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Dusk
In the distant highlands, a puma named Dusk is killing shepherds. Down in the lowlands, twins Iris and Floyd are out of work, money and friends. When they hear that a bounty has been placed on Dusk, they reluctantly decide to join the hunt. As they journey up into this wild, haunted country, they discover there's far more to the land and people of the highlands than they imagined. And as they close in on their prey, they're forced to reckon with conflicts both ancient and deeply personal.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published October 8, 2024
328 people are currently reading
9376 people want to read
About the author
Robbie Arnott
11 books638 followersRobbie Arnott was born in Launceston in 1989. His writing has appeared in Island, the Lifted Brow, Kill Your Darlings and the 2017 anthology Seven Stories. He won the 2015 Tasmanian Young Writers’ Fellowship and the 2014 Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers. Robbie lives in Hobart and is an advertising copywriter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 691 reviews
December 4, 2024
Robbie Arnott is a masterful raconteur and he always has some twists ready.
They are twins – brother and sister… They are not in favour and have no prospects… So they go to the highlands to hunt a maneating puma for a bounty…
Magnificent vistas of the gorgeous nature: mountains, tarns, plateau, snowy summits… Flora… Fauna…
Recalling their childhood they could remember nothing but misery… “In their short lives, they’d scarcely stopped to focus on anything that didn’t feed, warm or protect them.”
Puma, known as Dusk, is extremely dangerous…
There are more deaths… With all the puma’s victims the fear becomes total… But they have no money… They need sustenance…
As long as there is quarry there will be hunters.
They are twins – brother and sister… They are not in favour and have no prospects… So they go to the highlands to hunt a maneating puma for a bounty…
The female twin was in the lead. At the crest of the trail she had a minute to take all that lonely country in, feel the sight of it drift and settle through her. She stared longer than she normally would, and barely noticed when her brother reached her side. Where her eyes had gone wide, roaming across the broader contours of the land, his tracked small, scanning its intimate features.
Magnificent vistas of the gorgeous nature: mountains, tarns, plateau, snowy summits… Flora… Fauna…
Recalling their childhood they could remember nothing but misery… “In their short lives, they’d scarcely stopped to focus on anything that didn’t feed, warm or protect them.”
Puma, known as Dusk, is extremely dangerous…
For the first time since they came to the highlands, she found herself confronting what it meant to chase Dusk – the probability of being ripped into death, faster than blinking. It made her starkly aware of the softness of her flesh, the smallness of her body, the stumbling clumsiness of her humanity.
There are more deaths… With all the puma’s victims the fear becomes total… But they have no money… They need sustenance…
They left at dawn, heading north-west, the steam of their horses cutting through the harshly cold air as they rode across frosted paddocks that soon gave way to plains of soft, snow-dusted buttongrass. The sun slanted onto their backs but did not warm them.
As long as there is quarry there will be hunters.
April 1, 2025
This was beautiful.
I felt like the land was the main character and it made for a very atmospheric and dreamy tale.
I loved the relationship between the the twins, so full of devotion and both hope and despair, which reflect in their interactions with others.
The quest is larger than we might think at first, and the ending was absolutely perfect.
Thank you Astra publishing for this ARC!
I felt like the land was the main character and it made for a very atmospheric and dreamy tale.
I loved the relationship between the the twins, so full of devotion and both hope and despair, which reflect in their interactions with others.
The quest is larger than we might think at first, and the ending was absolutely perfect.
Thank you Astra publishing for this ARC!
September 18, 2024
Guys he’s done it again
October 24, 2024
My fourth adventure with Robbie Arnott and in the end another satisfying one. Once again some magical realism and although not specified, likely taking place in Tasmania, Arnott's home. Having walked the Overland Track there some years ago over several days, I could mostly picture the setting for the story. Similar to the Rain Heron, another seeking of a mystical creature in the hills.
I found this to be a slow starter, it took me nearly half the book to feel anything for the characters and story, but once the twins were into the hills and Dusk was at hand, the story came alive. Four stars for me, a library ebook.
I found this to be a slow starter, it took me nearly half the book to feel anything for the characters and story, but once the twins were into the hills and Dusk was at hand, the story came alive. Four stars for me, a library ebook.
July 18, 2025
3.5~4★
“A whole life earlier, when the twins were aged nine – or perhaps ten; they could never get the seasons straight in their heads – they were crouching on a beach, bleeding into the sand.
. . .
Tiny deep cuts on their shoeless feet from the bladed shells they’d crept over to reach this spot. Trickles of young life snaking from their wounds to stain the white grains crimson.”
The sister and brother Renshaw twins, Iris and Floyd, were raised as handy, small thieves by their English parents, not in Dickensian London, but in Tasmania. As a boy and girl who'd been skylarking and flirting, their parents were transported half a world away for a petty crime. That was then, but now, they're infamous.
“She harboured no doubts about their crimes. They were thieves. They were killers. They were what people said. But that wasn’t how Iris chose to remember them, because the truth of what they had done wasn’t the truth of all that they were.
. . .
when they were malnourished youths, living on the other side of the world in the old country… Sneaking into the nearby woods to lie on a green bank, dipping their hands into a clear stream, pulling out trout and holding them, fat and wriggling, up to each other’s eyes: an act both small and catastrophic.
. . .
To be caught by his [the viscount’s] gamekeeper, as her parents were on their way home one sunny afternoon, was to be arrested; to be charged and sentenced without ever appearing in front of a judge or jury; to be locked in the crowded, foetid hold of a creaking ship and dragged in chains to the far corner of the world.”
This young couple are the Renshaws, who then turned to actual crime to make a living, at the same time making a name for themselves as feared criminals. Their twins were given no choice.
Now adults themselves, the sister and brother can’t escape the Renshaw name and are fiercely loyal to each other. Who else would have them, anyway? Floyd has something seriously wrong with his back, and Iris keeps a special ointment she rubs on and unkinks it as best she can. They are quickly alert to each other's needs and anxious when they get separated.
They hear of a bounty offered on a wild puma, called Dusk, who lurks in the hills. It has recently killed a man in a particularly gruesome fashion, and hunters are gathering.
There are several interesting characters, but a couple of them felt more like caricatures. Still, I chose to go along with Arnott's imagination. It becomes quite an adventure story where I had to suspend disbelief more than once - there's his imagination at work, again.
The weather is mostly cold and wet and miserable, but Arnott’s descriptive skill alone is worth the read. Here is how morning light dispels the fears of the night.
“The fully risen sun built a morning of cold colour, of ripped clouds, sharp light washing onto wet wool and frosted fields. It afforded the twins a confidence that they hadn’t felt the previous day. With the sun unshielded, the mist absent, the land was robbed of menace. The river was no longer haunting but placid; the twisted trees appeared graceful and stoic in their contortions; the listless shepherds now seemed merely apathetic, rather than mysterious or threatening.”
I’m always happy to read the work of this talented Tasmanian.
“A whole life earlier, when the twins were aged nine – or perhaps ten; they could never get the seasons straight in their heads – they were crouching on a beach, bleeding into the sand.
. . .
Tiny deep cuts on their shoeless feet from the bladed shells they’d crept over to reach this spot. Trickles of young life snaking from their wounds to stain the white grains crimson.”
The sister and brother Renshaw twins, Iris and Floyd, were raised as handy, small thieves by their English parents, not in Dickensian London, but in Tasmania. As a boy and girl who'd been skylarking and flirting, their parents were transported half a world away for a petty crime. That was then, but now, they're infamous.
“She harboured no doubts about their crimes. They were thieves. They were killers. They were what people said. But that wasn’t how Iris chose to remember them, because the truth of what they had done wasn’t the truth of all that they were.
. . .
when they were malnourished youths, living on the other side of the world in the old country… Sneaking into the nearby woods to lie on a green bank, dipping their hands into a clear stream, pulling out trout and holding them, fat and wriggling, up to each other’s eyes: an act both small and catastrophic.
. . .
To be caught by his [the viscount’s] gamekeeper, as her parents were on their way home one sunny afternoon, was to be arrested; to be charged and sentenced without ever appearing in front of a judge or jury; to be locked in the crowded, foetid hold of a creaking ship and dragged in chains to the far corner of the world.”
This young couple are the Renshaws, who then turned to actual crime to make a living, at the same time making a name for themselves as feared criminals. Their twins were given no choice.
Now adults themselves, the sister and brother can’t escape the Renshaw name and are fiercely loyal to each other. Who else would have them, anyway? Floyd has something seriously wrong with his back, and Iris keeps a special ointment she rubs on and unkinks it as best she can. They are quickly alert to each other's needs and anxious when they get separated.
