What an unexpected delight is HEARTSEASE (Picador 2024) by debut author Kate Kruimink, a beautifully captured tale of grief, family, sisterhood, love, memory, life and what comes afterwards.
Sisters Lot and Nelly, eight years apart, grew as close as siblings can be when the death of their mother ensconced Lot (Charlotte) as Nelly’s (Ellen’s) carer through her adolescence. Lot is a sensible, dutiful, conservative lawyer, while Nelly is a troubled teen who grows into a troubled adult, and who still sees visions of her mother into her thirties.
The story begins when the two sisters agree to meet for a silent retreat at an unusual and haunting old house in rural Tasmania. The other half dozen participants are a weird mix, and the ‘no speaking’ rule discombobulates everyone. Lot and Nelly don’t even last a day before they have escaped for an evening at the local pub.
The novel is told from the perspectives of both key characters, and alternates in time between the ‘present’ (at the retreat) and a backwards countdown that begins fourteen hours before something – some momentous incident occurs – although we are initially not sure what event is yet to be revealed. These chapters are simply titled (as an example) ‘eleven and a half hours to go’, alluding to a mysterious, possibly sinister or tragic event to which we are not privy.
The writing is lyrical, soft and luminous, the characters are well developed and endearing, the story is surprising, unexpected, tender and gentle. It is slow but propelled by the impending ‘incident’.
HEARTSEASE explores themes of intergenerational trauma, family relationships, siblings, love, grief, loss, estrangement, parenting, depression and the preciousness of life. It examines ingrained childhood narratives or beliefs that are dispelled (sometimes accidentally) in adulthood by the reasoned knowledge of another or the gradual realisation of misunderstandings and misinterpretations. The novel examines other themes but to say more would be a spoiler.
The last part of the story is thoughtful and warm, and I would have liked this extended; I feel it was cut short during a most interesting section. But I also appreciate the author’s decision to stop when she did, as it mirrors the way of life (and death): the sudden cessation of forward motion.
The other great aspect of HEARTSEASE is its sharp and unexpected humour and wit throughout the most ordinary (and extraordinary) circumstances. The dialogue is spot-on, taut and direct, and the prose style is that of a more experienced author.
This is an original, funny, heartbreaking and poignant novel that is a slow burn filled with love and care for the characters that people its pages, their dreams and nightmares, their ambitions and desires, their loves and passions. A gorgeous and profound book.