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The Better Son
Longlisted for the Indie Book Awards 20171952.
Tasmania. The green, rolling hills of the dairy town Mole Creek have a dark underside -- a labyrinthine underworld of tunnels that stretch for countless miles, caverns the size of cathedrals and underground rivers that flood after heavy rain. The caves are dangerous places, forbidden to children. But this is Tasmania -- an island at the end of the earth. Here, rules are made to be broken.
For two young brothers, a hidden cave a short walk from the family farm seems the perfect escape from their abusive, shell-shocked father -- until the older brother goes missing. Fearful of his father, nine-year-old Kip lies about what happened. It is a decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life.
Fifty years later, Kip -- now an award-winning scientist -- has a young son of his own, but cannot look at him without seeing his lost brother, Tommy. On a mission of atonement, he returns to the cave they called Kubla to discover if it's ever too late to set things right. To have a second chance. To be the father he never had.
The Better Son is a richly imaginative and universal story about the danger of secrets, the beauty in forgiveness and the enthralling power of Tasmania's unique natural landscapes.
Tasmania. The green, rolling hills of the dairy town Mole Creek have a dark underside -- a labyrinthine underworld of tunnels that stretch for countless miles, caverns the size of cathedrals and underground rivers that flood after heavy rain. The caves are dangerous places, forbidden to children. But this is Tasmania -- an island at the end of the earth. Here, rules are made to be broken.
For two young brothers, a hidden cave a short walk from the family farm seems the perfect escape from their abusive, shell-shocked father -- until the older brother goes missing. Fearful of his father, nine-year-old Kip lies about what happened. It is a decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life.
Fifty years later, Kip -- now an award-winning scientist -- has a young son of his own, but cannot look at him without seeing his lost brother, Tommy. On a mission of atonement, he returns to the cave they called Kubla to discover if it's ever too late to set things right. To have a second chance. To be the father he never had.
The Better Son is a richly imaginative and universal story about the danger of secrets, the beauty in forgiveness and the enthralling power of Tasmania's unique natural landscapes.
277 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2017
12 people are currently reading
462 people want to read
About the author
Katherine Johnson
69 books52 followersTasmanian writer Katherine Johnson is the author of four novels: Pescador's Wake (Fourth Estate 2009), The Better Son (Ventura Press 2016), Matryoshka (Ventura Press 2018) and Paris Savages (Ventura Press 2019, Allison and Busby UK 2020, Jimenez Edizioni Italy 2021 - published under the title Selvaggi).
Paris Savages, is based on the true story of three Aboriginal (Badtjala) people from Fraser Island, Queensland, who were transported to Europe in 1882 as ethnographic curiosities. It was shortlisted in the ABIA Awards 2020 and was The Times Historical Fiction Book of the Month (July 2020).
The Better Son tells the story of a family yearning for love but layered with secrets, and the price of a lie. Set in northern Tasmania’s cave country, The Better Son won the University of Tasmania Prize in 2013 (Tasmanian Literary Awards), the People's Choice Award (Tasmanian Literary Awards 2013), as well as a HarperCollins Varuna Award for Manuscript Development in 2013. The Better Son was Longlisted for the Australian Indie Book Awards and The Tasmania Book Prize (Premier’s Literary Awards).
Matryoshka is set against the beautiful backdrop of Tasmania and tells the story of secrets, refuge, and loves lost and found.
Pescador's Wake, set on the Southern Ocean and in Tasmania and Uruguay, won a HarperCollins Varuna Award for Manuscript Development in 2007.
Born in Brisbane, Queensland, Katherine Johnson now lives in Tasmania where she also works as a science journalist. Her non-fiction articles have been published in Good Weekend (Sydney Morning Herald), Ecos, The Conversation, Australasian Science, Island and Forty South.
Katherine Johnson has a Bachelor of Arts (Journalism), an honours degree in marine science and a PhD in creative writing. She is an Adjunct Researcher at the University of Tasmania, where she has taught creative writing.
Paris Savages, is based on the true story of three Aboriginal (Badtjala) people from Fraser Island, Queensland, who were transported to Europe in 1882 as ethnographic curiosities. It was shortlisted in the ABIA Awards 2020 and was The Times Historical Fiction Book of the Month (July 2020).
The Better Son tells the story of a family yearning for love but layered with secrets, and the price of a lie. Set in northern Tasmania’s cave country, The Better Son won the University of Tasmania Prize in 2013 (Tasmanian Literary Awards), the People's Choice Award (Tasmanian Literary Awards 2013), as well as a HarperCollins Varuna Award for Manuscript Development in 2013. The Better Son was Longlisted for the Australian Indie Book Awards and The Tasmania Book Prize (Premier’s Literary Awards).
Matryoshka is set against the beautiful backdrop of Tasmania and tells the story of secrets, refuge, and loves lost and found.
Pescador's Wake, set on the Southern Ocean and in Tasmania and Uruguay, won a HarperCollins Varuna Award for Manuscript Development in 2007.
Born in Brisbane, Queensland, Katherine Johnson now lives in Tasmania where she also works as a science journalist. Her non-fiction articles have been published in Good Weekend (Sydney Morning Herald), Ecos, The Conversation, Australasian Science, Island and Forty South.
Katherine Johnson has a Bachelor of Arts (Journalism), an honours degree in marine science and a PhD in creative writing. She is an Adjunct Researcher at the University of Tasmania, where she has taught creative writing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
August 18, 2021
The Better Son by Australian author Katherine Johnson was a book that took me by surprise in a good way. Having read a few reviews I knew this might be something I might like to read. I didn’t like it, I LOVED IT.
A heartbreaking story, but also a beautiful story that will be stay with readers for a long time after they have read it. After reading this book it’s easy to see why this book has won awards. Highly recommended.
A heartbreaking story, but also a beautiful story that will be stay with readers for a long time after they have read it. After reading this book it’s easy to see why this book has won awards. Highly recommended.
March 21, 2021
Kip and Tommy’s father favoured Tommy, belittled Kip and on occasion, beat him as well. Harold had been in the war and it had changed him. Now he and his wife Jess lived and worked on the farm in Mole Creek, Tasmania, with the two boys. Not far from the homestead was a labyrinth of caves and tunnels – many a local had been lost in them. Consequently, the boys were forbidden to enter them. But Tommy was eleven, Kip nine and they had no fear. Entering the caves was a game, one they’d always win. Until one day Kip returned without Tommy and fearful of his father, lied about what had happened…
Kip had left home as soon as he was able – his studying had paid off and as a scientist in Holland, his work was renown. It was fifty years since Tommy had gone missing, but guilt still crushed Kip. His wife Ilse and eleven-year-old son Rueben knew something bothered Kip but couldn’t reach him. When Kip decided to return to Tasmania and his old home, he was determined to right the wrongs in his life. But would he? Could he?
The Better Son by Aussie author Katherine Johnson was an excellent read. Gritty, intense, heartbreaking as Harold laid into Kip, as Kip shouldered responsibility and grief, as Jess grew more withdrawn. But there was also enlightenment, hope and fragile love blended through the story. One character I didn’t mention in my review, Squib, had my admiration and respect. I thoroughly enjoyed The Better Son and have no hesitation in recommending it highly. A great book of the month read!
Kip had left home as soon as he was able – his studying had paid off and as a scientist in Holland, his work was renown. It was fifty years since Tommy had gone missing, but guilt still crushed Kip. His wife Ilse and eleven-year-old son Rueben knew something bothered Kip but couldn’t reach him. When Kip decided to return to Tasmania and his old home, he was determined to right the wrongs in his life. But would he? Could he?