They hear of a bounty offered on a wild puma, called Dusk, who lurks in the hills. It has recently killed a man in a particularly gruesome fashion, and hunters are gathering.
There are several interesting characters, but a couple of them felt more like caricatures. Still, I chose to go along with Arnott's imagination. It becomes quite an adventure story where I had to suspend disbelief more than once - there's his imagination at work, again.
The weather is mostly cold and wet and miserable, but Arnott’s descriptive skill alone is worth the read. Here is how morning light dispels the fears of the night.
“The fully risen sun built a morning of cold colour, of ripped clouds, sharp light washing onto wet wool and frosted fields. It afforded the twins a confidence that they hadn’t felt the previous day. With the sun unshielded, the mist absent, the land was robbed of menace. The river was no longer haunting but placid; the twisted trees appeared graceful and stoic in their contortions; the listless shepherds now seemed merely apathetic, rather than mysterious or threatening.”
I’m always happy to read the work of this talented Tasmanian.
October 24, 2024
Robbie Arnotts 4th novel and I have again listened via Audiobook.
This is the first of his very good stories that I had an issue with the audio narrator. Fine in most instances except for the narration of the male characters. There was something forced about the breathlessness that I found off-putting.
Audio complaints aside, it is hard to be nothing but impressed that Arnott has again given his readers a fine tale of the Tasmanian goth kind, one that had me enjoying the descriptions of the land and being fairly gripped by the story of the hunt for Dusk, a Puma, a survivor of several brought to Van Diemen's land to hunt feral deer. At least I think it is Van Diemen's land, as the 2 main protagonists, twins Floyd and Iris, are the children of convicts. And a big cat in Tasmania? Stories worldwide abound with tales of big cats being where they should not be, so why not Tasmania.
The one part of the tale that I liked was the peat diggers being a testament to the past, first nations people that had little to say until it counted. With one sentence alone, Lydia, the matriarch of the tribe, clarified as to what became of all that were ever disposed of their land.
Arnott is now high on the list of must-read Tasmanian authors. His sheer consistency of story telling and his ability to write descriptive prose with an economy of words gives him a power that one could only aspire to.
This is the first of his very good stories that I had an issue with the audio narrator. Fine in most instances except for the narration of the male characters. There was something forced about the breathlessness that I found off-putting.
Audio complaints aside, it is hard to be nothing but impressed that Arnott has again given his readers a fine tale of the Tasmanian goth kind, one that had me enjoying the descriptions of the land and being fairly gripped by the story of the hunt for Dusk, a Puma, a survivor of several brought to Van Diemen's land to hunt feral deer. At least I think it is Van Diemen's land, as the 2 main protagonists, twins Floyd and Iris, are the children of convicts. And a big cat in Tasmania? Stories worldwide abound with tales of big cats being where they should not be, so why not Tasmania.
The one part of the tale that I liked was the peat diggers being a testament to the past, first nations people that had little to say until it counted. With one sentence alone, Lydia, the matriarch of the tribe, clarified as to what became of all that were ever disposed of their land.
Arnott is now high on the list of must-read Tasmanian authors. His sheer consistency of story telling and his ability to write descriptive prose with an economy of words gives him a power that one could only aspire to.
December 16, 2024
It’s hard to imagine that Arnott can surpass ‘Limberlost,’ with its quiet and beautifully layering, haunting sentences and fragile melancholy.
‘Dusk’ has a similar wild, untamed beauty but it’s a harsher, faster read, given the subject matter and short timeframe.
All the Arnott hallmarks are there, the shimmering sentences, the ever-present unease of a land ravaged by human contempt and a woeful sense of order, the underlying violence and desperation. It’s still fabulous and not to be missed, but - Dusk herself aside - there’s not the lingering afterglow that ‘Limberlost’ inspires.
‘Dusk’ has a similar wild, untamed beauty but it’s a harsher, faster read, given the subject matter and short timeframe.
All the Arnott hallmarks are there, the shimmering sentences, the ever-present unease of a land ravaged by human contempt and a woeful sense of order, the underlying violence and desperation. It’s still fabulous and not to be missed, but - Dusk herself aside - there’s not the lingering afterglow that ‘Limberlost’ inspires.
July 13, 2025
3.5★s
In the Highlands of Tasmania, a puma named Dusk was creating havoc, killing animals as well as people. A man from Patagonia had been hired but hadn't been seen since he ventured into the wild bush, so a team of men came together to search, with a bounty motivating them. And so it was for twins Iris and Floyd who had been struggling to survive. On their horses, with no weapons, little food, plus their camping gear, they headed into the Highlands to search for Dusk. But there was danger ahead, and it wasn't just from the puma...
Dusk by Aussie author Robbie Arnott was an intriguing story, something different though I guess, similar to the old westerns. I wish the timing of the story had been mentioned - I feel it's historical, but nowhere does it say. I was also disappointed with the ending, which, to me, was abrupt and unfinished. (I don't like having to guess what might happen!) I enjoyed Iris and Floyd's characters; although brash and harsh, the love between the siblings was obvious. Iris was the "leader" but they looked out for each other always. This is my first read by Arnott; I might check out Limberlost one day.
In the Highlands of Tasmania, a puma named Dusk was creating havoc, killing animals as well as people. A man from Patagonia had been hired but hadn't been seen since he ventured into the wild bush, so a team of men came together to search, with a bounty motivating them. And so it was for twins Iris and Floyd who had been struggling to survive. On their horses, with no weapons, little food, plus their camping gear, they headed into the Highlands to search for Dusk. But there was danger ahead, and it wasn't just from the puma...
Dusk by Aussie author Robbie Arnott was an intriguing story, something different though I guess, similar to the old westerns. I wish the timing of the story had been mentioned - I feel it's historical, but nowhere does it say. I was also disappointed with the ending, which, to me, was abrupt and unfinished. (I don't like having to guess what might happen!) I enjoyed Iris and Floyd's characters; although brash and harsh, the love between the siblings was obvious. Iris was the "leader" but they looked out for each other always. This is my first read by Arnott; I might check out Limberlost one day.
December 19, 2024
As a Robbie Arnott Completionist; I've decided reading this book will be a very different experience based on whether you're an Arnott virgin or a seasoned campaigner and particularly someone who has read The Rain Heron.
As we've come to expect from Arnott, Tasmania is the main character, though like in The Rain Heron it remains unnamed. Partially because Arnott has run this version of Tasmania through a gauntlet of his own fantastical visions. Arnott's eye for nature and his ability to depict it is world class, those who have experienced the Overland Track or the inland parts of Tasmania will be taken back there immediately, however, they'll feel a little like they're in a hall of mirrors, as some features are stretched or warped.
The first element of fantasy in Dusk is the idea of Pumas being introduced to Tassie. This one is not particularly far fetched and quite believable. I never forget that Roosevelt wanted Hippos in America, and Escobar brought that to reality in Colombia (they're now a pest there). Human history has a litany of examples of animals being moved around the globe to sometimes catastrophic consequences. For some reason we seem to loathe animals that adapt to the environment as well as we do. Aussies alone will know the destruction and change wrought by rabbits, cane toads, camels, foxes, fire ants etc. But Arnott has chosen an Apex predator, and the colonial mistake of thinking one can control nature becomes far more personal.
The second component of Arnott's magic-realism is to re-imagine Tasmania through a sort of post-apocalyptic/wild west lens. The bones of ancient sea creatures litter the plains. Men ride around trying to collect bounties on animals. Fat cat graziers rule the towns (not that far from true Australian history, just not in Tassie). There's a villain in here too, who is your typical wild west weasel. There's also the Patagonian (the man from out of town). While the specific features are different to the Rain Heron, the process is so similar.
Arnott's also woven in his now regular reckoning with the first people of Australia. Here the first nations characters don't play a huge part but make a few asides and comments that come across as both wise and ruthless in their true judgement of the settlers.
With each of Arnott's books I've felt a similar atmosphere and feel. His previous work Limberlost was the most realistic of his novels; being tied to his grandfather's early childhood. I felt that the lean towards realism actually favoured his style which is naturally prosaic. Dusk is a tilting back to the magic side of the magic-realism equation. Its major similarity with the Rain Heron is this almost amnesiac blanket that lays over the top of the whole text. While names are important, and we find the Renshaw twins constantly fighting the reputation their name carries. The places aren't named, nor are many of the underlying societal issues. We've got a quest to capture a big cat and that's the driving force of the narrative, even if the real story is the Renshaw twins escaping their parent's legacy. Arnott's prose is also more spartan than his previous novels, the imagery is still exceptionally strong but it's almost like he's put a sepia lens over everything.
The big cat, Dusk, is named but she has far less personality than the Rain Heron, as such she's less of a load bearing structure in the story. The Rain Heron was mythic and carried with it some kind of divine judgement, Dusk is just a puma that's lonely and hungry.
