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bibliobethreads's review against another edition
4.0
First of all, a huge thank you to the wonderful people at Gallic Press who got in touch with me via email and asked me if I'd be interested in reading a couple of their titles that they thought I would enjoy. The first title was Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar and caught my attention immediately from that beautiful synopsis that instantly made me feel like this book was begging to be read. Well, let me just say that Gallic Press have hit onto a real winner here with what they thought I might like, because I adored everything about this novel. Not only is there an absolutely stellar story within these pages but the novel itself is just so aesthetically pleasing with that gorgeous cover art and the fact that the jacket is slightly rough so you could almost believe you were running your hands through sand (which of course, connects with where our story is set!).
So I have to admit I was already inclined to like this novel on the outside but I'm not so shallow to believe that a pretty front cover is all it takes to make a fascinating story. Here is where I tell you that what is on the inside is just as good as the exterior. It is an epic tale of a large family who leave their home in Adelaide to live in a remote, isolated region of Australia near to some of the native Aboriginal tribes who call it their home. Stanton Finch and his family build their house from scratch, raise animals, live off the land and survive in quite harsh conditions as they enter financial difficulties, suffer their own personal tragedies and learn to co-exist with the native residents of Salt Creek in the mid to late 1800's.
An integral part of the family is fifteen year old Hester Finch and we see a lot of the narrative through her eyes as she looks out for her younger brothers and sisters, tries to comfort her distressed mother (who did not anticipate leading such an impoverished life) and begins to learn a lot about the people on the land that seem to look so different and have different customs compared to her own family. It is during those years of hardship on their land and as the family's fortune continues to dwindle that Hester begins to see a new side of some of the members of her family and realises that decisions she has made, in order to protect her family, may not be the best and healthiest decisions after all.
I'd love to say more but I simply can't! The beauty of this novel is that you really don't know where it's going to end up and I was certainly surprised and delighted by some of the more obscure avenues that the author went down that I definitely didn't expect. There is quite a slow pace at the start but please don't be put off. Once the family become ensconced at Salt Creek and you get your head round the sheer number of characters in this family, you enter a world of gorgeous story-telling, worrying prejudices and unexpected events that have to be read to be believed. I loved the author's description of the environment, it was so visceral I could picture everything that Hester sees in my mind and almost feel that oppressive heat on my back. At times, it made for quite tough reading, especially when our characters (either Australian or Aboriginal) go through difficult circumstances and I found some of the attitudes at the time particularly hard to stomach. By the end though, I left it supremely satisfied and almost as if I had gone through that journey myself with Hester and her family, which I can only give credit to Lucy Treloar for as it was she who provided such a rich and emotional reading experience.
For my full review and many more please visit my blog at http://www.bibliobeth.com
So I have to admit I was already inclined to like this novel on the outside but I'm not so shallow to believe that a pretty front cover is all it takes to make a fascinating story. Here is where I tell you that what is on the inside is just as good as the exterior. It is an epic tale of a large family who leave their home in Adelaide to live in a remote, isolated region of Australia near to some of the native Aboriginal tribes who call it their home. Stanton Finch and his family build their house from scratch, raise animals, live off the land and survive in quite harsh conditions as they enter financial difficulties, suffer their own personal tragedies and learn to co-exist with the native residents of Salt Creek in the mid to late 1800's.
An integral part of the family is fifteen year old Hester Finch and we see a lot of the narrative through her eyes as she looks out for her younger brothers and sisters, tries to comfort her distressed mother (who did not anticipate leading such an impoverished life) and begins to learn a lot about the people on the land that seem to look so different and have different customs compared to her own family. It is during those years of hardship on their land and as the family's fortune continues to dwindle that Hester begins to see a new side of some of the members of her family and realises that decisions she has made, in order to protect her family, may not be the best and healthiest decisions after all.