The Better Son by Aussie author Katherine Johnson was an excellent read. Gritty, intense, heartbreaking as Harold laid into Kip, as Kip shouldered responsibility and grief, as Jess grew more withdrawn. But there was also enlightenment, hope and fragile love blended through the story. One character I didn’t mention in my review, Squib, had my admiration and respect. I thoroughly enjoyed The Better Son and have no hesitation in recommending it highly. A great book of the month read!
December 13, 2021
Katherine Johnson's haunting novel about two young brothers living on a dairy farm who discover an unexplored cave system near Tasmania's Mole Creek has rightly won a number of awards. It is a tale of relationships between men and women and between parents and their children as well as the lasting damage that secrets and lies can cause far into the future.
In the 1950s nine year old Kip and eleven year old Tommy escape the temper of their father and the drudgery of farm work by roaming the hills and woods around their farm. When they discover an unexplored cave system they name it Kubla after the poetry their mother likes to read them. Tommy asks Kip to swear not to tell anyone about it, especially since they promised their mother they wouldn't go underground. One day Tommy doesn't return from playing in the woods and Kip is so terrified of his father, who is often violent towards him, that he lies about where Tommy went missing, an action that will haunt him for the rest of his life. Kip eventually escapes the farm and his bereaved parents to become a much respected international entymologist, but fifty years later returns to the farm to save his marriage by facing his past and finding out what happened to Tommy.
I enjoyed the way this novel was set out with a through exploration of the boys relationships with each other and their parents. Kip tries so hard to please his father, who returned from the war bitter and angry, but nothing he does will ever be good enough to match Tommy in his father's eyes. His mother is powerless to protect him from his father and their farmhand Squid does his best to keep Kip from harm and later will play an important role in helping Kip find redemption for his lie. The writing is rich and atmospheric, particularly the passages describing the caves and the boys' exploration of them and there is a constant feel of tension and impending danger both during Kip's childhood and on his return fifty years later.
In the 1950s nine year old Kip and eleven year old Tommy escape the temper of their father and the drudgery of farm work by roaming the hills and woods around their farm. When they discover an unexplored cave system they name it Kubla after the poetry their mother likes to read them. Tommy asks Kip to swear not to tell anyone about it, especially since they promised their mother they wouldn't go underground. One day Tommy doesn't return from playing in the woods and Kip is so terrified of his father, who is often violent towards him, that he lies about where Tommy went missing, an action that will haunt him for the rest of his life. Kip eventually escapes the farm and his bereaved parents to become a much respected international entymologist, but fifty years later returns to the farm to save his marriage by facing his past and finding out what happened to Tommy.
I enjoyed the way this novel was set out with a through exploration of the boys relationships with each other and their parents. Kip tries so hard to please his father, who returned from the war bitter and angry, but nothing he does will ever be good enough to match Tommy in his father's eyes. His mother is powerless to protect him from his father and their farmhand Squid does his best to keep Kip from harm and later will play an important role in helping Kip find redemption for his lie. The writing is rich and atmospheric, particularly the passages describing the caves and the boys' exploration of them and there is a constant feel of tension and impending danger both during Kip's childhood and on his return fifty years later.
February 11, 2021
4.5★
Set in Mole Creek, Tasmania, this is the story of two brothers - Tommy & Kip. It's the early 1950s and the boys escape both their chores and their somewhat dysfunctional family life by roaming freely on their dairy farm, hunting and exploring. When the boys discover a previously unknown cave (part of the extensive Mole Creek cave system) on their property, the time they spend there is precious and they resolve to keep the cave a secret. They escape there whenever they can, despite their promise to their beloved mother not to 'go underground'. When a tragic accident puts an end to their adventures in the cave, one of the boys tells a lie that will haunt him for the next 50 years.
I loved everything about this book, but I especially loved the way the author was able to maintain such a high level of tension throughout the entire story. There were so many secrets being kept in that small community! And then of course the cave with its inherent dangers was like a character in its own right, drawing people in, then not always letting them go...
Although I grew up in Tasmania, I have never bothered to stop at Mole Creek (actually I'm pretty sure my parents went there for their honeymoon back in the day) but now it has shot up to the top of my must-see list. And after I do, I daresay I will read this wonderful story again.
Set in Mole Creek, Tasmania, this is the story of two brothers - Tommy & Kip. It's the early 1950s and the boys escape both their chores and their somewhat dysfunctional family life by roaming freely on their dairy farm, hunting and exploring. When the boys discover a previously unknown cave (part of the extensive Mole Creek cave system) on their property, the time they spend there is precious and they resolve to keep the cave a secret. They escape there whenever they can, despite their promise to their beloved mother not to 'go underground'. When a tragic accident puts an end to their adventures in the cave, one of the boys tells a lie that will haunt him for the next 50 years.
I loved everything about this book, but I especially loved the way the author was able to maintain such a high level of tension throughout the entire story. There were so many secrets being kept in that small community! And then of course the cave with its inherent dangers was like a character in its own right, drawing people in, then not always letting them go...
Although I grew up in Tasmania, I have never bothered to stop at Mole Creek (actually I'm pretty sure my parents went there for their honeymoon back in the day) but now it has shot up to the top of my must-see list. And after I do, I daresay I will read this wonderful story again.
November 10, 2016
Drawing inspiration from the beautiful but sometimes dark and frightening landscape of Northern Tasmania, and inspired by the true story of James and Harry Byard, who are believed to have found and entered Marakoopa Cave in 1906 and kept their discovery a secret for four years, Katherine Johnson in this, her second novel, takes us on a tour through the picturesque Mole Creek district and its incredible caves, exploring the events that have impacted one man’s life since he was nine years old.
Opening in present day, we are introduced to Kip, almost sixty, who has made his way back to his hometown - a place he swore he’d never return to.
You see, in 1952, he and his older brother, Tom, discovered a cave not far from their dairy farm and, against their mother’s wishes, had taken to exploring the labyrinthine subterranean world that allowed them to be young, wild and free of the responsibilities and work that faced them at the farm.
For Kip, especially, it was an escape from a father who had returned from the war a violent, moody and abusive man and, even though his brother, Tommy, was loved and treated well by their father, it didn't affect the siblings' relationship with Kip treating him like a hero. Then, one day, something went terribly wrong and Kip had to return to the farm on his own!
The lie and tragedy surrounding that fateful day has coloured Kip's life so drastically that he has no choice but to make a journey of atonement in order to exorcise the grief and guilt he still feels so that he can mend his broken marriage and be a better father to his own son.
If I could give this novel 6 stars instead of the usual 5, I would, so it comes as no surprise to me that it has won a number of prizes including The Varuna HarperCollins Manuscript Development Award 2013 and has also been praised by Michelle de Kretser, winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2013.
With its dark past and vast amount of unsolved mysteries, Tasmania is the perfect place for Katherine Johnson to have set this story, with the caves in Mole Creek lending the tale a dark and unsettling atmosphere as she explores the emotions of her characters.
Although keenly felt by the reader, but not particularly graphic, Katherine perfectly captures the rejection, cruelty and abuse that is laid on young Kip by his father and I really empathised with his yearning for fatherly love which was palpably heart-breaking.
We are also treated to the perspective of Squid, the gentle farm worker, who remains behind long after Kip has fled, keeping an eye on his mother who we come to know through her dialogue with both her young sons and Squid, and who is kindness and tolerance personified.
