what truth is."
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her alien: "it is a poor tool for imagining the inner lives of other beings", but he added, "it's one of the few we have, and Rawson has used it here to create an intriguing tale whose humanity lingers warm long after the reading."
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that Rawson "stretch our capacity to believe", making apparently incompatible ideas click together. He remarked that her empathy for the characters is "beautiful", particularly for the alien, who he compared to ET in
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She said writing a novel like this was a risk because it exposed her preoccupation with the environment. She was therefore surprised at the attention the book received, and in particular winning the
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shipwreck, and had attended the 150th anniversary commemoration of the event in August 2009. She said, "When I saw all the descendants of the people who had either died or survived the wreck of the
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George makes peace with the alien, and it attaches itself to his back. When George returns home, the alien becomes the cat again and enjoys the attention of Henry and his father.
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George is haunted by images of the woman from the wreck, and tries unsuccessfully to find her. He marries his fiancée Eliza and has three children, but George is sure that the
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at the birth of his firstborn, Henry, is the woman from the wreck. He struggles to live a normal life and is convinced
Bridget put curse on him. He notices a large
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boat. Many die, but George and
Bridget are rescued. George recovers in hospital, but Bridget disappears without a trace.
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that attacked ships, but they disappeared long ago. The alien realises it arrived here "a million years too late".
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sees Henry's unusual behaviour and his obsession with the ocean, he is sure the boy is also cursed.
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The Diary of
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The Diary of
Bridget Ledwith: Sole Female Survivor of the Admella Shipwreck in 1859
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189:. The book is based on the 1859 shipwreck of the Australian
915:"From the Wreck by Jane Rawson: a strange sage of survival"
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In 1990 Bill Collett published a 14-page fictional diary,
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was well received by Australian critics. It won the 2017
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Reynolds, Barry (3 June 2017). "Plotting a future".
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The alien is unnamed and its gender is not revealed.
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179:Jane Rawson
43:Jane Rawson
1348:Categories
1340:at Picador
968:1887369651
817:1904883827
804:Herald Sun
662:References
327:Background
288:James Shaw
171:historical
169:is a 2017
1286:Melbourne
1253:0006-7539
1163:2201-5892
1128:2201-5892
1039:0155-2864
929:1038-8761
890:2201-5892
851:2203-3092
809:Melbourne
583:Kitschies
400:1982 film
396:Spielberg
369:Reception
355:marsupial
298:steamship
254:birthmark
191:steamship
157:971585879
98:Australia
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1280:(2017).
1093:Readings
988:Westerly
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601:See also
524:Fiction
468:Category
427:Westerly
126:Aurealis
57:Language
52:Peter Lo
1258:9 March
781:30 June
471:Result
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343:Admella
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132:(2017)
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579:2019
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462:Year
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