The flashbacks woven into the narrative are a feature of Arnott's last few novels and he's always been quite good at them. Unfortunately, they're almost too familiar as a feature of his writing now. Just as the great sea creature was embedded as a flashback in Limberlost and it surfaced at the climax, so does Iris' experience in the river work in the same way.
So yes this is a good story, it's an easy and enjoyable read, and Arnott's prose is great. But if you've read the Rain Heron it will feel like you're walking along a familiar well-worn path. It's true that the path is surrounded by fantastical scenes but the lack of novelty in the narrative may find you growing slightly bored. If you haven't read the Rain Heron you'll probably give this a star or two more than I do.
As we've come to expect from Arnott, Tasmania is the main character, though like in The Rain Heron it remains unnamed. Partially because Arnott has run this version of Tasmania through a gauntlet of his own fantastical visions. Arnott's eye for nature and his ability to depict it is world class, those who have experienced the Overland Track or the inland parts of Tasmania will be taken back there immediately, however, they'll feel a little like they're in a hall of mirrors, as some features are stretched or warped.
The first element of fantasy in Dusk is the idea of Pumas being introduced to Tassie. This one is not particularly far fetched and quite believable. I never forget that Roosevelt wanted Hippos in America, and Escobar brought that to reality in Colombia (they're now a pest there). Human history has a litany of examples of animals being moved around the globe to sometimes catastrophic consequences. For some reason we seem to loathe animals that adapt to the environment as well as we do. Aussies alone will know the destruction and change wrought by rabbits, cane toads, camels, foxes, fire ants etc. But Arnott has chosen an Apex predator, and the colonial mistake of thinking one can control nature becomes far more personal.
The second component of Arnott's magic-realism is to re-imagine Tasmania through a sort of post-apocalyptic/wild west lens. The bones of ancient sea creatures litter the plains. Men ride around trying to collect bounties on animals. Fat cat graziers rule the towns (not that far from true Australian history, just not in Tassie). There's a villain in here too, who is your typical wild west weasel. There's also the Patagonian (the man from out of town). While the specific features are different to the Rain Heron, the process is so similar.
Arnott's also woven in his now regular reckoning with the first people of Australia. Here the first nations characters don't play a huge part but make a few asides and comments that come across as both wise and ruthless in their true judgement of the settlers.
With each of Arnott's books I've felt a similar atmosphere and feel. His previous work Limberlost was the most realistic of his novels; being tied to his grandfather's early childhood. I felt that the lean towards realism actually favoured his style which is naturally prosaic. Dusk is a tilting back to the magic side of the magic-realism equation. Its major similarity with the Rain Heron is this almost amnesiac blanket that lays over the top of the whole text. While names are important, and we find the Renshaw twins constantly fighting the reputation their name carries. The places aren't named, nor are many of the underlying societal issues. We've got a quest to capture a big cat and that's the driving force of the narrative, even if the real story is the Renshaw twins escaping their parent's legacy. Arnott's prose is also more spartan than his previous novels, the imagery is still exceptionally strong but it's almost like he's put a sepia lens over everything.
The big cat, Dusk, is named but she has far less personality than the Rain Heron, as such she's less of a load bearing structure in the story. The Rain Heron was mythic and carried with it some kind of divine judgement, Dusk is just a puma that's lonely and hungry.
The flashbacks woven into the narrative are a feature of Arnott's last few novels and he's always been quite good at them. Unfortunately, they're almost too familiar as a feature of his writing now. Just as the great sea creature was embedded as a flashback in Limberlost and it surfaced at the climax, so does Iris' experience in the river work in the same way.
So yes this is a good story, it's an easy and enjoyable read, and Arnott's prose is great. But if you've read the Rain Heron it will feel like you're walking along a familiar well-worn path. It's true that the path is surrounded by fantastical scenes but the lack of novelty in the narrative may find you growing slightly bored. If you haven't read the Rain Heron you'll probably give this a star or two more than I do.
September 8, 2025
Sometimes you reach the end of a book and find it is just the beginning of the story. That all you have read before was just the stage being set. But now the reader's imagination must take flight to picture what happens next.
That is Dusk by Robbie Arnott. It is a mythical modern tale of a brother and sister (twins) who go to hunt a puma that has been killing sheep and the hunters who try to kill it. The pair are down and out with no prospects, not even a rifle. The puma, called Dusk is strong and powerful and on the run for its very life. Along the way the reader learns much about this brother and sister, their life before and this quest. The story is a good one. Arnott takes you into the wilds and doesn't let go. A wonderful read I highly recommend.
P.S. would have loved to hear the audio but it is not available in U.S. Not sure how to access audios not license in the U.S. if anyone out there knows I would love to hear how this is done.
That is Dusk by Robbie Arnott. It is a mythical modern tale of a brother and sister (twins) who go to hunt a puma that has been killing sheep and the hunters who try to kill it. The pair are down and out with no prospects, not even a rifle. The puma, called Dusk is strong and powerful and on the run for its very life. Along the way the reader learns much about this brother and sister, their life before and this quest. The story is a good one. Arnott takes you into the wilds and doesn't let go. A wonderful read I highly recommend.
P.S. would have loved to hear the audio but it is not available in U.S. Not sure how to access audios not license in the U.S. if anyone out there knows I would love to hear how this is done.
October 4, 2025
Dusk took place in mid-1800s Tasmania. Deer had been introduced as a hunting resource but their numbers quickly rose to unmanageable levels and they had bullied the merino sheep off the land. Graziers (aka shepherds) then decided they’d import five puma breeding pairs from South America to keep the deer population in check. But, as it happened, the puma preferred to prey on sheep which, obviously, did not sit well with the graziers.
They tried hunting the puma down, with some success but, as a result, some of the hunters were killed; some partially devoured. The puma had turned on them so the hunters were now the hunted. People everywhere were outraged when they heard the cat had become a “man-eater”. Coincidentally, the next man killed was the son of the town’s richest man. His body was devoured by the last remaining puma called Dusk, as that was the only time the cat had ever been spotted. Absolutely wild with grief after losing his son in such an unspeakable manner, the man announced an enormously rich bounty would be placed on the puma’s head. Whoever could rid the world of this man-eater would become richer than in his wildest dreams.
Twins Iris and Floyd Renshaw who’d been living on the edge—penniless, friendless, and without a home or a gun—decided they had nothing to lose and joined in the hunt. Their parents had been bandits, cheats, and murderers. Though their parents were now dead, the twins have discovered that, wherever they go, their surname precedes them. The twins had carried out only a few minor, petty crimes, but still they've been looked upon as pariahs, as guilty as their parents had been, simply by association.
At the local saloon, they found an outsider—Patrick Lees—who agreed to take them along on the hunt, despite their obvious lack of weapons and experience. Floyd had tremendous tracking instincts—he missed nothing—and Iris had captured Lees’ interest, so off the three of them went. What happened on their trek were things that no one could have expected. And when their paths crossed with Dusk? A remarkable transition would take place, and there would be no looking back.
5 “Time–spent–with–cats–is–never–wasted” stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
They tried hunting the puma down, with some success but, as a result, some of the hunters were killed; some partially devoured. The puma had turned on them so the hunters were now the hunted. People everywhere were outraged when they heard the cat had become a “man-eater”. Coincidentally, the next man killed was the son of the town’s richest man. His body was devoured by the last remaining puma called Dusk, as that was the only time the cat had ever been spotted. Absolutely wild with grief after losing his son in such an unspeakable manner, the man announced an enormously rich bounty would be placed on the puma’s head. Whoever could rid the world of this man-eater would become richer than in his wildest dreams.
Twins Iris and Floyd Renshaw who’d been living on the edge—penniless, friendless, and without a home or a gun—decided they had nothing to lose and joined in the hunt. Their parents had been bandits, cheats, and murderers. Though their parents were now dead, the twins have discovered that, wherever they go, their surname precedes them. The twins had carried out only a few minor, petty crimes, but still they've been looked upon as pariahs, as guilty as their parents had been, simply by association.
At the local saloon, they found an outsider—Patrick Lees—who agreed to take them along on the hunt, despite their obvious lack of weapons and experience. Floyd had tremendous tracking instincts—he missed nothing—and Iris had captured Lees’ interest, so off the three of them went. What happened on their trek were things that no one could have expected. And when their paths crossed with Dusk? A remarkable transition would take place, and there would be no looking back.
5 “Time–spent–with–cats–is–never–wasted” stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
December 26, 2024
4.5★
After a false start with the audiobook edition, I was glued to the page once I returned to the beginning with a text copy. This is a more conventional style of storytelling from Robbie Arnott, but he keeps it magical with the landscape and the mashup of genres. It's literary and it's a western, but it's also a thriller, and in what I think is a first for this author, there's also a (brief) sex scene!