I'd love to say more but I simply can't! The beauty of this novel is that you really don't know where it's going to end up and I was certainly surprised and delighted by some of the more obscure avenues that the author went down that I definitely didn't expect. There is quite a slow pace at the start but please don't be put off. Once the family become ensconced at Salt Creek and you get your head round the sheer number of characters in this family, you enter a world of gorgeous story-telling, worrying prejudices and unexpected events that have to be read to be believed. I loved the author's description of the environment, it was so visceral I could picture everything that Hester sees in my mind and almost feel that oppressive heat on my back. At times, it made for quite tough reading, especially when our characters (either Australian or Aboriginal) go through difficult circumstances and I found some of the attitudes at the time particularly hard to stomach. By the end though, I left it supremely satisfied and almost as if I had gone through that journey myself with Hester and her family, which I can only give credit to Lucy Treloar for as it was she who provided such a rich and emotional reading experience.
For my full review and many more please visit my blog at http://www.bibliobeth.com
novel_nomad's review against another edition
5.0
It is rare to discover a historical fiction set in Victorian-era South Australia, but to have that same book carve a place in my heart is even rarer. Lucy Treloar's debut is filled with rich and lyrical prose that weaves through the foreign yet familiar landscape of the Coorong and South Australian bushlands.
The Finch family are down on their luck, and the enterprising father decides to gamble their futures on a stock run along the Coorong. The landscape is vast and everlasting, yet attempts are made to settle into a family home pieced together from the bones of shipwrecks. Hester is a constant companion throughout the novel, as her recollections on the desolation and destruction wrought by her father on his family and the land are emotionally charged. A brilliantly stark depiction of settler life and mentality towards the land and First Australians, and the interactions between the Finch family and Tully, an Aboriginal boy, allow the destructive colonialist ideas overpower the idealistic enlightened thoughts - especially when Mr Finch is faced with ruin and disgrace.
A once enlightening and questioning, the drama of the novel drives the reader to question rights of ownership, colonialist past, male dominance in settler states and the lingering attitudes towards First Australians. A historical fiction I would recommend to an enquiring mind with a love of rich prose.
The Finch family are down on their luck, and the enterprising father decides to gamble their futures on a stock run along the Coorong. The landscape is vast and everlasting, yet attempts are made to settle into a family home pieced together from the bones of shipwrecks. Hester is a constant companion throughout the novel, as her recollections on the desolation and destruction wrought by her father on his family and the land are emotionally charged. A brilliantly stark depiction of settler life and mentality towards the land and First Australians, and the interactions between the Finch family and Tully, an Aboriginal boy, allow the destructive colonialist ideas overpower the idealistic enlightened thoughts - especially when Mr Finch is faced with ruin and disgrace.
A once enlightening and questioning, the drama of the novel drives the reader to question rights of ownership, colonialist past, male dominance in settler states and the lingering attitudes towards First Australians. A historical fiction I would recommend to an enquiring mind with a love of rich prose.
twistinthetale's review against another edition
4.0
"Salt Creek" tells the story (partially based on fact) of the Finch family living on an isolated Coorong homestead. The struggle to survive and eek out a living from the harsh terrain is well portrayed. The large family provide plenty of interesting characters who all deal with their new life in different ways. This is a rich and engaging novel that captures the colours and texture of the environment so well. The characters are complex and offer diverse points of view. The story thoughtfully explores the clash of cultures during the pioneering days of South Australia. Well worth reading.
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
5.0
‘It is my past come to meet me.’
This novel is set in the 1850s, in the Coorong region of South Australia. Salt Creek may be beautiful, but this coastal region is remote from Adelaide and comparatively inhospitable. The land has been opened up to graziers, and this is why the Finch family move there. Stanton Finch has fallen on hard times and hopes to make enough money to repay his debts and return to polite society in Adelaide. His wife never really adjusts to the move. Hester, the main character in the story, is aged sixteen when the story opens. It is Hester’s lot to take increasing levels of responsibility in caring for the large Finch family.
‘My life occupied a small space; it was time that moved: days and weeks and months and seasons and years rolling across me as inevitable as night.’
Disaster follows disaster for the Finch family. Scheme after scheme fail for Stanton Finch. He is driven to make money and repay his debts even as his endeavours tear his family apart. Some of the sons leave, and Hester dreams of a day when she can leave as well. In the background, the Ngarrindjeri people are having their world destroyed. One young boy, Tully, is taken in by the Finches. Tully learns with the Finch children, lives in their home and works on the property. Through Tully, some of the Finch children come to appreciate some elements of indigenous culture. But Tully is never accepted as being equal by Stanton Finch and some of his sons, and this leads to a series of tragedies.
