When a childhood friend dies, a reckoning with the past must be confronted. Ali is a middle-aged mother and teacher, living with her partner Ed and young daughter Tess in Melbourne. When news arrives that her childhood friend Jessie has died, scenes from the past come crowding back. Ali and Jessie grew up in the New South Wales town of Bega. They kept a “Golden Book” of their adventures and dares, a written record of their experiences. Jessie was the risk taker, a free spirit but prone to recklessness. Then one day a terrible accident at a forbidden watering hole changed their lives forever. Skillfully slipping between 1980s Bega and contemporary Melbourne, The Golden Book evokes the liminal space between past and present, grief and healing, guilt and self-forgiveness. It’s a book that tries to make sense of the people left behind, what they meant, how they leave their indelible marks, even after they are gone. Kate Ryan has constructed a superb literary novel, but one that is also written in an absorbing, immersive prose. The storytelling is direct and often visceral, concerned with telling the truth of the human condition. Readers will easily identify themselves in many of the book’s realistic scenes and situations – the dread of attending a funeral, a lost child at a park, an uncomfortable confrontation at a reunion. An assured debut from a writer who has honed her craft and written something genuine and true. The Golden Book, by Kate Ryan. Published by Scribe. $29.99 Review by Chris Saliba Publication date: August 3, 2021. Comments are closed.
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