Iris and Floyd Renshaw are twins in their late 30s, and they are societal outcasts. People who have never met them before know who they are by reputation, a bit unfairly. It's mainly the exploits of their ex-convict parents that brought their name into disrepute. But the parents are long gone, and the twins continue to carry the family burden as they try to eke out a living as itinerant labourers or really whatever work they can find.
When they hear word of a generous bounty to catch a man-eating puma, Dusk, up in the highlands, they feel compelled to at least try to go for it. But without any weapons or any real plan other than to rely on Floyd's tracking skills, they are on the back foot before they even begin. Then Iris meets Patrick Lees and everything changes.
My favourite part of this story was the landscape, which Arnott renders so beautifully. He's cagey about the location, but there's no way this is not the Tasmanian highlands (I've heard him say in interviews it could also be the south island of NZ).
Fungus of all kinds and colours sprang out of the vegetation, from the ground and from the wood – decaying logs and living limbs. Red lips and grey ears of fungus, blue and orange mushrooms, tiny white tentacles worming their way into the world.
But apart from that I also really enjoyed the characterisation, particularly of the twins. They would do anything for each other, but they also kind of hate each other (or at least feel resentment) at times. They hate their circumstances; circumstances that leave them no choice but to stay together. The story is told from Iris' POV, except for one time when it switches to Floyd for reasons that become immediately apparent. Because of this we get to know Iris very well while Floyd remains more of a mystery. I felt for them both and would love to meet them again one day.
Highly recommended.
(Now that I know the story I will happily return to the audiobook for a re-read.)
After a false start with the audiobook edition, I was glued to the page once I returned to the beginning with a text copy. This is a more conventional style of storytelling from Robbie Arnott, but he keeps it magical with the landscape and the mashup of genres. It's literary and it's a western, but it's also a thriller, and in what I think is a first for this author, there's also a (brief) sex scene!
Iris and Floyd Renshaw are twins in their late 30s, and they are societal outcasts. People who have never met them before know who they are by reputation, a bit unfairly. It's mainly the exploits of their ex-convict parents that brought their name into disrepute. But the parents are long gone, and the twins continue to carry the family burden as they try to eke out a living as itinerant labourers or really whatever work they can find.
When they hear word of a generous bounty to catch a man-eating puma, Dusk, up in the highlands, they feel compelled to at least try to go for it. But without any weapons or any real plan other than to rely on Floyd's tracking skills, they are on the back foot before they even begin. Then Iris meets Patrick Lees and everything changes.
My favourite part of this story was the landscape, which Arnott renders so beautifully. He's cagey about the location, but there's no way this is not the Tasmanian highlands (I've heard him say in interviews it could also be the south island of NZ).
Fungus of all kinds and colours sprang out of the vegetation, from the ground and from the wood – decaying logs and living limbs. Red lips and grey ears of fungus, blue and orange mushrooms, tiny white tentacles worming their way into the world.
But apart from that I also really enjoyed the characterisation, particularly of the twins. They would do anything for each other, but they also kind of hate each other (or at least feel resentment) at times. They hate their circumstances; circumstances that leave them no choice but to stay together. The story is told from Iris' POV, except for one time when it switches to Floyd for reasons that become immediately apparent. Because of this we get to know Iris very well while Floyd remains more of a mystery. I felt for them both and would love to meet them again one day.
Highly recommended.
(Now that I know the story I will happily return to the audiobook for a re-read.)
August 11, 2025
Robbie Arnott’s writing takes my breath away. Shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize once and twice for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, Arnott plunged me into a unique setting in “Dusk.” In The Leaf Bookshop’s One Hundredth Author Interview, Arnott says that place is how he always begins his novels. Seemingly set in the Tasmanian highlands, the bones of ancient creatures rise from the soil and water, creating an eerie, almost haunting atmosphere. In reality, these bones don’t exist, at least not as Arnott depicts them in this novel. Arnott says that in his writing, place comes first, then characters, then the narrative. His organic approach to writing is evident in this story.
In “Dusk,” Arnott explores an intense sibling relationship through 37-year-old twins Floyd and Iris Renshaw. They live on the margins of society due to having been raised by convict parents who pillaged and murdered to survive, forcing their children to participate in crimes. At seventeen, they escape their parents’ way of life, but continue to struggle with finding somewhere they can call home. People cannot forget who they were, who their parents were. In a desperate bid for work, they leave the lowlands, seeking new territory, a place where their tainted heritage may still be unknown.
They’ve lived and worked in many different places, on sheep farms, on the coast, but never in a place like the one they’re traveling through now. The landscape begins to soak into Iris, pulling her deep.
Iris had heard this country described as harsh, desolate. And while in all this sharp rock and wide sky she could see where those words might come from, she found no truth to them. Instead of harshness or bleakness she felt a freeing, lung-emptying openness that bounced off the hard stone, that waved through the thick mounds of tufted grass, threaded through the gnarled trees, fell down the chalky textures of the small tors she and Floyd rode below. That lived most of all in the tarns that appeared without warning, rising through the rock, pooling in her peripheries, dark and glossy and mirror-like. The sight of one made her pause, each new body of water a strange delight.
A vivid visual feast is set out for the reader throughout the story. Equally expressive, the relationship between Floyd and Iris takes shape. From the physical pain that Floyd experiences from an old back injury, to Iris’s explorations of old memories and how the past has formed their present, I came to know them. Always disrespected, never belonging, they search for home and value as a person worthy of respect.
Then there’s the puma, Dusk. A man-killer. In this story, the species has been chased out of the coastal and lowland areas into the highlands. Now, they’ve all been killed except for Dusk. Forced to hunt in ever more restricted areas due to human encroachment, Dusk has begun killing humans. There’s a bounty on Dusk, one that the twins could use to kickstart new lives.
My grandfather used to talk of a panther, one that could be heard in the far-off at night, sounding, he said, like a woman screaming. My father and grandfather’s stories were peppered with talk of animals. Thankfully, we still have our domestic creatures, but wildlife has become sparse in most of our tales. This story took me back to a time when a wild animal was more than just a source of curiosity.
The pacing of the story increased as I moved through the book, going from slow to moderate to fast-paced. If you’re not carried away at first, give the story time to breathe. Enjoy the process, and you will be rewarded. I’m not as happy with the ending as I was with the rest of the story, but I understand it. I wish there were a second part, but so far Arnott has not written in a series. Arnott names as influences Annie Proulx, Max Porter, and Richard Flanagan.
In “Dusk,” Arnott explores an intense sibling relationship through 37-year-old twins Floyd and Iris Renshaw. They live on the margins of society due to having been raised by convict parents who pillaged and murdered to survive, forcing their children to participate in crimes. At seventeen, they escape their parents’ way of life, but continue to struggle with finding somewhere they can call home. People cannot forget who they were, who their parents were. In a desperate bid for work, they leave the lowlands, seeking new territory, a place where their tainted heritage may still be unknown.
They’ve lived and worked in many different places, on sheep farms, on the coast, but never in a place like the one they’re traveling through now. The landscape begins to soak into Iris, pulling her deep.
Iris had heard this country described as harsh, desolate. And while in all this sharp rock and wide sky she could see where those words might come from, she found no truth to them. Instead of harshness or bleakness she felt a freeing, lung-emptying openness that bounced off the hard stone, that waved through the thick mounds of tufted grass, threaded through the gnarled trees, fell down the chalky textures of the small tors she and Floyd rode below. That lived most of all in the tarns that appeared without warning, rising through the rock, pooling in her peripheries, dark and glossy and mirror-like. The sight of one made her pause, each new body of water a strange delight.
A vivid visual feast is set out for the reader throughout the story. Equally expressive, the relationship between Floyd and Iris takes shape. From the physical pain that Floyd experiences from an old back injury, to Iris’s explorations of old memories and how the past has formed their present, I came to know them. Always disrespected, never belonging, they search for home and value as a person worthy of respect.
Then there’s the puma, Dusk. A man-killer. In this story, the species has been chased out of the coastal and lowland areas into the highlands. Now, they’ve all been killed except for Dusk. Forced to hunt in ever more restricted areas due to human encroachment, Dusk has begun killing humans. There’s a bounty on Dusk, one that the twins could use to kickstart new lives.
My grandfather used to talk of a panther, one that could be heard in the far-off at night, sounding, he said, like a woman screaming. My father and grandfather’s stories were peppered with talk of animals. Thankfully, we still have our domestic creatures, but wildlife has become sparse in most of our tales. This story took me back to a time when a wild animal was more than just a source of curiosity.
