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A Mortality Tale
A wild summer storm has blacked out the streets. By the time she sees the young man in her headlights it's too late. Stunned. Carmen drives home in the downpour. No one has seen her, but does this mean she'll get away with it?Teasing out the ambiguities of responsibility and retribution, Jay Verney explores Carmen's dilemma with a crisp, dry wit that will send you in search of her next novel.
192 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1995
9 people want to read
About the author
Jay Verney
22 books1 followerJay Verney is an Australian author who has been writing for the last 20 years or so, if you don't count illegible childhood scribblings in her father's pocket notebook with his important Bic biro, and many volumes of terrible teenage poetry. These were despatched to Bad Poetry Hell by the back-yard incinerator during the Great Iambic Conflagration.
Jay writes all sorts of things including essays, short stories, commentary, reviews, poetry, and memoir. She has also published three novels so far: A Mortality Tale, Percussion, and Spawned Secrets. A Mortality Tale, was shortlisted in Australia for the Australian/Vogel and Miles Franklin Literary Awards.
Given the chance, she plans to publish e-versions of her first two novels in 2013, along with other novels and shorter projects, provided the household supervisor, Dotty the Boss Cat, aka Yes Ma'am, approves.
If you would like to read some of Jay's grown-up poetry (we hope it's grown-up, but you never can tell), feel free to visit her sites at Veranda Life and Zen Kettle.
Jay also maintains a site called Transient Total Focus where she blogs irregularly about reading, writing, and anything else that takes her fancy. It's sync'd to her Goodreads Author Profile page or you can visit at Transient Total Focus.
Jay's favorite authors include Thea Astley, Anne Tyler, Carol Shields, Annie Proulx, Henning Mankell, Janet Evanovich, Sara Paretsky, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Anne Lamott, and Don DeLillo.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 10, 2019
Early hours of the morning, driving home from a party, a power blackout, an intense summer rain storm, a pale face, a bump, a lifeless body at the side of the road - continue the journey home and live with a very guilty conscience.
In A Mortality Tale by Jay Verney (shortlisted for the 1995 Miles Franklin Award), this is the scenario facing Carmen Molloy, a woman in her early 30s, whose niece, Wendy, was curled up drunk and asleep in the car, in the outer suburbs of Brisbane in 1990.
Although the collision was clearly an unavoidable accident, it is not clear why Carmen chose to drive away from the scene, committing the crime of 'hit and run'.
The young man she hit and killed was Vincent, a partygoer who had been drinking and partaking of illicit substances, and a friend of Wendy.
Carmen does her best to stay calm, even when visited by the police, and especially when Wendy suggests they host the wake after Vincent's funeral.
In the dead of night and at other quiet times, Carmen fights with her guilt and the dilemma she has created, considering the ramifications of confessing or keeping her secret.
She seeks solace form a friend, a priest, who is about to leave the church, and then with Edward, a friend who becomes a friend with benefits.
An opportunity arises for Carmen to leave her public service job in Brisbane with a substantial separation package, and she returns to her family roots in rural Queensland, several hours north of the capital.
Verney writes what is essentially a 'confession' from Carmen's point of view, so we are always inside her head. It becomes a fascinating insight into one person's fight with the demon of a guilty conscience, and the debate over the relative benefits of honesty or continued silence.
Readers can and will draw their own conclusions about Carmen's moral values and cast their judgements accordingly.
Verney has also captured suburban and outback living in 1990 Queensland - the people, the climate (humidity and intense heat, drought and flood), all with an easy style of story-telling laced with wit and cynicism.
I really enjoyed this novel by an Australian author I had not previously known of.
In A Mortality Tale by Jay Verney (shortlisted for the 1995 Miles Franklin Award), this is the scenario facing Carmen Molloy, a woman in her early 30s, whose niece, Wendy, was curled up drunk and asleep in the car, in the outer suburbs of Brisbane in 1990.
Although the collision was clearly an unavoidable accident, it is not clear why Carmen chose to drive away from the scene, committing the crime of 'hit and run'.
The young man she hit and killed was Vincent, a partygoer who had been drinking and partaking of illicit substances, and a friend of Wendy.
Carmen does her best to stay calm, even when visited by the police, and especially when Wendy suggests they host the wake after Vincent's funeral.
In the dead of night and at other quiet times, Carmen fights with her guilt and the dilemma she has created, considering the ramifications of confessing or keeping her secret.
She seeks solace form a friend, a priest, who is about to leave the church, and then with Edward, a friend who becomes a friend with benefits.
An opportunity arises for Carmen to leave her public service job in Brisbane with a substantial separation package, and she returns to her family roots in rural Queensland, several hours north of the capital.
Verney writes what is essentially a 'confession' from Carmen's point of view, so we are always inside her head. It becomes a fascinating insight into one person's fight with the demon of a guilty conscience, and the debate over the relative benefits of honesty or continued silence.
Readers can and will draw their own conclusions about Carmen's moral values and cast their judgements accordingly.
Verney has also captured suburban and outback living in 1990 Queensland - the people, the climate (humidity and intense heat, drought and flood), all with an easy style of story-telling laced with wit and cynicism.
I really enjoyed this novel by an Australian author I had not previously known of.
Displaying 1 of 1 review