reading corner the
BY JESSICA ANSCOMBE
THE RIPPING TREE Author Nikki Gemmell Nikki Gemmell is an Australian author whose work spans over twenty novels. Nikki has described her latest novel, The Ripping Tree, as her ‘love letter to Australia’, a book that was written from a yearning to be back on home soil. The story begins with tomboy Thomasina Trelora being sent to the colonies, fated to marry a clergyman she’s never met. When the ship sinks off the coastline, Thomasina is rescued by an Aboriginal man and left on the doorstep of Willowbrae, a grand estate and home to a wealthy settler family. At first, Thomasina is excited at the possibility of a fresh start with this
new family until she uncovers a secret that cannot be ignored. The Ripping Tree is a beautifully written story about a young woman who fights for survival in an unknown land and the dark history of Australia’s colonisation. Each character is crafted well. From the strong–willed, but still so young, Thomasina to the Craw family, with their individual turmoil, who each want to keep Thomasina for themselves. The matriarch, Mrs Craw, rules her home sternly and takes offense at the wild traits of their new guest. Mr Craw is cagey and secretive, while youngest son, Mouse, longs for a friend and playmate. The characters are diverse and work well together to develop the story. For anyone with a love of language and the Australian bush, the description of the landscape in The Ripping Tree will be a treat. “Hurting light beats down on a beautifully ordered, English–style garden
that seems trapped in a heat–struck stillness… Outside is the curious upside– down frontier… a land of heat–baked soil and sallow colours and impossibly shaped animals…”, Nikki describes the estate built within the wild colonial bush with a rawness and beauty. The novel is written in first person from the perspective of the protagonist, Thomasina. The story stays in the present with occasional memories of Thomasina’s old life and her father in England. The novel has a sharp, fast writing style, with short sentences and fleeting internal thoughts from Thomasina, giving the reader lovely insights into her mind, her past and the new world in which she has been immersed. Nikki Gemmell’s use of language seems poetical and direct all at once. It is a powerful novel that reveals pieces of the story gradually, keeping the intensity high.
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Jessica Anscombe is a librarian and writer living on the Central Coast. She has a passion for literature and writes fiction and non–fiction. Jessica was the winner of the Wyong Writers’ 2021 Short Story Competition and her winning story is to be published in an upcoming anthology. She has also been longlisted for the Furious Fiction prize and you can read her short stories here www.jessicaanscombe.com/category/fiction/short–stories/ and follow her on instagram at www.instagram.com/jessicaanscombe/
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY – ISSUE 45
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