The pacing of the story increased as I moved through the book, going from slow to moderate to fast-paced. If you’re not carried away at first, give the story time to breathe. Enjoy the process, and you will be rewarded. I’m not as happy with the ending as I was with the rest of the story, but I understand it. I wish there were a second part, but so far Arnott has not written in a series. Arnott names as influences Annie Proulx, Max Porter, and Richard Flanagan.
July 5, 2025
‘She looks like every other puma. It’s her personality that makes her dangerous.’
Robbie Arnott is an Australian writer, skilled in the so-called nature writing, best known for his award-winning works of fiction, Limberlost, The Rain Heron, and Flames. Dusk, his forthcoming novel, tells the story of the Renshaw twins in their pursuit of a better life. Up in the highlands, Dusk is wreaking havoc, preying on sheep, shepherds and hunters. There is a fat bounty for whoever kills the devilish puma and saves the graziers’ farms. If opportunity presents itself, why not take it?
This was my first Arnott’s novel, and I was enthralled from the very beginning. More often than not, it is hard to strictly categorise modern literature into one genre. In Dusk, Arnott weaves historical aspects, thriller devices and adventure tropes skilfully woven into a compelling narrative. Iris and Floyd, the twins, are beautifully characterised. Real. Flawed. Deeply human. Their interactions, introspections and bond are rich. Iris is an indefatigable woman in her search for belonging, contrasting sharply to her twin Floyd, an introspective, stooped horse-lover. Together they journey from the lowlands (clearly meaning Tasmania) to the highlands of Australia in search of work. Neither location is explicitly named, but there are clues left here and there. The same goes for the time period (early 1900s). Throughout their journey, nature descriptions bloom in gorgeous prose, whilst the twins and the reader falls in love for the varied landscape and its wildlife.
This is a short book that can be read in one or two days. The plot is simple but effective, with many nuances that require some knowledge of Australian history for full appreciation, whilst remaining accessible to non-native Australians. The cast of characters is great! From them, Lydia is my favourite, and she represents the First Nations people who were expelled, killed, abused or pushed to the fringes of the colonies. This is not explicitly stated but implied, therefore drawing on knowledge of Australian history. An interesting aspect briefly touched on is the fact pumas are not native to Australia, leading to an intelligent commentary on colonial introduction. A subtle irony. To clarify, Arnott does not lecture; he leaves clues and information in the prose, and the only thing left for the reader to do is pay attention and reflect. I even learnt how to cut peat and discovered that grog is peat wine, which makes me wonder if Tolkien borrowed the term for his orc-fuelled beverage (intriguing and problematic).
As the story progresses, Arnott’s narrative becomes more intense, with splashes of thriller. By the end, I had goosebumps. It was this good. His mastery in storytelling, where every small nuance is connected and "explained", or at least remains relevant, is evident. I would highly recommend this for a book-club choice, as themes of colonialism, conservation , the twins’ bond, First Nations people, power dynamics and so much more, fodder for a rich discussion. Ultimately, Dusk is a compelling and engrossing read that pounces with claws bared and a deafening roar.
Rating: 4.0/5
Disclaimer: I received an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
Robbie Arnott is an Australian writer, skilled in the so-called nature writing, best known for his award-winning works of fiction, Limberlost, The Rain Heron, and Flames. Dusk, his forthcoming novel, tells the story of the Renshaw twins in their pursuit of a better life. Up in the highlands, Dusk is wreaking havoc, preying on sheep, shepherds and hunters. There is a fat bounty for whoever kills the devilish puma and saves the graziers’ farms. If opportunity presents itself, why not take it?
This was my first Arnott’s novel, and I was enthralled from the very beginning. More often than not, it is hard to strictly categorise modern literature into one genre. In Dusk, Arnott weaves historical aspects, thriller devices and adventure tropes skilfully woven into a compelling narrative. Iris and Floyd, the twins, are beautifully characterised. Real. Flawed. Deeply human. Their interactions, introspections and bond are rich. Iris is an indefatigable woman in her search for belonging, contrasting sharply to her twin Floyd, an introspective, stooped horse-lover. Together they journey from the lowlands (clearly meaning Tasmania) to the highlands of Australia in search of work. Neither location is explicitly named, but there are clues left here and there. The same goes for the time period (early 1900s). Throughout their journey, nature descriptions bloom in gorgeous prose, whilst the twins and the reader falls in love for the varied landscape and its wildlife.
This is a short book that can be read in one or two days. The plot is simple but effective, with many nuances that require some knowledge of Australian history for full appreciation, whilst remaining accessible to non-native Australians. The cast of characters is great! From them, Lydia is my favourite, and she represents the First Nations people who were expelled, killed, abused or pushed to the fringes of the colonies. This is not explicitly stated but implied, therefore drawing on knowledge of Australian history. An interesting aspect briefly touched on is the fact pumas are not native to Australia, leading to an intelligent commentary on colonial introduction. A subtle irony. To clarify, Arnott does not lecture; he leaves clues and information in the prose, and the only thing left for the reader to do is pay attention and reflect. I even learnt how to cut peat and discovered that grog is peat wine, which makes me wonder if Tolkien borrowed the term for his orc-fuelled beverage (intriguing and problematic).
As the story progresses, Arnott’s narrative becomes more intense, with splashes of thriller. By the end, I had goosebumps. It was this good. His mastery in storytelling, where every small nuance is connected and "explained", or at least remains relevant, is evident. I would highly recommend this for a book-club choice, as themes of colonialism, conservation , the twins’ bond, First Nations people, power dynamics and so much more, fodder for a rich discussion. Ultimately, Dusk is a compelling and engrossing read that pounces with claws bared and a deafening roar.
Rating: 4.0/5
Disclaimer: I received an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
November 23, 2024
This man could write a toaster manual and it would be a good read.
October 8, 2024
This book was nothing short of amazing. I’m sitting here at 12:53 am just pondering about the whole book while my worries of the world (and work starting at 7 am tomorrow) are quietly being swept under the carpet to make room for my thoughts 🥲
I don’t think I can quite write a coherent review on this lyrical and poetic story. It’s nothing like I’ve ever read before - both in terms of plot and narrative. Robbie Arnott writes soft and beautiful prose while still hitting the mark with unflinching honesty. I was engrossed the whole length of the book. The luscious flora and fauna descriptions in this also made it the perfect autumn book to curl up with in the late chilly nights of October. It’s a beautiful and sad and (at times) dark story, but in itself is a quiet tale of a pair of twins trying to find a place to belong. The brutality of the story coupled with the gentle writing is something so otherworldly. This is definitely a book that will stick with readers for a very long time.
The story will take you on a journey of loss and love. I might be biased, but I love anything with twins in it! I’m a twin myself, so the palpable connection and closeness between Iris and Floyd makes my heart melt a little every time. Robbie Arnott completely nailed their relationship, which at its core reveal the fierce protectiveness both siblings possess for one another, even through the toughest circumstances. I could not have related to this more.
In a word, this book is enthralling. I’ll be recommending this book for days and months and years to come.
Thank you so much to Pan Macmillan for sending over an ARC of my new favorite book 🤍
I don’t think I can quite write a coherent review on this lyrical and poetic story. It’s nothing like I’ve ever read before - both in terms of plot and narrative. Robbie Arnott writes soft and beautiful prose while still hitting the mark with unflinching honesty. I was engrossed the whole length of the book. The luscious flora and fauna descriptions in this also made it the perfect autumn book to curl up with in the late chilly nights of October. It’s a beautiful and sad and (at times) dark story, but in itself is a quiet tale of a pair of twins trying to find a place to belong. The brutality of the story coupled with the gentle writing is something so otherworldly. This is definitely a book that will stick with readers for a very long time.
The story will take you on a journey of loss and love. I might be biased, but I love anything with twins in it! I’m a twin myself, so the palpable connection and closeness between Iris and Floyd makes my heart melt a little every time. Robbie Arnott completely nailed their relationship, which at its core reveal the fierce protectiveness both siblings possess for one another, even through the toughest circumstances. I could not have related to this more.
In a word, this book is enthralling. I’ll be recommending this book for days and months and years to come.
Thank you so much to Pan Macmillan for sending over an ARC of my new favorite book 🤍
August 18, 2025
Favorite book of the year for me so far. Unputdownable from start to finish. The story centers around twin siblings, Iris and Floyd, who set off on horseback into the highlands of what I believe is Tasmania, in search of work. Scattered throughout, we learn about the twins' background and how they've arrived in a situation where they need to find work to survive.
There is a bounty on the head of a puma, the locals named Dusk, who is killing all the livestock, as well as some unfortunate people who were out hunting her. As we watch the twins skirt around rugged, dangerous terrain and deal with shady unwelcoming people, the tension mounts to the last sentence. In contrast, the tenderness the twins show to each other is heartwarming, especially as we learn they were rarely shown any kindness themselves.