Katherine’s storytelling is breathtaking and you will find yourself immersed in the bold and majestic landscape as she takes the time to note the world and all its lush details around her characters, making it a fully formed character in its own right.
Filled with sadness and despair, yet full of beauty and hope, this is a quietly told novel with muted colours, deeply sympathetic characterisation, a captivating plot, an evocative setting, and an emotional tone that had me reaching for the Kleenex a few times.
All in all, Katherine Johnson has given us a story about how secrets and undealt with grief and guilt can silently torment and pervade our lives. She is most definitely an author I’ll be keeping my eye on.
Opening in present day, we are introduced to Kip, almost sixty, who has made his way back to his hometown - a place he swore he’d never return to.
You see, in 1952, he and his older brother, Tom, discovered a cave not far from their dairy farm and, against their mother’s wishes, had taken to exploring the labyrinthine subterranean world that allowed them to be young, wild and free of the responsibilities and work that faced them at the farm.
For Kip, especially, it was an escape from a father who had returned from the war a violent, moody and abusive man and, even though his brother, Tommy, was loved and treated well by their father, it didn't affect the siblings' relationship with Kip treating him like a hero. Then, one day, something went terribly wrong and Kip had to return to the farm on his own!
The lie and tragedy surrounding that fateful day has coloured Kip's life so drastically that he has no choice but to make a journey of atonement in order to exorcise the grief and guilt he still feels so that he can mend his broken marriage and be a better father to his own son.
If I could give this novel 6 stars instead of the usual 5, I would, so it comes as no surprise to me that it has won a number of prizes including The Varuna HarperCollins Manuscript Development Award 2013 and has also been praised by Michelle de Kretser, winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2013.
With its dark past and vast amount of unsolved mysteries, Tasmania is the perfect place for Katherine Johnson to have set this story, with the caves in Mole Creek lending the tale a dark and unsettling atmosphere as she explores the emotions of her characters.
Although keenly felt by the reader, but not particularly graphic, Katherine perfectly captures the rejection, cruelty and abuse that is laid on young Kip by his father and I really empathised with his yearning for fatherly love which was palpably heart-breaking.
We are also treated to the perspective of Squid, the gentle farm worker, who remains behind long after Kip has fled, keeping an eye on his mother who we come to know through her dialogue with both her young sons and Squid, and who is kindness and tolerance personified.
Katherine’s storytelling is breathtaking and you will find yourself immersed in the bold and majestic landscape as she takes the time to note the world and all its lush details around her characters, making it a fully formed character in its own right.
Filled with sadness and despair, yet full of beauty and hope, this is a quietly told novel with muted colours, deeply sympathetic characterisation, a captivating plot, an evocative setting, and an emotional tone that had me reaching for the Kleenex a few times.
All in all, Katherine Johnson has given us a story about how secrets and undealt with grief and guilt can silently torment and pervade our lives. She is most definitely an author I’ll be keeping my eye on.
February 12, 2021
The Better Son is set in 1950s northern Tasmania and is written by Australian author Katherine Johnson. Essentially it's a story about two young boys who live on a dairy farm in Mole Creek and discover a hidden cave on their farm. Tommy and Kip retreat to the cave whenever they can escape their farm chores and explore the huge caverns, myriad tunnels, passages and underground rivers within. One day Tommy goes missing and Kip lies to his parents about what happened.
Tommy's disappearance and Kip's subsequent lie change his life from that moment and continue to haunt him for the next fifty years. The Better Son sees Kip facing the past in order to become a better person and a better father to his family.
The Better Son has won a number of prizes, and I can certainly see why. Johnson's writing is dark and atmospheric and the descriptions of a small dairy farming community and the secret underground world the boys discover really come alive on the page. I could hear the echoes of the boys' laughter, experience their awe and wonder at the huge caverns and immense stalactites, and yes, I even felt claustrophobic in a few places as well.
Johnson was inspired to write this novel after learning about two boys who discovered a cave in 1906. The boys kept the cave a secret for years, and it's now a popular tourist site in Tasmania. This information adds yet another layer to the story.
The Better Son is a dark mystery that explores the power of secrets, guilt and regret on a family and the Tasmanian setting is unforgettable. Oh, and that cover!
* Copy courtesy of Ventura *
Tommy's disappearance and Kip's subsequent lie change his life from that moment and continue to haunt him for the next fifty years. The Better Son sees Kip facing the past in order to become a better person and a better father to his family.
The Better Son has won a number of prizes, and I can certainly see why. Johnson's writing is dark and atmospheric and the descriptions of a small dairy farming community and the secret underground world the boys discover really come alive on the page. I could hear the echoes of the boys' laughter, experience their awe and wonder at the huge caverns and immense stalactites, and yes, I even felt claustrophobic in a few places as well.
Johnson was inspired to write this novel after learning about two boys who discovered a cave in 1906. The boys kept the cave a secret for years, and it's now a popular tourist site in Tasmania. This information adds yet another layer to the story.
The Better Son is a dark mystery that explores the power of secrets, guilt and regret on a family and the Tasmanian setting is unforgettable. Oh, and that cover!
* Copy courtesy of Ventura *
October 15, 2016
If you’re into hidden caves, environmental conservation, family secrets, and a great yarn, then The Better Son by award-winning Australian author, Katherine Johnson, is the book for you.
The Better Son is literary fiction and was awarded The University of Tasmania Prize (Tasmanian Literary Awards 2013), People’s Choice Awards for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Writer (Tasmanian Literary Awards 2013) and The Varuna Harper Collins Manuscript Development Award 2013.
Inspired by the true story of two young boys who discovered one of Tasmania’s most popular caves in 1906, The Better Son tells the story of Kip and his older brother Tommy. Their discovery of Kubla Khan offers the boys an escape into a magical, secret cave world. Underneath the rural town of Mole creek, Kip and Tommy are free to discover a new world free from the abuse of their father and difficult home life. Kip’s life is soon turned upside-down however when Tommy goes missing in the Kubla Khan. The tragedy reverberates throughout the rest of Kip’s childhood and into his adult life. Will he ever be able to come to terms with the secrets of his boyhood or will he be doomed to repeat the mistakes of his father?
Johnson has written a sensitive, poetic piece of fiction which opens with an air of tragedy and mystery. The Better Son will induce readers to reflect on changes in agricultural practices; the effect war has on the community; power relationships within families; euthanasia; and the need to protect and conserve natural wonders such as the Mole Creek caves. Above all, readers will ponder how fear can shape lives and make the secrets that ultimately destroy us, a necessity.
I loved the symbolism of both the cover and title. This is definitely a book I would pick up if I hadn’t been so lucky to receive a copy. Readers who enjoy contemporary Australian fiction will thoroughly enjoy this novel. I congratulate Johnson on her exquisite, poetic writing throughout The Better Son. A fine read.
Thank you to Ventura Press for providing a copy of The Better Son in exchange for an honest review.
The Better Son is literary fiction and was awarded The University of Tasmania Prize (Tasmanian Literary Awards 2013), People’s Choice Awards for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Writer (Tasmanian Literary Awards 2013) and The Varuna Harper Collins Manuscript Development Award 2013.