‘Life is so much absence and emptiness and vivid stretches and disconnected fragments when everything happens; things that light up in memory while all around is darkness.’
To say more about the story could ruin it for those intending to read it. I found it a haunting story, almost unbearably sad at times, and beautifully written. While some elements can be predicted, others have an element of surprise. Aspects of the story, and certain of the characters remain with me, and I suspect that this is a novel I will choose to reread.
‘Perhaps we all had things we would rather keep to ourselves.’
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Australia for an opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
This novel is set in the 1850s, in the Coorong region of South Australia. Salt Creek may be beautiful, but this coastal region is remote from Adelaide and comparatively inhospitable. The land has been opened up to graziers, and this is why the Finch family move there. Stanton Finch has fallen on hard times and hopes to make enough money to repay his debts and return to polite society in Adelaide. His wife never really adjusts to the move. Hester, the main character in the story, is aged sixteen when the story opens. It is Hester’s lot to take increasing levels of responsibility in caring for the large Finch family.
‘My life occupied a small space; it was time that moved: days and weeks and months and seasons and years rolling across me as inevitable as night.’
Disaster follows disaster for the Finch family. Scheme after scheme fail for Stanton Finch. He is driven to make money and repay his debts even as his endeavours tear his family apart. Some of the sons leave, and Hester dreams of a day when she can leave as well. In the background, the Ngarrindjeri people are having their world destroyed. One young boy, Tully, is taken in by the Finches. Tully learns with the Finch children, lives in their home and works on the property. Through Tully, some of the Finch children come to appreciate some elements of indigenous culture. But Tully is never accepted as being equal by Stanton Finch and some of his sons, and this leads to a series of tragedies.
‘Life is so much absence and emptiness and vivid stretches and disconnected fragments when everything happens; things that light up in memory while all around is darkness.’
To say more about the story could ruin it for those intending to read it. I found it a haunting story, almost unbearably sad at times, and beautifully written. While some elements can be predicted, others have an element of surprise. Aspects of the story, and certain of the characters remain with me, and I suspect that this is a novel I will choose to reread.
‘Perhaps we all had things we would rather keep to ourselves.’
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Australia for an opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
busyreading's review against another edition
5.0
This story is set 1855 and takes place in Salt Creek on the Coorong of South Australia. The Finch family is struggling to get through each day as their family business is in financial trouble. Neither Mr or Mrs Finch is coping and it seems that fifteen year old Hester (Hetty) is having to take on more than she should for a fifteen year old.
This story is narrated by Hester Finch, who gives us the reader a real understanding of just how hard it was for her and her family. Really emotional and touching indeed.
Salt Creek is a real gem of a book in my opinion and one that I didn't want to end. A really beautifully written story which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. With thanks to Netgalley and publishers for my copy to read and review.
This story is narrated by Hester Finch, who gives us the reader a real understanding of just how hard it was for her and her family. Really emotional and touching indeed.
Salt Creek is a real gem of a book in my opinion and one that I didn't want to end. A really beautifully written story which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. With thanks to Netgalley and publishers for my copy to read and review.
anitatang's review against another edition
5.0
Just stunning. This one sucked me in quite early, and I was transported to a place of isolation and hardship.
Set in a remote part of Australia during 'colonial' times, this meticulously told story of a family trying to eke out a living on land that could never belong to them.
Covers issues of family loyalty and duty, race relations, gender issues, all in very powerful yet real ways.
Breathtaking - and one that should be read by all Australians, particularly non-Aboriginal Australians
Set in a remote part of Australia during 'colonial' times, this meticulously told story of a family trying to eke out a living on land that could never belong to them.
Covers issues of family loyalty and duty, race relations, gender issues, all in very powerful yet real ways.
Breathtaking - and one that should be read by all Australians, particularly non-Aboriginal Australians
paging_snidget's review against another edition
3.0
Beautifully written but I felt emotionally removed from everything that was happening and was never fully drawn into the story.
flossibunda's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
the_lilypad's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars
This is the story of a family in the 1850s trying to make their way.