"She walked past the rows of horses, stopping to nicker at hers, to warm a palm on its cheek, before coming out into the light of the yard".
The prose is stunning and evocative throughout. I highly recommend reading this modern-day masterpiece. Many thanks to NetGalley and Astrahouse for this ARC.
There is a bounty on the head of a puma, the locals named Dusk, who is killing all the livestock, as well as some unfortunate people who were out hunting her. As we watch the twins skirt around rugged, dangerous terrain and deal with shady unwelcoming people, the tension mounts to the last sentence. In contrast, the tenderness the twins show to each other is heartwarming, especially as we learn they were rarely shown any kindness themselves.
"She walked past the rows of horses, stopping to nicker at hers, to warm a palm on its cheek, before coming out into the light of the yard".
The prose is stunning and evocative throughout. I highly recommend reading this modern-day masterpiece. Many thanks to NetGalley and Astrahouse for this ARC.
December 16, 2024
“First she spotted the birds. Pulses of feathered texture in the nearest stand of trees: silvereyes, grey wrens, flame-chested robins. Clawed onto the upper branches was a gang of black cockatoos, ripping seed cones apart with the curved blades of their beaks, their yellow tail feathers flashing with the work. High above them all floated a pair of eagles, dark as death, arcing serenely through the weak clouds.”
Dusk is the fourth novel by award-wining Australian author, Robbie Arnott. Thirty-seven-year-old twins, Iris and Floyd Renshaw, out of work, low on cash, and mostly unwelcome in the lowlands, are headed up to the highland plains. They have heard there’s a bounty on the puma that’s up there killing sheep, shepherds and anyone hunting for her, even a certain Patagonian professional. Not that they have experience, much of a plan, or a suitable weapon. And Floyd’s physical condition can be variable.
But when they arrive, Iris feels an immediate connection with the highlands. “Instead of harshness or bleakness she felt a freeing, lung-emptying openness that bounced off the hard stone, that waved through the thick mounds of tufted grass, threaded through the gnarled trees, fell down the chalky textures of the small tors she and Floyd rode below. That lived most of all in the tarns that appeared without warning, rising through the rock, pooling in her peripheries, dark and glossy and mirror-like.”
Encounters and incidents during their journey bring to mind a somewhat troubled childhood with their escaped-convict parents, whose care could be erratic, whose notorious reputation tainted the twins, the mixed emotions attached to good memories and bad: “… the truth of what they had done wasn’t the truth of all that they were.”
When Iris rides west to earn some coin cutting peat, she learns a bit more about the puma they call Dusk, and that not everyone wants her dead. In Rossdale, news of yet another victim may put the bounty in doubt, but does nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of a certain charismatic individual for the hunt. Patrick Lees somehow convinces Iris: what can Floyd do, but reluctantly go along. “Floyd came to see that the greatest gift of his life was that he spent it riding by her side, and that the troubles they faced were worth it, and would always be worth it, if you had a sister like Iris.”
But when the three arrive high up where the rivers begin, where they are confident they will find the cat, a surprise awaits them, and things don’t at all go according to plan.
Arnott gives the reader a plot that takes a turn or two before a heart-thumping climax (or two), and protagonist twins who can read each other intimately and are deeply devoted: “A distilled terror drenched his broken body; he couldn’t watch what was happening, and neither could he look away. He felt he was coming to an end of all things, not merely in his life but in the life of the universe, for without Iris there was nothing – no reality that held him alive and not her.”
Arnott’s language is never a blunt tool, but gorgeous prose, rich and lyrical,. Whether a phrase, a sentence or a paragraph, it is exquisite, as these examples demonstrate: “… through the golden wattles while their last flowers still brightened the air. All that divine colour might have felt like an omen: heaven leaking between the trees” and “… watching the moon glow to life and pour its cold light onto the rippled sea” and “Rock and water had come to dominate the landscape: broken boulders fields of snow, mossy stones, mirror tarns and among it all little rivulets, trickling through the land as glassy arteries.” Once again, Robbie Arnott does not disappoint.
Dusk is the fourth novel by award-wining Australian author, Robbie Arnott. Thirty-seven-year-old twins, Iris and Floyd Renshaw, out of work, low on cash, and mostly unwelcome in the lowlands, are headed up to the highland plains. They have heard there’s a bounty on the puma that’s up there killing sheep, shepherds and anyone hunting for her, even a certain Patagonian professional. Not that they have experience, much of a plan, or a suitable weapon. And Floyd’s physical condition can be variable.
But when they arrive, Iris feels an immediate connection with the highlands. “Instead of harshness or bleakness she felt a freeing, lung-emptying openness that bounced off the hard stone, that waved through the thick mounds of tufted grass, threaded through the gnarled trees, fell down the chalky textures of the small tors she and Floyd rode below. That lived most of all in the tarns that appeared without warning, rising through the rock, pooling in her peripheries, dark and glossy and mirror-like.”
Encounters and incidents during their journey bring to mind a somewhat troubled childhood with their escaped-convict parents, whose care could be erratic, whose notorious reputation tainted the twins, the mixed emotions attached to good memories and bad: “… the truth of what they had done wasn’t the truth of all that they were.”
When Iris rides west to earn some coin cutting peat, she learns a bit more about the puma they call Dusk, and that not everyone wants her dead. In Rossdale, news of yet another victim may put the bounty in doubt, but does nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of a certain charismatic individual for the hunt. Patrick Lees somehow convinces Iris: what can Floyd do, but reluctantly go along. “Floyd came to see that the greatest gift of his life was that he spent it riding by her side, and that the troubles they faced were worth it, and would always be worth it, if you had a sister like Iris.”
But when the three arrive high up where the rivers begin, where they are confident they will find the cat, a surprise awaits them, and things don’t at all go according to plan.
Arnott gives the reader a plot that takes a turn or two before a heart-thumping climax (or two), and protagonist twins who can read each other intimately and are deeply devoted: “A distilled terror drenched his broken body; he couldn’t watch what was happening, and neither could he look away. He felt he was coming to an end of all things, not merely in his life but in the life of the universe, for without Iris there was nothing – no reality that held him alive and not her.”
Arnott’s language is never a blunt tool, but gorgeous prose, rich and lyrical,. Whether a phrase, a sentence or a paragraph, it is exquisite, as these examples demonstrate: “… through the golden wattles while their last flowers still brightened the air. All that divine colour might have felt like an omen: heaven leaking between the trees” and “… watching the moon glow to life and pour its cold light onto the rippled sea” and “Rock and water had come to dominate the landscape: broken boulders fields of snow, mossy stones, mirror tarns and among it all little rivulets, trickling through the land as glassy arteries.” Once again, Robbie Arnott does not disappoint.
October 14, 2024
the ending gave me a headache cos i was clenching my jaw in stress.
March 22, 2025
I love strange, short books that somehow make me feel every existing emotion deep in my core
February 24, 2025
“First she spotted the birds. Pulses of feathered texture in the nearest stand of trees: silvereyes, grey wrens, flame-chested robins. Clawed onto the upper branches was a gang of black cockatoos, ripping seed cones apart with the curved blades of their beaks, their yellow tail feathers flashing with the work. High above them all floated a pair of eagles, dark as death, arcing serenely through the weak clouds.”
Dusk is the fourth novel by award-wining Australian author, Robbie Arnott. The audio version is narrated by Zoe Carides. Thirty-seven-year-old twins, Iris and Floyd Renshaw, out of work, low on cash, and mostly unwelcome in the lowlands, are headed up to the highland plains. They have heard there’s a bounty on the puma that’s up there killing sheep, shepherds and anyone hunting for her, even a certain Patagonian professional. Not that they have experience, much of a plan, or a suitable weapon. And Floyd’s physical condition can be variable.
But when they arrive, Iris feels an immediate connection with the highlands. “Instead of harshness or bleakness she felt a freeing, lung-emptying openness that bounced off the hard stone, that waved through the thick mounds of tufted grass, threaded through the gnarled trees, fell down the chalky textures of the small tors she and Floyd rode below. That lived most of all in the tarns that appeared without warning, rising through the rock, pooling in her peripheries, dark and glossy and mirror-like.”
Encounters and incidents during their journey bring to mind a somewhat troubled childhood with their escaped-convict parents, whose care could be erratic, whose notorious reputation tainted the twins, the mixed emotions attached to good memories and bad: “… the truth of what they had done wasn’t the truth of all that they were.”
