The Clinking

by Susie Greenhill

From Richell Prize-winning debut author Susie Greenhill comes a tender and profoundly moving exploration of life and loss.

In the early morning, Elena woke as Orla pulled back the doona and climbed into their bed. She unfolded Elena's fingers and pressed a tiny model penguin into her hand. Still half asleep, Elena rolled over. Outside the window, black cockatoos were dropping wattle galls onto the street. The room was silent, the dawn light dull and grey. And Tom was gone . . .

In the not-too-distant future on the island of lutruwita, where the seas glow blue with bioluminescence and ancient forests wither in the heat, a young family are caught in the eye of a storm.

As an ecologist working on extinctions, Tom knows the world he loves is unravelling around him. He cares deeply for his wife Elena, a journalist, and their daughter Orla, but he is haunted by disappearing species and the news of bushfires, floods and famine. In his mind, the damage done to the Earth has tipped into the irreversible. Elena can only watch helplessly as Tom's grief consumes him. And then, one day, Tom vanishes.

Alone, Elena asks herself, 'How can I be a mother to my child in this world?' In the remote south-west wilderness, she sets out to find answers and the hope she needs for herself and her daughter. But is there hope left to find?

Genres: Fiction

Unknown Binding

First published February 26, 2025

Reviews

[Anne Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Clinking” has been described as an “ecological love story” and while it is a love story between two people, on the ecological level it depicts the catastrophic outcome of man’s lack of love for the natural world. In the dystopian world of the novel the all too foreseeable consequences of global warming are now a reality. Set in Tasmania, the environment as we know it is irreversibly spoiled, rising sea levels have already destroyed habitats, both human and animal, food and water supplies are becoming exhausted, extreme weather events such as cataclysmic storms, floods and fires have wiped out huge areas across the world and climate influenced extinctions of species are becoming a daily occurrence.

Tom is an ecologist specialising in the effects of natural disasters on flora and fauna and is distraught at the irreversible losses he’s witnessing and the erosion of the future they represent. He is rapidly losing hope that his work can make any difference. His wife Elena, a journalist, is alarmed that he seems to be alienating himself from her and their young daughter Orla and she is helpless to mitigate his grief. Her fears appear confirmed when one day he abruptly disappears from their lives. From that point the story charts Elena’s journey with Orla and Tom’s best friend across the country in search of her missing husband. Each chapter is introduced by a short passage exploring different scenarios of living organisms and their environment, variously endangered by climate change.

Greenhill, herself a Tasmanian, writes with a deep understanding of the fragile ecology of Tasmania. Her prose is lyrical and moving to the extent the reader becomes deeply invested in the fate of not only this one small family, but the escalating crisis that consumes a world all too frighteningly hovering on the brink of reality. My only reservation is the book’s title which, while it ties in with an ominous sound mentioned several times, strikes me as jarring and clunky.

[Caitlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars

ARC courtesy of hachette Australia

The Clinking tells the story of a near-future Australia experiencing an ecological collapse through the eyes of Elena and Orla searching for their father/husband who disappeared. Tom has been watching the world fall apart around him, powerless to make any real impact despite his research, and his grief for his child’s future has become too much to bear. The Clinking explores the consequences of a world ravaged by natural disasters, species extinctions and climate change. This story is more important than ever before and I appreciate how much passion the author clearly has for this issue.

This book consistently knocked me off my feet with its prose. Every word in every sentence is chosen mindfully and the way the environment is described is incredibly vivid. The dystopia the author has built gracefully toes the line between otherworldly and a little too close to home. Despite being on the shorter side I think this book is best digested over a few sittings.

This book employs a non-linear timelines of events, jumping between past and present which is a technique I generally enjoy. The author used this technique to explore how the environment degraded over time, how the powers that be failed to identify warnings signs, and how much space the state of the world took up in Tom’s mind. Tom’s grief and anguish over his failure to do more in his role as an ecologist is detailed, specially how this effected his role as a father and husband, but I think an opportunity was missed with the jumping timeline. Tom’s grief is omnipresent but I wish we saw it ebb and flow more leading up to the present narrative. Overall I think the depiction of grief is very powerful and does a great job at making the reader consider how grief manifests and effects relationships. The topic of choosing to have children in a dying world is also delicately explored and, again, encourages the reader to think critically about climate change.

