I’m planning to work my way through all of the 12 long-listed entries announced last week for The Stella Prize, and to bring you reviews on each. I have already reviewed two on this page: The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood, and The Other Side of the World by Stephanie Bishop. They have set the standard pretty high and I’m looking forward to reading some more great writing by Australian women authors. This week it’s Anchor Point by Alice Robinson. Although this is Robinson’s debut novel, it started out as a PhD in Creative Writing at Victoria University, and she is is a lecturer in Creative Writing at Melbourne Polytechnic. The result is a finely crafted and well structured novel that has been carefully scaffolded in terms of narrative, plot and characterisation. The story begins in 1984: we meet 10-year-old Laura and her younger sister, Vik, just as their mother Kath – a free-spirited artist, weighed down by the burdens of motherhood and life on the land – disappears, leaving her husband Bruce to raise the girls and take care of the farm. The novel jumps to 1997, to 2008 and finally to 2018, and we are given detailed snapshots of each time in Laura’s life. Ultimately this is a story about the harsh realities of a farming life in tough rural Australia. The environment is unforgiving – drought, fires and floods sculpt the landscape and determine its shape no matter how human hands may try to tame it. There is much symbolism in this tale – the giant ‘canoe’ tree, from which bark has been stripped by former Indigeneous landowners, remains standing as evidence of many years of past habitation. Robinson introduces the Aboriginal characters – Joseph and Donald – with great sensitivity, and their personalities and history stand out. This is a book about the choices we make and the motivations behind them; about the sacrifices we make for those we love, and about what we are willing to give up and what we are determined to keep. The characters all have strong and deeply embedded relationships with the land – it is almost like another character, with its own emotions and foibles. This is also a story about yearning, about what it means to want what we can’t have, and about what happens if we finally do get what we want, and it is different or somehow less than we had imagined. Anchor Point traverses decades, cultures and families. It deals with major issues such as climate change and native title. But at its heart is a very personal mystery – a secret that Laura carries as a burden for her whole life. This is a strong debut. I don’t envy the Stella judges their difficult choice!
Anchor Point – Alice Robinson