The book touches on this 'progressive' family's interactions with the Traditional Owners, but I do feel as if this was occasionally done with too broad of a stroke.
This is the story of a family in the 1850s trying to make their way.
The book touches on this 'progressive' family's interactions with the Traditional Owners, but I do feel as if this was occasionally done with too broad of a stroke.
clairewords's review against another edition
5.0
Salt Creek is a powerful and riveting account of a family struggling to make a living in the harsh environment of coastal South Australia, depicting the pioneering patriarchal entrepreneur and his devoted but long suffering wife, and the children that will grow up with both an attachment to the place and an instinct to escape it. This story gets inside you and makes you feel the struggle and the dilemma, and wish that it could have been different.
We meet Hester Finch, in Chichester, England in 1874 where she lives as a widow with her son Joss, in the house where her mother spent her childhood, remembered from the stories her mother used to tell, in a place so far from this new reality, of that life in Salt Creek, South Australia.
Hester takes us back to her childhood in the Coorong, narrating the family story throughout the period she lived with them at Salt Creek from 1855 to 1862. Her father was an entrepreneurial businessman, who could never settle to one thing, without always having his eye on the next great idea, the thing that was going to make him rich, a success. For a while the family had lived in Adelaide, while he ran a successful dairying business, but not content to stick with that he would borrow against the things that seemed solid to invest in the next thing. He'd bought land at Salt Creek, but the sheep he'd hoped to farm were lost at sea while being transported, causing the entire family to be uprooted as the family home required selling to pay the debts.
The family find themselves leaving their grandparents, friends and familiar town environment behind to live on an isolated peninsula in rural South Australia. They must rely on each for company, schooling and help their parents out to run the farm and household.
Hester's mother becomes melancholy and withdrawn from the moment she views her future home, requiring Hester to have to step into a more encompassing role than just that of eldest daughter. To add to her woes, their mother whose youngest Mary is only three years old, discovers she is again with child, and the nearest neighbour not company she can bring herself to indulge.
The family discover indigenous people camping not far from their property, and become interested in a young boy Tully, who is able to speak a little English and seems keen to learn more. Slowly he slips into their lives, though without ever letting go of his ways, his disappearances, his unassuming manner, his sharing of old knowledge about which trees can and shouldn't be cut, which ducks to avoid, much of it disregarded particularly by the two eldest sons and the father as superstitions to be ignored.
Although the father believes himself to have an enlightened view, that all men are created equal and seen by the Divine as being equal, his beliefs are challenged when it comes to his own family, both in the example he sets for his son (in relation to indigenous women) and the restrictions he places on his daughters (including his desire to use matrimony as business negotiating device).
It is the younger siblings who grow into and live his more open minded view, and who will force to the surface his deep conditioning, which is unable to embrace those beliefs at all. Hester recalls the first day they set eyes on indigenous people and is filled with remorse:
While the older boys rebel by going off to try their luck in the goldfields, the younger sibling Fred stands his ground and resists his fathers efforts to use him as a form of payment, he spends a lot of time drawing plants in his notebook and is fascinated by the work of Charles Darwin.
Hester stays and stays, witness to all that occurs, as the challenges of Salt Creek and the rigid attitude of their father begin to wear everyone down. Hester is warned more than once, that she should not hesitate should there be an opportunity for her to escape. Mrs Robinson comments 'Hard for girls like you' to Hester and when questioned why, tells her:
Brilliantly conceived and heartbreaking to read, Salt Creek opens itself wide for discussion on the many issues related to the impact of colonial idealism, whether it's how it affects women and children, how it impacts and impedes the native population, the imposition of solutions by one group on the other, the inherent disrepect and disregard for a different way of life.
I'm interested to read these accounts yet I am repelled by what transpires, knowing there is no possibility for an alternative ending, it is and always be a kind of clash of civilisations, which annihilates the ancient view, and will only accept its input when it has been turned it into a version of itself.
We meet Hester Finch, in Chichester, England in 1874 where she lives as a widow with her son Joss, in the house where her mother spent her childhood, remembered from the stories her mother used to tell, in a place so far from this new reality, of that life in Salt Creek, South Australia.