Inspired by the true story of two young boys who discovered one of Tasmania’s most popular caves in 1906, The Better Son tells the story of Kip and his older brother Tommy. Their discovery of Kubla Khan offers the boys an escape into a magical, secret cave world. Underneath the rural town of Mole creek, Kip and Tommy are free to discover a new world free from the abuse of their father and difficult home life. Kip’s life is soon turned upside-down however when Tommy goes missing in the Kubla Khan. The tragedy reverberates throughout the rest of Kip’s childhood and into his adult life. Will he ever be able to come to terms with the secrets of his boyhood or will he be doomed to repeat the mistakes of his father?
Johnson has written a sensitive, poetic piece of fiction which opens with an air of tragedy and mystery. The Better Son will induce readers to reflect on changes in agricultural practices; the effect war has on the community; power relationships within families; euthanasia; and the need to protect and conserve natural wonders such as the Mole Creek caves. Above all, readers will ponder how fear can shape lives and make the secrets that ultimately destroy us, a necessity.
I loved the symbolism of both the cover and title. This is definitely a book I would pick up if I hadn’t been so lucky to receive a copy. Readers who enjoy contemporary Australian fiction will thoroughly enjoy this novel. I congratulate Johnson on her exquisite, poetic writing throughout The Better Son. A fine read.
Thank you to Ventura Press for providing a copy of The Better Son in exchange for an honest review.
May 17, 2019
In the summer of 1952 brothers Tommy and Kip were growing up in Mole Creek, Tasmania, on a dairy farm. Harold, their father, had returned from the war a changed man, prone to explosive rages and Kip bore the brunt of his father’s temper, which would sometimes erupt into violence. Tommy was the favoured son and could do no wrong in his father’s eyes. Their mother, Jess, unaware Kip’s ‘accidents’ were the result of abuse loved both her sons unreservedly. Kip’s never ending yearning for his father’s approval and love, despite the way he’s treated, is depicted poignantly.
The boys spent their spare time exploring the surrounding hills which hide an extensive network of underground rivers, tunnels and caverns. They are forbidden to go underground but when they find a hidden opening, the temptation is too much. The cave they discover becomes their safe place, a refuge from their father’s moods and fractured family life, especially for Kip. Until one day their forays into the cave end in a tragedy that follows Kip throughout his life, manifesting in mounting and overwhelming feelings of responsibility and guilt.
Fifty years later Kip is an award winning scientist with a family of his own. He travels to his parents’ farm, looked after now by Squid, the old farmhand who has always been Kip’s friend. His mother has died, his father is in a nursing home, suffering from dementia. Kip intends to return to the cave he and his brother called Kubla, to try and find Tommy, atone for the secret he’s kept for so long, and make good on the promise he made to his late mother. Having no idea of the trauma ahead, he hopes his journey into the past will also serve to make him a better father to his own son.
The Better Son is a fascinating story of secrets and lies, forgiveness and love, tightly woven and spanning decades, set against an evocative and dramatic landscape, above and below ground. The repercussions of a damaged childhood coupled with the tragedy are all too obvious in the man Kip becomes, low self esteem, self accusation and a sense of failure causing him to guard his emotions with his own family.
Well defined characters populate an atmospheric and believable family drama with realistic relationships. Sensitively written, the first half of the story was excellent, painting a vivid picture of life in a harsh yet beautiful environment, my sympathies lay completely with Kip. The second half chronicling Kip’s adult life is interspersed with life and events at Mole Creek from Squid’s perspective, providing a deeper understanding of the characters while uncovering secrets that make sense as certain things become clear.
Steve Shanahan’s wonderful narration adds to the overall enjoyment.
The boys spent their spare time exploring the surrounding hills which hide an extensive network of underground rivers, tunnels and caverns. They are forbidden to go underground but when they find a hidden opening, the temptation is too much. The cave they discover becomes their safe place, a refuge from their father’s moods and fractured family life, especially for Kip. Until one day their forays into the cave end in a tragedy that follows Kip throughout his life, manifesting in mounting and overwhelming feelings of responsibility and guilt.
Fifty years later Kip is an award winning scientist with a family of his own. He travels to his parents’ farm, looked after now by Squid, the old farmhand who has always been Kip’s friend. His mother has died, his father is in a nursing home, suffering from dementia. Kip intends to return to the cave he and his brother called Kubla, to try and find Tommy, atone for the secret he’s kept for so long, and make good on the promise he made to his late mother. Having no idea of the trauma ahead, he hopes his journey into the past will also serve to make him a better father to his own son.
The Better Son is a fascinating story of secrets and lies, forgiveness and love, tightly woven and spanning decades, set against an evocative and dramatic landscape, above and below ground. The repercussions of a damaged childhood coupled with the tragedy are all too obvious in the man Kip becomes, low self esteem, self accusation and a sense of failure causing him to guard his emotions with his own family.
Well defined characters populate an atmospheric and believable family drama with realistic relationships. Sensitively written, the first half of the story was excellent, painting a vivid picture of life in a harsh yet beautiful environment, my sympathies lay completely with Kip. The second half chronicling Kip’s adult life is interspersed with life and events at Mole Creek from Squid’s perspective, providing a deeper understanding of the characters while uncovering secrets that make sense as certain things become clear.
Steve Shanahan’s wonderful narration adds to the overall enjoyment.
February 5, 2017
In 2002, after being away for much of his life, Kip returns alone to his family's farm in Mole Creek, Tasmania. His mother is dead, his father - suffering from dementia - living in a nursing home, and his wife and young son are back in Amsterdam with her own, dying father. Only Squid, the old farm hand, remains on the property, but Kip avoids him. He is here with a purpose: to find his brother Tommy, who disappeared when Kip was nine years old, and atone.
I am automatically drawn to books written in or about places, people and events in Tasmania, my home state. I love this island, it has a tight hold of my heart, and after many years away I was drawn back as surely as fate. It is a rich, diverse landscape, roughened by harsh histories, home to the Gothic of its British colonial heritage as much as it is to an ancient Indigenous legacy - I can well imagine that it is much like Briton itself, with its older history of Celts and Saxons and Druids. It is an island with a tangible sense of time and timelessness: a paradox that makes utter sense when you live here. And because so much of it is unmapped, unknowable and frankly downright eery, it is ripe for imaginative work in the British tradition (I am still waiting for an Indigenous-authored novel but I don't know of one, and being of British ancestry myself, any understanding I feel I have of their stories and relationship with the land is automatically tainted and an unwanted act of appropriation. Such is the fraught discourse we find ourselves enmeshed in here).
The Better Son is Queensland-born Johnson's second novel and her sense of place is vividly realised. The cave in the book, Kubla (after Coleridge's poem Kubla Kahn), is modelled on the nearby Marakoopa cave in the Karst National Park, though there is a cave called Kubla as well. Marakoopa was first discovered by two brothers, James and Harry Byard, who kept it a secret for several years until it was opened for tourism. There is another famous cave nearby, called King Solomon's Cave, which I visited on Boxing Day last year. It doesn't have the ginormous cathedral caves of Marakoopa but it is beautiful, splendid and amazing all the same. Johnson says that her novel is a "fictional fusion of the two ideas: one of the world's most incredible caves and two small boys" who keep its discovery a secret. The small town of Mole Creek in Tasmania's north - not far from where I grew up - is rich farming land, but it sits on porous limestone country where sinkholes can open up quite suddenly and randomly. Underneath, it is an extensive cave network millions of years old. The idea of disappearing into a sinkhole or getting lost in a cave system is an aspect of Tasmanian Gothic, itself part of Australian Gothic - think Picnic at Hanging Rock as a good example.
