27 compelling and heartbreaking tales of Western Australia

John Kinsella is known for his books of poetry and short stories, including “In the Shade of the Shady Tree”, “Tide” and “Crows Breath”.

Old Growth is a book of twenty-seven short stories.  Each story has characters with their locale as Western Australia even if they are not living there at present. The characters are authentically portrayed in the description of their attire and personality. Each story is a snapshot of a certain time in the life of men, women and children and set in rural and urban areas.

Readers are immediately taken into the mindset of the characters. Kinsella has written some of the short stories in the first person while others in the third person.

The stories are varied. Some are written in the first person such as the first one about a woman with OCD, a man whose brother died of mesothelioma and his neighbour is dumping asbestos, about rural firefighters and about a girl who aims at getting what she wants through keeping secrets about sexual predilections.

The narratives about children I found extremely fascinating as the author is able to get into the psyche of the characters. Some of these are children sticking up for younger siblings, children’s friendships, or children who are bullied or loners, the discovery by children of things they should not know and how one sly child can influence others, including a teacher.

There are family tales where a stranger is asleep in their shed and the sad story he has to tell them, the story of two sisters sharing one man, families of alcoholics and family breakups. There are narratives of friendships and the fight against racism in a small town.

Other tales are of the cruelty of friends and a local police officer toward a youth, a terrible accident with a harvester and the consequences, a man who kept pen pals who all had secrets and his last letter to them being his death letter where he takes others with him.

The title story where the character intends destroying the old-growth bush after his wife dies and moving to the city has a disturbing consequence.

This is not a book of love stories. There are no happy endings as it is only a snapshot of pivotal moments in characters’ lives.  The tales capture both bleakness and despair or the intricacy of human character in the power of place.

I consider this book to be a good read and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading stories where the characters are easily understood, but where the ending can sometimes shock.

Old Growth by John Kinsella is available now from Dymocks. Click here to learn more.