Hester takes us back to her childhood in the Coorong, narrating the family story throughout the period she lived with them at Salt Creek from 1855 to 1862. Her father was an entrepreneurial businessman, who could never settle to one thing, without always having his eye on the next great idea, the thing that was going to make him rich, a success. For a while the family had lived in Adelaide, while he ran a successful dairying business, but not content to stick with that he would borrow against the things that seemed solid to invest in the next thing. He'd bought land at Salt Creek, but the sheep he'd hoped to farm were lost at sea while being transported, causing the entire family to be uprooted as the family home required selling to pay the debts.
The family find themselves leaving their grandparents, friends and familiar town environment behind to live on an isolated peninsula in rural South Australia. They must rely on each for company, schooling and help their parents out to run the farm and household.
Hester's mother becomes melancholy and withdrawn from the moment she views her future home, requiring Hester to have to step into a more encompassing role than just that of eldest daughter. To add to her woes, their mother whose youngest Mary is only three years old, discovers she is again with child, and the nearest neighbour not company she can bring herself to indulge.
Mrs Robinson was no comfort to her and never would be; she was the measure for Mama of how far she had fallen.
The family discover indigenous people camping not far from their property, and become interested in a young boy Tully, who is able to speak a little English and seems keen to learn more. Slowly he slips into their lives, though without ever letting go of his ways, his disappearances, his unassuming manner, his sharing of old knowledge about which trees can and shouldn't be cut, which ducks to avoid, much of it disregarded particularly by the two eldest sons and the father as superstitions to be ignored.
"Do you know what that boy told me today? That we shouldn't have chopped that tree down and then showed me which ones we should use, can you believe it? Didn't have all the words but did very well making his thoughts known. I told him we would use the wood that we saw fit since it was ours, not his, and did not trouble to conceal my feelings."
Although the father believes himself to have an enlightened view, that all men are created equal and seen by the Divine as being equal, his beliefs are challenged when it comes to his own family, both in the example he sets for his son (in relation to indigenous women) and the restrictions he places on his daughters (including his desire to use matrimony as business negotiating device).
It is the younger siblings who grow into and live his more open minded view, and who will force to the surface his deep conditioning, which is unable to embrace those beliefs at all. Hester recalls the first day they set eyes on indigenous people and is filled with remorse:
When I think of what they became to us and how long I have been thinking of them I would like to return to that day and stop the dray and shout at our ghostly memories and the natives: 'I am sorry. I am sorry for what is to come.'
While the older boys rebel by going off to try their luck in the goldfields, the younger sibling Fred stands his ground and resists his fathers efforts to use him as a form of payment, he spends a lot of time drawing plants in his notebook and is fascinated by the work of Charles Darwin.
"Watching Fred, I began to wonder if it was something other than interest and curiosity alone that drove his actions. He was so purposeful in what he did. Self doubt did not occur to him; he was able to look only at the thing, the task before him. I wished that I could do the same. My own self was mysterious t me. Oh, I knew what I did, but other than that I was invisible to myself...I did not know or see the difference that I made, the space I occupied in this world."
Hester stays and stays, witness to all that occurs, as the challenges of Salt Creek and the rigid attitude of their father begin to wear everyone down. Hester is warned more than once, that she should not hesitate should there be an opportunity for her to escape. Mrs Robinson comments 'Hard for girls like you' to Hester and when questioned why, tells her:
I know, my dear, I know. It's the expectations that hold you back. They'll kill you in the end, if you're not careful, suck the life right out of you. Run, I say. Run whenever you should have the chance, don't spare a glance back or you'll turn to salt or stone."
Brilliantly conceived and heartbreaking to read, Salt Creek opens itself wide for discussion on the many issues related to the impact of colonial idealism, whether it's how it affects women and children, how it impacts and impedes the native population, the imposition of solutions by one group on the other, the inherent disrepect and disregard for a different way of life.
I'm interested to read these accounts yet I am repelled by what transpires, knowing there is no possibility for an alternative ending, it is and always be a kind of clash of civilisations, which annihilates the ancient view, and will only accept its input when it has been turned it into a version of itself.