Kip's story begins in the summer of 1952, and it is one of the strengths of Johnson's writing that he and his family are so believable. Perhaps his father, Harold, verges on cliché, but as an archetype veteran of WWII as well as an angry farmer, he rings true. Kip's mother, Jess, is educated and loving and the only thing standing between Kip and the father who seems to hate him. His older brother Tommy, on the other hand, is beloved by Harold and can do no wrong. Still, the brothers are close, and the adventure of descending (by knotted rope) into a vast lightless cave and then exploring it is the highlight of Kip's summer. It ends in tragedy, though, when twelve-year-old Tommy decides to explore a small tunnel and is never seen again.
If the characters are tautly drawn, the landscape is represented as a slumbering, other-worldly entity, breathtakingly inhuman and utterly uncaring, yet with a presence both awe-inspiring and ominous.
The boys name it Kubla, after the Coleridge poem their mother taught them, and the parallels between the poem and Kip's story are made clear throughout the novel. The depiction of the porous, fragile landscape holding its secrets close is used by Johnson as an analogy for the troubled family, an analogy that is both fitting and, at times, spelt out too often. Herein lies the overall weakness of Johnson's novel: it tells more than it shows. There is a distinct "accounting" style to the storytelling as it faithfully follows Kip, after the tragedy and into adulthood, but without the detail and scenes that made his childhood so engaging to read about. Kip is sent to boarding school, then he goes to university, then he studies insects, then he goes to the Netherlands for his Ph.D to work with saving the tulips, then he meets Isle and so on. This recounting of Kip's life is woven amongst a recounting of Jess and Squid, who become lovers until her death. It's a short novel; I actually think it would have been stronger if those later years were handled differently, perhaps with clearer, lengthier scenes and less telling. It felt rushed, those chapters, as if the author were just accounting for those lost years until she could get Kip back to Mole Creek.
The final scene only makes the previous years feel even more rushed: Kip's descent into Kubla and hunt for his brother's body is nicely drawn out and tempered. His psychological descent into childhood - which verges on insanity - feels true as well as tragic. It's an emotional journey through the dark caves with their hidden, breath-taking beauty, a journey that provides Kip, now fifty-nine, a chance to decide whether he will be forever formed by what happened fifty years ago, or if he will break free of his own guilt, the sense of responsibility that has shackled him for so long. Ultimately, it is Squid who saves him from himself and reminds Kip of his own nine-year-old son: the idea that life keeps going and you have a choice as to what kind of person you will be, and that your responsibilities change with time. Now, as a father himself, he has the opportunity to do a much better job of it than Harold did with him.
Squid is easily the best character here, though I did like Kip and Jess as well. My husband read this book at the same time (we have our own copies - we treat our books differently so it's best that way!) and Squid was his favourite character as well. Through Squid we get another perspective - he is a third-person focaliser for some chapters, providing us with greater insights and details after Kip leaves Tasmania. Squid is a 'salt of the earth' character, a quiet, patient, loving man who looks after the farmland just as tenderly as he cares for Jess after her diagnosis. He provides a more politically-charged glimpse into farming practices - spraying versus using plants and insects as natural insecticides (which to him is common sense, while Kip works so hard convincing people of its worth), and the damaging forestry and land-clearing practices still carried out in the state today. So it's easy to like Squid, as our philosophies seem to align.
The Better Son is a wonderful story that, for all it felt rushed in the telling and, at times, a bit obvious, shows the sickening damage that some parenting can have on children, with far-reaching repercussions. The secrets themselves, which poison Kip's soul, are only a side-effect of the family dynamics, yet Johnson is careful not to make Harold an inhuman villain. At its peak, it made me cry, and that cannot happen without an emotional connection to characters and a story that is believable and poignant.
I am automatically drawn to books written in or about places, people and events in Tasmania, my home state. I love this island, it has a tight hold of my heart, and after many years away I was drawn back as surely as fate. It is a rich, diverse landscape, roughened by harsh histories, home to the Gothic of its British colonial heritage as much as it is to an ancient Indigenous legacy - I can well imagine that it is much like Briton itself, with its older history of Celts and Saxons and Druids. It is an island with a tangible sense of time and timelessness: a paradox that makes utter sense when you live here. And because so much of it is unmapped, unknowable and frankly downright eery, it is ripe for imaginative work in the British tradition (I am still waiting for an Indigenous-authored novel but I don't know of one, and being of British ancestry myself, any understanding I feel I have of their stories and relationship with the land is automatically tainted and an unwanted act of appropriation. Such is the fraught discourse we find ourselves enmeshed in here).
The Better Son is Queensland-born Johnson's second novel and her sense of place is vividly realised. The cave in the book, Kubla (after Coleridge's poem Kubla Kahn), is modelled on the nearby Marakoopa cave in the Karst National Park, though there is a cave called Kubla as well. Marakoopa was first discovered by two brothers, James and Harry Byard, who kept it a secret for several years until it was opened for tourism. There is another famous cave nearby, called King Solomon's Cave, which I visited on Boxing Day last year. It doesn't have the ginormous cathedral caves of Marakoopa but it is beautiful, splendid and amazing all the same. Johnson says that her novel is a "fictional fusion of the two ideas: one of the world's most incredible caves and two small boys" who keep its discovery a secret. The small town of Mole Creek in Tasmania's north - not far from where I grew up - is rich farming land, but it sits on porous limestone country where sinkholes can open up quite suddenly and randomly. Underneath, it is an extensive cave network millions of years old. The idea of disappearing into a sinkhole or getting lost in a cave system is an aspect of Tasmanian Gothic, itself part of Australian Gothic - think Picnic at Hanging Rock as a good example.
Kip's story begins in the summer of 1952, and it is one of the strengths of Johnson's writing that he and his family are so believable. Perhaps his father, Harold, verges on cliché, but as an archetype veteran of WWII as well as an angry farmer, he rings true. Kip's mother, Jess, is educated and loving and the only thing standing between Kip and the father who seems to hate him. His older brother Tommy, on the other hand, is beloved by Harold and can do no wrong. Still, the brothers are close, and the adventure of descending (by knotted rope) into a vast lightless cave and then exploring it is the highlight of Kip's summer. It ends in tragedy, though, when twelve-year-old Tommy decides to explore a small tunnel and is never seen again.
If the characters are tautly drawn, the landscape is represented as a slumbering, other-worldly entity, breathtakingly inhuman and utterly uncaring, yet with a presence both awe-inspiring and ominous.
They picked their way through a forest of stone. Stalagmites connected with the stalactites from the ceiling to form giant columns as tall as city buildings; others, the height of men, were like the frozen soldiers of some ancient army. Kip held his candle high above his head, but the darkness devoured the light. [p.36]
The boys name it Kubla, after the Coleridge poem their mother taught them, and the parallels between the poem and Kip's story are made clear throughout the novel. The depiction of the porous, fragile landscape holding its secrets close is used by Johnson as an analogy for the troubled family, an analogy that is both fitting and, at times, spelt out too often. Herein lies the overall weakness of Johnson's novel: it tells more than it shows. There is a distinct "accounting" style to the storytelling as it faithfully follows Kip, after the tragedy and into adulthood, but without the detail and scenes that made his childhood so engaging to read about. Kip is sent to boarding school, then he goes to university, then he studies insects, then he goes to the Netherlands for his Ph.D to work with saving the tulips, then he meets Isle and so on. This recounting of Kip's life is woven amongst a recounting of Jess and Squid, who become lovers until her death. It's a short novel; I actually think it would have been stronger if those later years were handled differently, perhaps with clearer, lengthier scenes and less telling. It felt rushed, those chapters, as if the author were just accounting for those lost years until she could get Kip back to Mole Creek.