When Iris rides west to earn some coin cutting peat, she learns a bit more about the puma they call Dusk, and that not everyone wants her dead. In Rossdale, news of yet another victim may put the bounty in doubt, but does nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of a certain charismatic individual for the hunt. Patrick Lees somehow convinces Iris: what can Floyd do, but reluctantly go along. “Floyd came to see that the greatest gift of his life was that he spent it riding by her side, and that the troubles they faced were worth it, and would always be worth it, if you had a sister like Iris.”
But when the three arrive high up where the rivers begin, where they are confident they will find the cat, a surprise awaits them, and things don’t at all go according to plan.
Arnott gives the reader a plot that takes a turn or two before a heart-thumping climax (or two), and protagonist twins who can read each other intimately and are deeply devoted: “A distilled terror drenched his broken body; he couldn’t watch what was happening, and neither could he look away. He felt he was coming to an end of all things, not merely in his life but in the life of the universe, for without Iris there was nothing – no reality that held him alive and not her.”
Arnott’s language is never a blunt tool, but gorgeous prose, rich and lyrical,. Whether a phrase, a sentence or a paragraph, it is exquisite, as these examples demonstrate: “… through the golden wattles while their last flowers still brightened the air. All that divine colour might have felt like an omen: heaven leaking between the trees” and “… watching the moon glow to life and pour its cold light onto the rippled sea” and “Rock and water had come to dominate the landscape: broken boulders fields of snow, mossy stones, mirror tarns and among it all little rivulets, trickling through the land as glassy arteries.” Once again, Robbie Arnott does not disappoint.
Dusk is the fourth novel by award-wining Australian author, Robbie Arnott. The audio version is narrated by Zoe Carides. Thirty-seven-year-old twins, Iris and Floyd Renshaw, out of work, low on cash, and mostly unwelcome in the lowlands, are headed up to the highland plains. They have heard there’s a bounty on the puma that’s up there killing sheep, shepherds and anyone hunting for her, even a certain Patagonian professional. Not that they have experience, much of a plan, or a suitable weapon. And Floyd’s physical condition can be variable.
But when they arrive, Iris feels an immediate connection with the highlands. “Instead of harshness or bleakness she felt a freeing, lung-emptying openness that bounced off the hard stone, that waved through the thick mounds of tufted grass, threaded through the gnarled trees, fell down the chalky textures of the small tors she and Floyd rode below. That lived most of all in the tarns that appeared without warning, rising through the rock, pooling in her peripheries, dark and glossy and mirror-like.”
Encounters and incidents during their journey bring to mind a somewhat troubled childhood with their escaped-convict parents, whose care could be erratic, whose notorious reputation tainted the twins, the mixed emotions attached to good memories and bad: “… the truth of what they had done wasn’t the truth of all that they were.”
When Iris rides west to earn some coin cutting peat, she learns a bit more about the puma they call Dusk, and that not everyone wants her dead. In Rossdale, news of yet another victim may put the bounty in doubt, but does nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of a certain charismatic individual for the hunt. Patrick Lees somehow convinces Iris: what can Floyd do, but reluctantly go along. “Floyd came to see that the greatest gift of his life was that he spent it riding by her side, and that the troubles they faced were worth it, and would always be worth it, if you had a sister like Iris.”
But when the three arrive high up where the rivers begin, where they are confident they will find the cat, a surprise awaits them, and things don’t at all go according to plan.
Arnott gives the reader a plot that takes a turn or two before a heart-thumping climax (or two), and protagonist twins who can read each other intimately and are deeply devoted: “A distilled terror drenched his broken body; he couldn’t watch what was happening, and neither could he look away. He felt he was coming to an end of all things, not merely in his life but in the life of the universe, for without Iris there was nothing – no reality that held him alive and not her.”
Arnott’s language is never a blunt tool, but gorgeous prose, rich and lyrical,. Whether a phrase, a sentence or a paragraph, it is exquisite, as these examples demonstrate: “… through the golden wattles while their last flowers still brightened the air. All that divine colour might have felt like an omen: heaven leaking between the trees” and “… watching the moon glow to life and pour its cold light onto the rippled sea” and “Rock and water had come to dominate the landscape: broken boulders fields of snow, mossy stones, mirror tarns and among it all little rivulets, trickling through the land as glassy arteries.” Once again, Robbie Arnott does not disappoint.
December 19, 2025
It's kind of poetic that I started off the year with Arnott's The Rain Heron and now am finishing it off with his latest novel Dusk. He is definitely a writer I want to read more of. I liked Dusk quite a bit, however, not as much as The Rain Heron, which I consider one of the best books I've read this year.
Dusk is the story of a brother and sister in 19th century Tasmania. It's a kind of Australian western, but with fantastical flourishes that I am beginning to understand is part of Arnott's style. The story is quite simple. The siblings travel into the highlands seeking the bounty on a puma that has been ravaging the population. They encounter difficulties and setbacks along the way, of course. But this story is much more than that.
This is a story that delves deeply into the legacy of family. How does one escape the spectre of one's parents, especially if the parents left a legacy of degeneracy and crime? Why do we stay loyal to siblings that don't always give us what we need? What, in fact, do we need if we've never had anything? Arnott considers all these things without being overly ponderous. He's really very skillful.
Recommended.
Dusk is the story of a brother and sister in 19th century Tasmania. It's a kind of Australian western, but with fantastical flourishes that I am beginning to understand is part of Arnott's style. The story is quite simple. The siblings travel into the highlands seeking the bounty on a puma that has been ravaging the population. They encounter difficulties and setbacks along the way, of course. But this story is much more than that.
This is a story that delves deeply into the legacy of family. How does one escape the spectre of one's parents, especially if the parents left a legacy of degeneracy and crime? Why do we stay loyal to siblings that don't always give us what we need? What, in fact, do we need if we've never had anything? Arnott considers all these things without being overly ponderous. He's really very skillful.
Recommended.
August 2, 2025
A gritty and yet magical "western" story of a brother and sister finding their way in a brutal, unforgiving, and beautiful (presumably Tasmanian) landscape. A unique and moving novel of love and endurance that's tightly, yet poetically, writte and that reminds me of NORTH WOODS...but also of works by Jonathan Evison, Frederick Manfred and A.B Guthrie.
I discovered DUSK (and the author) earlier this year on a road trip in Tasmania...and saw the book recommended at every bookstore I visited. I would have bought it there if I'd been traveling with more than a carry-on...and if I hadn't seen that this U.S. edition was coming. I don't understand why this gifted and versatile writer doesn't appear to have a large audience here. He certainly deserves it.
I discovered DUSK (and the author) earlier this year on a road trip in Tasmania...and saw the book recommended at every bookstore I visited. I would have bought it there if I'd been traveling with more than a carry-on...and if I hadn't seen that this U.S. edition was coming. I don't understand why this gifted and versatile writer doesn't appear to have a large audience here. He certainly deserves it.
March 17, 2025
I had read reviews of Arnott’s books on Goodreads by friends whose opinions I valued. I had heard the author interviewed on the ABC so, being a fan of Australian literature, I thought I would dip into Dusk. I am glad I did.
I am a fan of a number of Tasmanian authors, Richard Flanagan, Heather Rose, Amanda Lohrey and Beth Roberts. Tasmania is such an ideal place to set novels where the bush is the backdrop. Flanagan’s “The Sound of One Hand Clapping” comes to mind. A wild uncontrolled country, with high peaks, thick mystery filled forests, and wild tea-coloured, deep, fast flowing rivers.
I recently read Jack Serong’s ‘Cherrywood’ I found that both these books have similarities, one set-in inner-city Melbourne and the other in the wilds of the Tasmanian highlands. Where the similarities lie is in their command of descriptive language, a fantastical story created in their vivid minds.
The protagonists are twins, brother and sister, Iris and Floyd. Their parents were gypsy types who dragged their children across the countryside ecking out a living through fowl and criminal means. The now thirty seven year old twins seek sustenance through honest work asking only a balanced reward for their labours.
Arnott has a love of animals, the animal in this story is a puma (also known as a cougar). Its natural environment are the mountains of the north and south American continents. Adult males can reach around 2.4 m from nose to tip of tail, and a body weight typically up to 100 kg. They have powerful forequarters, necks, and jaws which help grasp and hold prey. They have four retractable claws on their paws. Big cats have often been part of Australian urban and rural myths.
There is a bounty on the animal, especially after it attacked and killed some of its pursuers. For this animal to actually seek out human kills is somewhat far fetched but then that is the essence of Arnott’s story.
Arnott has fine literary skills, his prose is captivating both in the setting descriptions and in character construction. Also, he has written an enticing story with crises, anti-climax, near escapes, and a spectacular ending.
I thought the book cover captured the colours, sky and river valley beautifully.
