Fishcastle

by Elizabeth Stead

On Proudie Bay, an Australian seaside village, sits the Fishcastle, home to the Hardwicks. A 'man house', it is dominated by Marlin Hardwick, promiscuous and patriarchal, who has driven his wife to an early death, transformed his daughter Jennifer into a drudge and his son into a drunkard.
But life begins to change at the Fishcastle with the slow infiltration of various Jennifer's new hippie friend Miriam and her daughter Beccy; Marlin's sister Hester, now homeless after a storm; and Hester's new acquaintance Lucrezia, an Amazon in modern guise. As the balance of the sexes shifts, so drama and tragedy ensue and the character of one dysfunctional family is changed forever.

393 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

About the author

Elizabeth Stead is Sydney-born and is the niece of acclaimed Australian novelist Christina Stead. From childhood, Elizabeth was greatly inspired by her grandfather, David George Stead, pioneer naturalist, conservationist and storyteller. Elizabeth has published short fiction, and her two previous novels, The Fishcastle and The Different World of Fin Starling, have been published by Penguin.

Reviews

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio. I am surprised I have not heard of the author and this, her first novel apparently. Excellent characterisation. Quite grim. Survival through life's tragedies. Some phrases or ways of expressing things brought an instant smile or laugh.

[Giselle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing in this book is so beautiful, with strong imagery and poetic lines throughout. However, I found the plot weak and I'm not entirely certain what the point of the story was. Very strong adult themes, written with such skill and ease, I loved that. Great shock factor with plenty of what happened, but it took a very long while to get there.

[Barbs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meandering read and nicely written but the plot thin.