The final scene only makes the previous years feel even more rushed: Kip's descent into Kubla and hunt for his brother's body is nicely drawn out and tempered. His psychological descent into childhood - which verges on insanity - feels true as well as tragic. It's an emotional journey through the dark caves with their hidden, breath-taking beauty, a journey that provides Kip, now fifty-nine, a chance to decide whether he will be forever formed by what happened fifty years ago, or if he will break free of his own guilt, the sense of responsibility that has shackled him for so long. Ultimately, it is Squid who saves him from himself and reminds Kip of his own nine-year-old son: the idea that life keeps going and you have a choice as to what kind of person you will be, and that your responsibilities change with time. Now, as a father himself, he has the opportunity to do a much better job of it than Harold did with him.
Squid is easily the best character here, though I did like Kip and Jess as well. My husband read this book at the same time (we have our own copies - we treat our books differently so it's best that way!) and Squid was his favourite character as well. Through Squid we get another perspective - he is a third-person focaliser for some chapters, providing us with greater insights and details after Kip leaves Tasmania. Squid is a 'salt of the earth' character, a quiet, patient, loving man who looks after the farmland just as tenderly as he cares for Jess after her diagnosis. He provides a more politically-charged glimpse into farming practices - spraying versus using plants and insects as natural insecticides (which to him is common sense, while Kip works so hard convincing people of its worth), and the damaging forestry and land-clearing practices still carried out in the state today. So it's easy to like Squid, as our philosophies seem to align.
The Better Son is a wonderful story that, for all it felt rushed in the telling and, at times, a bit obvious, shows the sickening damage that some parenting can have on children, with far-reaching repercussions. The secrets themselves, which poison Kip's soul, are only a side-effect of the family dynamics, yet Johnson is careful not to make Harold an inhuman villain. At its peak, it made me cry, and that cannot happen without an emotional connection to characters and a story that is believable and poignant.
August 7, 2016
Wow! This book is spectacular! So sad and beautiful at the same time. Johnson captures the mystique of Tasmania so well, oh to have grown up on a farm surrounded by all that wild majestic beauty!
Fantastic story 5 stars all the way!
Fantastic story 5 stars all the way!
October 12, 2016
Queenslander Katherine Johnson combined her two loves, writing and biology, to become a science journalist. And although she’s moved into fiction, she’s not left her love of marine biology and nature behind as her latest novel, The Better Son, evokes strong imagery of the beautiful but harsh landscape of hidden caves and unforgiving terrain.
Johnson firstly introduces us to an adult Kip. He’s about to turn 60 and has a younger wife and young son. After living overseas most of his adult life, with minimal visits home, he’s back in Tasmania… searching for some kind of redemption.
Almost immediately we’re taken back to Kip’s childhood on the family farm. It’s the 1950s and Kip’s father Harold has returned from the war a changed man. One prone to violent mood swings.
There’s a sense of foreboding as we wait for the tragedy. We’ve been warned about it by the adult Kip (and backcover blurb of course), and we’re there as young Kip’s torn between his fear of his father and love for his brother.
We spend quite a bit of time with the nine-year old Kip before returning to the now - learning Kip’s marriage is struggling under the weight of past secrets. He’s depressed and distracted. And he decides it’s time to seek redemption.
This book’s about families and relationships. It’s about secrets and lies; when they get out of control and our ability to rein them in. And it’s about the impact they have on the rest of our lives.
As I read the book I wrote a comment about parents screwing up their kids’ heads for years to come. Kip’s desperation to please his father was painful to observe.
Interestingly though I liked young Kip, I didn’t particularly engage with adult Kip. Whether our time together was too short or because I only met him when he was desperate and damaged, I’m not sure.
Read the full review on my site: http://www.debbish.com/books-literatu...
3.5 stars
Johnson firstly introduces us to an adult Kip. He’s about to turn 60 and has a younger wife and young son. After living overseas most of his adult life, with minimal visits home, he’s back in Tasmania… searching for some kind of redemption.
Almost immediately we’re taken back to Kip’s childhood on the family farm. It’s the 1950s and Kip’s father Harold has returned from the war a changed man. One prone to violent mood swings.
There’s a sense of foreboding as we wait for the tragedy. We’ve been warned about it by the adult Kip (and backcover blurb of course), and we’re there as young Kip’s torn between his fear of his father and love for his brother.
We spend quite a bit of time with the nine-year old Kip before returning to the now - learning Kip’s marriage is struggling under the weight of past secrets. He’s depressed and distracted. And he decides it’s time to seek redemption.
This book’s about families and relationships. It’s about secrets and lies; when they get out of control and our ability to rein them in. And it’s about the impact they have on the rest of our lives.
As I read the book I wrote a comment about parents screwing up their kids’ heads for years to come. Kip’s desperation to please his father was painful to observe.
Interestingly though I liked young Kip, I didn’t particularly engage with adult Kip. Whether our time together was too short or because I only met him when he was desperate and damaged, I’m not sure.
Read the full review on my site: http://www.debbish.com/books-literatu...
3.5 stars
October 12, 2016
I received a copy of this title from Ventura Press for review.
Ten Second Synopsis:
Kip and his older brother Tommy don't have the easiest home life but are able to forget when they discover a secret place in the hills, steeped in pre-history and ready to provide adventure. After a terrible accident, the brothers' secret place haunts Kip all his life.
Although this is a bit heavier going than my usual fare, I couldn't help but be drawn into The Better Son by the imagery of epic landscapes and the gritty, hands-on experiences of Kip and his brother Tommy. The book begins with a glimpse into Kip's life now, the reader following along as he sets out to right a wrong about which we currently know nothing. From here, we are plunged back into the turbulent world of Tasmania in post-war 1952, where returned servicemen try to pick up normal life where they left it to go to war and kids are workers, risk-takers and the repository of their parents' shortcomings.
The section describing the boys' childhood I found to be quite harrowing at times. Tommy is the titular better son and enjoys his father's constant favour, while Kip is left in the cold and the unfortunate recipient of his father's ever-present wrath. This family drama is played out against the boys' discovery of an untouched cave system in the mountains near their home, and the juxtaposition of the freedom offered by the cave exploration and the oppressive, walking-on-eggshells atmosphere of home is striking. After the accident, Kip's home life becomes much worse, but it is at this point that the layers of secrets that have been kept through the years start to come to light, throwing new context onto information we have previously received.
The book flicks between perspectives and time periods - mainly those of Kip's past and present, as well as the past and present of Squid, the farmhand who lives with the family and has a key role in the boys' life. This relieved the heaviness of the content somewhat, but I did feel at times like I just wanted to find out what actually happened to Tommy. The pacing of the Tommy-mystery part was quite slow, and being the eager beaver that I am when there is a mystery involved, I was ever-hopeful that the answer was around the next page-turn.
There are not a lot of redeeming features to many of the characters in the book, although for the most part, we are privy to the circumstances under which certain decisions and behaviours originated. One of the interesting things about the tale is that the motivations of almost all of the main characters are kept hidden until close to the end of the story, when secrets are revealed thick and fast and many events start to make more sense.
Again, this is not my usual fare, but I can definitely see why The Better Son has won no less than three awards to date. It's a tightly woven exploration of relationships, secrets and regrets with an undercurrent of self-sacrifice and the tiniest slivers of hope, set against the dramatic and deadly landscape of Tasmania's mountain regions. If you are looking for something to draw you in and make you feel like an interloper in the rocky lives of an ordinary Australian family of the 1950s, you should definitely give this one a go.
Ten Second Synopsis:
Kip and his older brother Tommy don't have the easiest home life but are able to forget when they discover a secret place in the hills, steeped in pre-history and ready to provide adventure. After a terrible accident, the brothers' secret place haunts Kip all his life.
Although this is a bit heavier going than my usual fare, I couldn't help but be drawn into The Better Son by the imagery of epic landscapes and the gritty, hands-on experiences of Kip and his brother Tommy. The book begins with a glimpse into Kip's life now, the reader following along as he sets out to right a wrong about which we currently know nothing. From here, we are plunged back into the turbulent world of Tasmania in post-war 1952, where returned servicemen try to pick up normal life where they left it to go to war and kids are workers, risk-takers and the repository of their parents' shortcomings.
The section describing the boys' childhood I found to be quite harrowing at times. Tommy is the titular better son and enjoys his father's constant favour, while Kip is left in the cold and the unfortunate recipient of his father's ever-present wrath. This family drama is played out against the boys' discovery of an untouched cave system in the mountains near their home, and the juxtaposition of the freedom offered by the cave exploration and the oppressive, walking-on-eggshells atmosphere of home is striking. After the accident, Kip's home life becomes much worse, but it is at this point that the layers of secrets that have been kept through the years start to come to light, throwing new context onto information we have previously received.
The book flicks between perspectives and time periods - mainly those of Kip's past and present, as well as the past and present of Squid, the farmhand who lives with the family and has a key role in the boys' life. This relieved the heaviness of the content somewhat, but I did feel at times like I just wanted to find out what actually happened to Tommy. The pacing of the Tommy-mystery part was quite slow, and being the eager beaver that I am when there is a mystery involved, I was ever-hopeful that the answer was around the next page-turn.
There are not a lot of redeeming features to many of the characters in the book, although for the most part, we are privy to the circumstances under which certain decisions and behaviours originated. One of the interesting things about the tale is that the motivations of almost all of the main characters are kept hidden until close to the end of the story, when secrets are revealed thick and fast and many events start to make more sense.
Again, this is not my usual fare, but I can definitely see why The Better Son has won no less than three awards to date. It's a tightly woven exploration of relationships, secrets and regrets with an undercurrent of self-sacrifice and the tiniest slivers of hope, set against the dramatic and deadly landscape of Tasmania's mountain regions. If you are looking for something to draw you in and make you feel like an interloper in the rocky lives of an ordinary Australian family of the 1950s, you should definitely give this one a go.
June 2, 2017
Loved this book! Once of the best I've read in a long time.
June 25, 2017
The world of Tasmania 1952, the life of a damaged returned father, the elder of two brothers adored by his father, the younger detested, the haunting caves and domestic violence all invoked the first half of the book with great atmospherics. The second half of the book lacked this intensity as the story moved forward and it became a long saga of Kip coming to grips with his dead brother Tommy and a few other family secrets being revealed.
February 7, 2017
This evocative story set in Mole Creek, Tasmania was very enjoyable, especially the descriptions of the caves
December 27, 2019
I have rated this story at three stars. I found it to be an OK read, interesting in concept but in my opinion it was too long and drawn out, not enough to maintain momentum and I was left waiting for the inevitable end which eventually unfolded as predicted but took too long in coming.
The characters were many varied and believable and consistently portrayed. Those you come to pity and others you come to detest, very nice work from the author in that area.
The initial pace was good and the reader is drawn into the lives of the characters but the centre section just seemed to go on and on, rather depressing in content with little actually unfolding.
From my perspective I felt the ending was rather unsurprising, despite a valiant effort rather uninspiring and overall to predictable which left me disappointed but relieved it was over at last.
The characters were many varied and believable and consistently portrayed. Those you come to pity and others you come to detest, very nice work from the author in that area.
The initial pace was good and the reader is drawn into the lives of the characters but the centre section just seemed to go on and on, rather depressing in content with little actually unfolding.
From my perspective I felt the ending was rather unsurprising, despite a valiant effort rather uninspiring and overall to predictable which left me disappointed but relieved it was over at last.
June 1, 2017
A beautiful, fascinating and sad story inspired by the labyrinthine world of tunnels stretching across northern Tasmania and exploring the emotional legacy of secrets untold, loss and parental abuse. I really enjoyed it and found the writing to perfectly capture not only the incredible imagery but also the layering of stories and emotions across generations. Definitely recommend.
September 24, 2018
This is a story of two brothers set in the Mole Creek caves (near Deloraine, Tasmania) in the 1950s. It's a story of brotherly love, innocence and guilt, lies and family secrets. The underground world of the caves pervades the whole story with a sense of darkness, but there is also love and kindness, and the ending is very moving indeed. It's beautifully written and paced. Completely captivating.
March 30, 2020
This was a great story about family life and relationships. It was set in Mole Creek in Tasmania and tells the story of Kip and his family. There are many secrets, a brutish and abusive father, a mother who desperately loves her sons and stays with her husband despite his abuse, two brothers who discover a mystery cave that captivates them and traps and haunts them, and a devoted farmhand with his own secrets as well. The descriptions of the bush are finally drawn and captivating. The story familiar but well told. I only gave it 3 stars reluctantly because I found the writing style far too soppy for my liking, I'm afraid.
May 31, 2019
Beyond the plot, this has a very recognisable depiction of living with a returned serviceman. While my father was nowhere near as brutal (or cowardly) as Harold, I recognise the rage and the violent impulses. I also recognise the fear of the child manifest in adulthood.
July 12, 2019
Filled my heart with love for beauty, nature and wild places and organic agriculture. Set in Mole Creek, Tasmania spanning 1950s to 2000s. Felt like Tassie, felt like home.
Read
July 14, 2021Good writing but I had to DNF. I found the early life of the character too much for me in audiobook format. I may try reading it on paper some time.
August 27, 2019
Set in Tasmania, this is a story of two brothers. Bouncing from past to present, we learn that something big has happened... and therein lays the suspense. A solid story.
October 20, 2017
A story of brothers growing up in Tasmania in the 1950s. When tragedy strikes, Kip the younger brother struggles with the truth and his father’s wrath. Katherine Johnson is a good storyteller: this reads easily, with well-drawn characters & I was compelled to finish it in one sitting. It was depressing though & I found the scenes inside the cave tunnels claustrophobic!
July 22, 2019
This book is beautifully written and a fabulous read. Two brothers growing up on a Tasmanian dairy farm in the 1950s; the eldest, the favoured son. And Kip, his younger brother, through whose eyes the story unfolds, who is never good enough for his hard and unloving father. The boys have terrific adventures in the stunning cave and forest country surrounding their farm, the description of which is brilliantly done. But one day, Kip returns alone, his brother missing, never to be found. The book alternates from the events of that time, to the present day where adult Kip appears to be leading a successful life as a renowned scientist with a lovely wife and son. But, on an emotional level Kip struggles with tremendous guilt over the disappearance of his brother and a whole raft of other issues from his childhood. A book full of secrets that impact in many tragic ways on many lives.
May 8, 2017
‘Built on limestone, Mole Creek is karst country. Just add water and it dissolves.’
The green hills of Mole Creek, in the Upper Mersey Valley, 76 kilometres west of Launceston, cover a labyrinth of tunnels, caves and underground rivers. A beautiful place to grow up, but it can be dangerous. In this novel, the dangers are not just beneath the ground.