Unfortunately, other than Tom, nothing stands out about the characters in this book. I feel most attached to characters when I am constantly learning about them but I didn’t get that from The Clinking. I also would’ve loved to see more of Orla’s perspective of Tom (besides him leaving) and how nature’s decline impeded his ability to be a father. I just struggled to keep picking this book back up, I’m not sure if I wasn’t in the right mood so I am considering trying to read it again in the future.

Overall I think the message of The Clinking strikes true and Susie Greenhill is clearly an immensely talented author.

[N.Gaffield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful writing

Susie Greenhill is such an elegant prose writer. This book is achingly beautiful. Exploring themes of extinction it is all too believable. What to do.,how to live in such a world?

[Sam Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great, albeit grim read.

While some cli-fi requires suspension of disbelief - The Clinking felt hauntingly realistic / plausible.

Descriptions of the Tasmanian landscape and ecology were sublime.

[Linda Cockburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, incredibly evocative of the Tasmanian landscape. It explores climate grief till it washes over you like a wave.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel sits in a near-future Tasmania, one where species extinctions are well underway and wild weather events are ravaging the land, while societal structures are fraying around the edges and becoming dangerous to live amidst. Its lyrical language pays deep respect to the natural world through detailed descriptions of flora and fauna in a way that makes treasure of what remains, and looks at the ways in which bearing witness to the loss of the natural world wears down the human spirit of those invested in caring about the life on this planet. It looks at the world through the lens of ecological science, radical climate activism, and parenthood. It is also a story about mental health, loss, and seeking solace in the wilderness.

[Tania Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a haunting, sad but breathtakingly beautifully written story..
Set in the not so distant ‘present’, ecological disaster is ‘here’ - weaved into the layers of the story itself is a sense of deep understanding of place, the layers of connection that weave between the past and present and all living things.
I was swept away in the landscape, the human characters were a part of rather than apart from the environment in which they ‘lived’ - a book that is anchored in grief and despair but with glimpses of hope, joy taken in the small things.
This narrative will stay with me awhile -

[Maggie Lynk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this book. It's unlike any debut I have previously read. A dazzlingly intelligent, elegantly constructed and lyrical novel. Characters who you yearn to follow into the woods.

[Alex Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sad, and quite beautiful - hard to believe this is a debut novel. Sure, many writers get their great idea out in the first book - but not so many as as assured. Greenhill has a lovely poetic style, and her love of Tasmania and its beauty come through strongly. As does the awful sense of loss - both for the main character's husband, a climate scientist who has gone missing, as well as for the environment itself. The book is set in the near future, and the sense of impending doom we are experiencing now has well and truly tipped over the edge - while most of the book is spent searching for the scientist, we are pretty sure he is never coming back - and the reason for that is the existential despair of the scientist, who knows the world is never going to come back either. Superb, but not a holiday on the beach type of read.

The title really annoyed me - I searched myself to find why - perhaps its simply because it sounds like "clunking". She explains it as the sound of the currawongs calling (the grey currawongs in Tassie have quite a different call to the mainland ones) and normally bird references make me happy. I still hate it. But otherwise, her writing sings - highly recommended.

[Maaka Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I were more scientifically minded, with a grasp of the terminology and the flora & fauna of Tasmania Australia, I suspect I would have rated this book more highly. I often found myself pausing to look up names and references, which pulled me away from the story, making be feel somewhat inadequate. It’s a poignant and at times poetic read, filled with sadness yet undeniable beauty. The messages are powerful and necessary, a reminder of what we stand to lose (losing?), and a call to think on where on Earth we are heading.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

bleak book, annoying perfect people

There was no subtlety in this book. All the characters were annoyingly perfect, even in their flaws and then the ones who weren’t were stereotypically bad. Long monologues of despair about climate change. We get it. Even I long term environmental warrior felt like becoming a climate change denier after wading through it.

[Ruairi Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A complex love story amid a eulogy for Earth. The characters feel real and it features some lovely, evocative writing about the environment. To take one example: ‘The surface of the tarn was frozen, bubbles of oxygen sealed into a lens of frozen water.’

[Asha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbreaking.

[Ellie Nunan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ouch. I can’t get too deep about this book because I’m barely holding off my depression as it is. I desperately need to go bush.

[Bec Schafer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written book of something that is a heartbreakingly possible future in a warming world.

[Kirsten Chee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terribly sad, wonderfully researched, and spectacularly written story.