I am a fan of a number of Tasmanian authors, Richard Flanagan, Heather Rose, Amanda Lohrey and Beth Roberts. Tasmania is such an ideal place to set novels where the bush is the backdrop. Flanagan’s “The Sound of One Hand Clapping” comes to mind. A wild uncontrolled country, with high peaks, thick mystery filled forests, and wild tea-coloured, deep, fast flowing rivers.
I recently read Jack Serong’s ‘Cherrywood’ I found that both these books have similarities, one set-in inner-city Melbourne and the other in the wilds of the Tasmanian highlands. Where the similarities lie is in their command of descriptive language, a fantastical story created in their vivid minds.
The protagonists are twins, brother and sister, Iris and Floyd. Their parents were gypsy types who dragged their children across the countryside ecking out a living through fowl and criminal means. The now thirty seven year old twins seek sustenance through honest work asking only a balanced reward for their labours.
Arnott has a love of animals, the animal in this story is a puma (also known as a cougar). Its natural environment are the mountains of the north and south American continents. Adult males can reach around 2.4 m from nose to tip of tail, and a body weight typically up to 100 kg. They have powerful forequarters, necks, and jaws which help grasp and hold prey. They have four retractable claws on their paws. Big cats have often been part of Australian urban and rural myths.
There is a bounty on the animal, especially after it attacked and killed some of its pursuers. For this animal to actually seek out human kills is somewhat far fetched but then that is the essence of Arnott’s story.
Arnott has fine literary skills, his prose is captivating both in the setting descriptions and in character construction. Also, he has written an enticing story with crises, anti-climax, near escapes, and a spectacular ending.
I thought the book cover captured the colours, sky and river valley beautifully.
August 9, 2024
In the beautiful language style Robbie Arnott is known for, we are given a thoughtful, at times tense, and at other times warm story of brother and sister Floyd and Irish Renshaw. With beautiful descriptions and a masterful construction of story, we learn more about the twins, their lives, thier hopes and desires in little bits and pieces, cumalating in a reader anxiousness that they get everything they hope for. And let's not forget Dusk. A presence that scares, intimidates, and yet offers even more.
July 10, 2025
Loved this novel about man vs nature! Arnott writes beautifully about Tasmanian nature and even though I seldom like historical stories, this was interesting, full of suspense and right up my alley.
Thank you Chatto & Windus and Netgalley UK for the ARC
Thank you Chatto & Windus and Netgalley UK for the ARC
April 1, 2025
Enjoyed this even more than Limberlost! Was lovely to have a book I really looked forward to reading each night before bed, and inevitably read for far longer than I intended. That ending!
February 10, 2025
There is immense potential offered by the beguiling characters and setting of this novel. Arnott’s prose is very capable and gorgeous. There are some truly beautiful passages within this novel. However, Dusk is weighed down by its cliched third act, filled with numerous adventure tropes that - mostly due to this being advertised as a work of “literary fiction” - I couldn’t believe Arnott kept leaning upon.
In many many ways, this reads like a extraordinarily well written novelisation of a TRPG campaign that Arnott ran as GM and was particularly enamoured with. It is certainly a good campaign at that; I would love to play it. Love to find myself immersed in that world. Two mysterious twins with a roguish backstory, very little in their inventories, embarking on a simple but dangerous quest, meeting numerous NPC’s (all - of course - strikingly relevant to the plot) and exploring an inspiring, fog-filled, marshy not-quite-Tasmania.
Unfortunately, once the third act begins, the whole party keep rolling low numbers and this Game Master has somewhere to be after this, he’s no longer acting out NPC dialogue or letting me and my fellow party member have important exchanges of dialogue, he is instead telling us what is said, and launching from trope to trope in order to wrap this one-shot up before midnight.
Once Arnott The GM leaves my house, I’m left feeling like some of the stunning description of landscape through the first few hours of our session together could have been spared for an actually fleshed out climax, and answers to some of the most exciting questions I had about his world. (Tell me more about the bones! The BONES!?)
I wanted to love this, and I think maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but three things are true and honestly I think they reflect pretty highly upon this book:
1) This will be an incredible film in ~5 years time. No doubt the script is already being written. As Lloyd: the new gruff Aussie Man Actor of the Moment. As Iris: an Australian actress well-established for her comedic work, taking a surprisingly dramatic turn. It will be a boon for Tasmanian tourism.
2) (Slight spoiler) Those Pages towards the end were a fascinating exploration of the form of the novel and they stopped me in my tracks.
3) I gave this book to my grandmother for Christmas. She loved it. Spoke to me lots about it. I read her copy after hers specifically to connect to her about it. Today is 4 years since her husband, my Pa, passed away. I will call her today to tell her I’m thinking about her, and that I finished Dusk. I will tell her everything I liked about the book. I am grateful that she loved it enough to want me to read it. I am grateful that I read it.
In many many ways, this reads like a extraordinarily well written novelisation of a TRPG campaign that Arnott ran as GM and was particularly enamoured with. It is certainly a good campaign at that; I would love to play it. Love to find myself immersed in that world. Two mysterious twins with a roguish backstory, very little in their inventories, embarking on a simple but dangerous quest, meeting numerous NPC’s (all - of course - strikingly relevant to the plot) and exploring an inspiring, fog-filled, marshy not-quite-Tasmania.
Unfortunately, once the third act begins, the whole party keep rolling low numbers and this Game Master has somewhere to be after this, he’s no longer acting out NPC dialogue or letting me and my fellow party member have important exchanges of dialogue, he is instead telling us what is said, and launching from trope to trope in order to wrap this one-shot up before midnight.
Once Arnott The GM leaves my house, I’m left feeling like some of the stunning description of landscape through the first few hours of our session together could have been spared for an actually fleshed out climax, and answers to some of the most exciting questions I had about his world. (Tell me more about the bones! The BONES!?)
I wanted to love this, and I think maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but three things are true and honestly I think they reflect pretty highly upon this book:
1) This will be an incredible film in ~5 years time. No doubt the script is already being written. As Lloyd: the new gruff Aussie Man Actor of the Moment. As Iris: an Australian actress well-established for her comedic work, taking a surprisingly dramatic turn. It will be a boon for Tasmanian tourism.
2) (Slight spoiler) Those Pages towards the end were a fascinating exploration of the form of the novel and they stopped me in my tracks.
3) I gave this book to my grandmother for Christmas. She loved it. Spoke to me lots about it. I read her copy after hers specifically to connect to her about it. Today is 4 years since her husband, my Pa, passed away. I will call her today to tell her I’m thinking about her, and that I finished Dusk. I will tell her everything I liked about the book. I am grateful that she loved it enough to want me to read it. I am grateful that I read it.
August 1, 2025
Twins, Iris and Floyd, live a rather nomadic life — traveling around for work. When they hear of a large bounty set for a puma (named Dusk by the locals) that is killing shepherds, they head towards the search area, reluctant and resigned to join the hunt.
While I'm still enamored with Arnott's The Rain Heron, Dusk was a steady and compelling story. Excavating Iris's and Floyd's characters, both as a sibling set and as individuals, proved to be the highlight of the book. Iris's point of view dominates the tale, alongside what is essentially a road trip, with the watchful but unseen eye of the puma hovering over the whole proceedings.
Arnott's ghostly setting, made of a cloud of stirred-up dust emulating a classic Western motif, makes for the perfect palette for scratching out the twins' back story directly onto the red earth. Timeless, meditative, and at times dreamlike, Dusk becomes a tale of redemption and sacrifice, beauty and ugliness, and life and death.
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.
While I'm still enamored with Arnott's The Rain Heron, Dusk was a steady and compelling story. Excavating Iris's and Floyd's characters, both as a sibling set and as individuals, proved to be the highlight of the book. Iris's point of view dominates the tale, alongside what is essentially a road trip, with the watchful but unseen eye of the puma hovering over the whole proceedings.
Arnott's ghostly setting, made of a cloud of stirred-up dust emulating a classic Western motif, makes for the perfect palette for scratching out the twins' back story directly onto the red earth. Timeless, meditative, and at times dreamlike, Dusk becomes a tale of redemption and sacrifice, beauty and ugliness, and life and death.
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.
November 3, 2024
Robbie Arnott’s writing has an effortless and distinct quality to it that draws me right in. This is a colonial adventure novel where the landscape is a character, at times so real it’s breathtaking, at others reimagined and constructed, all its own. The weary Renshaw twins are moving north looking for work and an elusive puma with a taste for human flesh. As the terrain transforms so too does their understanding of the land they are on and the violence perpetuated on it. This is Robbie Arnott terrain and he does it so well. The ending felt like pure catharsis. Robbie’s writing always makes me look at landscape in an entirely new way, nothing escapes his eye. So glad to be a reader while he’s a writer.
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