Mole Creek, Tasmania, 1952. Two young brothers, Kip and Tommy, and their parents live on a dairy farm. Their father, Harold, a shell-shocked war hero, is difficult to live with. He is abusive, especially towards Kip and his mother, Jess. Kip and Tommy find a hidden cave, a refuge, an escape. They call the cave Kubla, after the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem their mother used to read to them. They’ve been told never to go underground, but they are careful so they’ll be safe, won’t they? But one day, Tommy goes missing. And Kip, only aged nine, is so afraid of his father that he lies about what happened. He grows up, he leaves the farm. But he never forgets.
‘It occurred to Kip that there were more secrets in the world than people.’
Fifty years later, Kip (now an award-winning scientist, married with a son) returns to the farm. His mother is now dead, his father in a nursing home. Kip made a promise to his mother, and to keep it he needs to return underground, to the cave called Kubla.
The story unfolds through the thoughts and voices of Kip and Squid, the farmhand who tried to protect the child Kip from his abusive father. Squid is also the only person who Kip has ever told about what happened the day that Tommy went missing. Squid has other knowledge as well, from living on the dairy farm, from Kip’s mother.
‘It occurred to him that secrets and lies were the bedrock of the town. The core of all the misfortune that had befallen them.’
There are a number of different truths in this novel. Some can be guessed as the story unfolds, others are less obvious. The complexity heightens the atmosphere, reinforces that not everything is as it seems and that danger is always close at hand. Kip is searching both for redemption, and for himself.
I’ve been to the Mole Creek area, and could visualise the landscape as I was reading. It’s the perfect physical setting for Ms Johnson’s novel. While I was engrossed in the story, there are a few places (no spoilers here) where I would have liked more detail, especially Kip’s life away from Tasmania.
And the ending? I’m still thinking about it.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
The green hills of Mole Creek, in the Upper Mersey Valley, 76 kilometres west of Launceston, cover a labyrinth of tunnels, caves and underground rivers. A beautiful place to grow up, but it can be dangerous. In this novel, the dangers are not just beneath the ground.
Mole Creek, Tasmania, 1952. Two young brothers, Kip and Tommy, and their parents live on a dairy farm. Their father, Harold, a shell-shocked war hero, is difficult to live with. He is abusive, especially towards Kip and his mother, Jess. Kip and Tommy find a hidden cave, a refuge, an escape. They call the cave Kubla, after the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem their mother used to read to them. They’ve been told never to go underground, but they are careful so they’ll be safe, won’t they? But one day, Tommy goes missing. And Kip, only aged nine, is so afraid of his father that he lies about what happened. He grows up, he leaves the farm. But he never forgets.
‘It occurred to Kip that there were more secrets in the world than people.’
Fifty years later, Kip (now an award-winning scientist, married with a son) returns to the farm. His mother is now dead, his father in a nursing home. Kip made a promise to his mother, and to keep it he needs to return underground, to the cave called Kubla.
The story unfolds through the thoughts and voices of Kip and Squid, the farmhand who tried to protect the child Kip from his abusive father. Squid is also the only person who Kip has ever told about what happened the day that Tommy went missing. Squid has other knowledge as well, from living on the dairy farm, from Kip’s mother.
‘It occurred to him that secrets and lies were the bedrock of the town. The core of all the misfortune that had befallen them.’
There are a number of different truths in this novel. Some can be guessed as the story unfolds, others are less obvious. The complexity heightens the atmosphere, reinforces that not everything is as it seems and that danger is always close at hand. Kip is searching both for redemption, and for himself.
I’ve been to the Mole Creek area, and could visualise the landscape as I was reading. It’s the perfect physical setting for Ms Johnson’s novel. While I was engrossed in the story, there are a few places (no spoilers here) where I would have liked more detail, especially Kip’s life away from Tasmania.
And the ending? I’m still thinking about it.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
July 2, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, for so many reasons! Firstly, it was just a wonderful tale. It kept me enthralled throughout, and I found it almost impossible to put down during the second half. I just HAD to find out the details of what had happened the night Tommy disappeared. And the characters were well developed and engaging. They were just so authentic, and their reactions to the different situations they found themselves in so plausible, making them easy to understand and relate to. They were not all likeable, but they were all palpable - it was impossible not to react to, or have an opinion on, any of the major characters.
Secondly, it was great to learn more about this wonderful country that I call home. Previous to reading this book, I had no knowledge of the glorious caves found in Tasmania. I enjoyed what I was able to learn about this from reading the story and then felt compelled to do some further research of my own. I have always thought that Tasmania is a special part of Australia, but I now have a fuller understanding and appreciation of its wonders.
And lastly, I love poetry, particularly from writers such as Keats, Wordsworth, Coleridge and others of their vintage. So the constant references to Coleridge's well-known poem 'Kubla Khan' were just the icing on the cake. It is a while since I last read this poem, so when I had finished the book, I pulled it out and enjoyed it all over again.
I highly recommend this Australian novel. I think you will love it!
Secondly, it was great to learn more about this wonderful country that I call home. Previous to reading this book, I had no knowledge of the glorious caves found in Tasmania. I enjoyed what I was able to learn about this from reading the story and then felt compelled to do some further research of my own. I have always thought that Tasmania is a special part of Australia, but I now have a fuller understanding and appreciation of its wonders.
And lastly, I love poetry, particularly from writers such as Keats, Wordsworth, Coleridge and others of their vintage. So the constant references to Coleridge's well-known poem 'Kubla Khan' were just the icing on the cake. It is a while since I last read this poem, so when I had finished the book, I pulled it out and enjoyed it all over again.
I highly recommend this Australian novel. I think you will love it!
May 31, 2017
This book ticks all the boxes of great Australian fiction. Good characters, evocative location and a great yarn. Set in a mountain community in Tasmania in the 1950s, it tells the story of two brothers who escape the insecurity and dysfunction of their family and community by exploring a cave in the area. But one day, only one returns from an exploration and the story spins out from there, culminating some 50 years later. Lost opportunity, regret, ambiguity, guilt and drama all play together in a highly believable and affecting plot.
I enjoyed the atmosphere of the location and the richness of the characters. I could feel the eeriness of it all and the despair in some of the people.
Highly recommended, especially for fans of good Australian fiction centred around real life drama in regional communities.
I enjoyed the atmosphere of the location and the richness of the characters. I could feel the eeriness of it all and the despair in some of the people.
Highly recommended, especially for fans of good Australian fiction centred around real life drama in regional communities.
July 30, 2017
With a great cover ( I know, I know) and a little Tassie town famous for it's caves, this book has it all. Not often do I get up at 3am to read the last third, but there must be something in that limestone-infused water as the characters are all a hot blooded bunch, with more hormonal interplay than a compost full of worms...the story is very Australian with Greek/Shakespearian -inspired overtones, of a son despised and a son loved. One survives....the characters are believable (sometimes their naivety is a little overplayed but what the heck) and the setting full of mystery and threat...but in the end a cracking good yarn!
December 30, 2021
A captivating novel, that was gripping from start to finish. Set in Mole Creek (Tasmania, Australia) and surrounds, not far from where I actually live. The book presents the haunting repercussions of a single devastating decision. Two brothers live on a dairy farm set within the limestone karst of Mole Creek, spending their spare time exploring the world around them. The karst system is beautifully captured within the pages, a stunning backdrop for the power lies can have over a life and how the truth can be set free, even in the darkest of places.
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