A review by jager123
My Heart Is a Little Wild Thing by Nigel Featherstone

4.0

My Heart is a Little Wild Thing by Nigel Featherstone. I’ve had to take a couple of days to really let this marinate before deciding what I thought. The settings are beautiful and honestly I could feel the grass, smell the dirt as it was turned, see the section of Pittwater rd as he described it. It tells the story of a 50 something year old man who finds himself after losing himself (read it and you’ll understand). It is about family relationships and how one person can be lost to duty as parents age. Or how the words and actions of a parent to a child can create a barrier that lasts a lifetime. I loved following Patrick as he runs away to find a favourite childhood memory and ends up finding honesty and hope as he wanders through the Aussie scrub. It is a love affair with the idyllic Aussie childhood holiday. With music. With the Bush. With small town people. With the world. With one man facing his fears and finding himself. With acceptance.
Patrick’s relationship with his mum is hard as well. Consider that the novel opens with ‘The day after I tried to kill my mother….’ Well that line appealed to my curiosity as someone who struggles with their mother daughter relationship.
Intense in part. Simple at its heart.