A review by tasmanian_bibliophile
The Stranger by Kathryn Hore
4.0
‘When the Stranger rode into town, everybody took notice.’
In a small isolated and gated town called Darkwater, somewhere in an unnamed country we meet Chelsea. She is sixteen years old, and as the young lover of the town’s feared leader Granger, she is luckier than most. Food is becoming scarce, and the wells are drying up. The gates, people are told, are to protect them from outsiders carrying a virus that kills. Everyone who enters the town (and there are very few visitors) is tested.
But Chelsea’s life changes when a stranger rides into town. She has a gun on one hip and a whip on the other and talks of life outside Blackwater. She also seems to know a lot about Blackwater’s past. Chelsea is curious and as the story shifts between past and present, we learn something of Chelsea’s life before her mother died and her father became an outcast.
There are rumours in Blackwater: about the past, including a murder of a woman twenty years earlier. But everyone fears Granger and his gang control the people of Blackwater, with violence if needed. Chelsea must make a choice: does she try to find out the truth, which seems to mean supporting the stranger, or does she try to stay safe under Granger’s protection?
‘But I’d never know the truth if I didn’t try to find out and nobody from Darkwater was going to help me.’
As the story unfolds and Chelsea’s view of the world widens, we see that Darkwater has dark secrets. Granger’s control is based on fear and ignorance. Why has the Stranger come to Darkwater? Could there be a future outside? Will Chelsea (and other townsfolk) have the courage to find out?
I really enjoyed this novel, with its strong female characters finding the courage to start tackling a chauvinistic dystopian world. Recommended.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In a small isolated and gated town called Darkwater, somewhere in an unnamed country we meet Chelsea. She is sixteen years old, and as the young lover of the town’s feared leader Granger, she is luckier than most. Food is becoming scarce, and the wells are drying up. The gates, people are told, are to protect them from outsiders carrying a virus that kills. Everyone who enters the town (and there are very few visitors) is tested.
But Chelsea’s life changes when a stranger rides into town. She has a gun on one hip and a whip on the other and talks of life outside Blackwater. She also seems to know a lot about Blackwater’s past. Chelsea is curious and as the story shifts between past and present, we learn something of Chelsea’s life before her mother died and her father became an outcast.
There are rumours in Blackwater: about the past, including a murder of a woman twenty years earlier. But everyone fears Granger and his gang control the people of Blackwater, with violence if needed. Chelsea must make a choice: does she try to find out the truth, which seems to mean supporting the stranger, or does she try to stay safe under Granger’s protection?
‘But I’d never know the truth if I didn’t try to find out and nobody from Darkwater was going to help me.’
As the story unfolds and Chelsea’s view of the world widens, we see that Darkwater has dark secrets. Granger’s control is based on fear and ignorance. Why has the Stranger come to Darkwater? Could there be a future outside? Will Chelsea (and other townsfolk) have the courage to find out?
I really enjoyed this novel, with its strong female characters finding the courage to start tackling a chauvinistic dystopian world. Recommended.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith