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The Last Garden
The settlement of Wahrheit, founded in exile to await the return of the Messiah, has been waiting longer than expected. Pastor Helfgott has begun to feel the subtle fraying of the community’s faith.
Then Matthias Orion shoots his wife and himself, on the very day their son Benedict returns home from boarding school.
Benedict is unmoored by shock, severed from his past and his future. Unable to be inside the house, unable to speak, he moves into the barn with the horses and chooks, relying on the animals’ strength and the rhythm of the working day to hold his shattered self together.
The pastor watches over Benedict through the year of his crazy grief: man and boy growing, each according to his own capacity, as they come to terms with the unknowable past and the frailties of being human.
Then Matthias Orion shoots his wife and himself, on the very day their son Benedict returns home from boarding school.
Benedict is unmoored by shock, severed from his past and his future. Unable to be inside the house, unable to speak, he moves into the barn with the horses and chooks, relying on the animals’ strength and the rhythm of the working day to hold his shattered self together.
The pastor watches over Benedict through the year of his crazy grief: man and boy growing, each according to his own capacity, as they come to terms with the unknowable past and the frailties of being human.
240 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2017
8 people are currently reading
292 people want to read
About the author
Eva Hornung
8 books34 followersaka Eva Sallis
is an Australian novelist. Eva Hornung was born 1964 in Bendigo. She has an MA in literature and a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Adelaide. Sallis lived in Yemen while undertaking research for her PhD, and now lives and works in Adelaide.
Hornung's first novel, the best-selling "Hiam", won the 1997 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award and the 1999 Nita May Dobbie Literary Award. Her second novel City of Sealions was well received, and her novel-in-stories, Mahjar won the Steele Rudd Award. Her 2005 book Fire Fire, told the story of gifted children growing up in a dysfunctional, loving family in 1970s Australia. Her 2009 novel Dog Boy won the 2010 Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award for fiction. She is a human rights activist, helping to found the organisation Australians Against Racism
is an Australian novelist. Eva Hornung was born 1964 in Bendigo. She has an MA in literature and a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Adelaide. Sallis lived in Yemen while undertaking research for her PhD, and now lives and works in Adelaide.
Hornung's first novel, the best-selling "Hiam", won the 1997 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award and the 1999 Nita May Dobbie Literary Award. Her second novel City of Sealions was well received, and her novel-in-stories, Mahjar won the Steele Rudd Award. Her 2005 book Fire Fire, told the story of gifted children growing up in a dysfunctional, loving family in 1970s Australia. Her 2009 novel Dog Boy won the 2010 Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award for fiction. She is a human rights activist, helping to found the organisation Australians Against Racism
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
August 15, 2017
For anyone who enjoys beautiful prose this is a novel for you. I have just devoured it over a few days and have experienced a range of emotions from awe at the writing to shock and sadness within the story. I cannot wait to see what Hornung produces next.
May 20, 2017
4.5★s
“The farm was alive as it had never been. It was sinister, sentient. Demanding. The blue shadows lengthened, marching towards him. The sun lit the stubble orange and flamed off the distant cliff of the escarpment. The water in the creek whispered through reed beds and gurgled over rocks, as it always had, but now there were words in it: sad, harsh, almost indistinguishable. The grass rustled with quick lives and a secret knowledge; the air was filled with buzz and sizzle, deep-toned frogs, an owl – all were shouting, scraping at him – asking for some response from him”
The Last Garden is the second novel by Australian author, Eva Hornung. When fifteen-year-old Benedict Orion comes home from boarding school to find his father has shot dead his mother and then himself, the only respite he can find from memories is in the barn. In his grief, he becomes a recluse: he shuns interaction with the well-meaning townspeople of Wahrheit, and keeps company with the horses and chickens. Pastor Edmund Helfgott’s visits cause anxiety and anticipation in equal measure.
Pastor Helfgott shields the boy from contact, allowing him to come to terms with his loss in his own way, praying this is the right thing to do. He does worry about the boy’s mental state. But despite being a pastor’s son, he has never felt he is doing an adequate job for his flock, never really filled the Old Pastor’s shoes, relying on his father’s sermons and the Book of Seasons his father wrote for the community in their new land. And now, this murder-suicide seems to be a catalyst for change in the small, exclusive community that the Old Pastor had founded so many years before, established in a new land to await the Second Coming.
Months later: “The Orion tragedy bled still, for somehow they had not gathered together and staunched the wound. They had not taken the boy into the heart of the community and tended him in his grief. They had not gathered axes, saws, adzes and the women, and marched out to the farm to clean up and rebuild his house. No one yet blamed the pastor, but somehow they all felt a vague disquiet and sense of culpability. The shock of Matthias’s act had paralysed them, and Benedict had himself become part of the wound”
After some time, Benedict allows some memories to surface, good ones at first:
“He had found Ada a collection of chickens beyond any flock Benedict had ever seen. He produced each squawking specimen with a flourish, as a magician might, made it flap for Benedict, then tossed it this way or that into the pen, Benedict laughed with delight, and Ada, standing and watching, looked up first at the willow tree, then the pine tree, then smiled. Each shrieking chicken was more spectacular than the last. The final crate held a single enraged rooster. Matthias mimed the danger, wrestled, and then extracted the most spectacular of them all: he had a speckled tuxedo, a trailing tail, black and white and a yard long, and magnificent spurs. Matthias swirled him, the tail feathers flying like streamers, then hurled him like a firework into the pen. The rooster righted himself and spun, neck feathers fluffed for battle, to attack the fence near where they stood”
Hornung’s second novel is filled with gorgeous descriptive prose as the year following the initial shocking event unfolds. While the time period and location are not specified, her portrayal of what is probably 19th century country Victoria shows deep understanding of, and connection with, the land. The mindset and feel of the tightknit religious community is also expertly conveyed. This is a powerful and thought-provoking read.
“The farm was alive as it had never been. It was sinister, sentient. Demanding. The blue shadows lengthened, marching towards him. The sun lit the stubble orange and flamed off the distant cliff of the escarpment. The water in the creek whispered through reed beds and gurgled over rocks, as it always had, but now there were words in it: sad, harsh, almost indistinguishable. The grass rustled with quick lives and a secret knowledge; the air was filled with buzz and sizzle, deep-toned frogs, an owl – all were shouting, scraping at him – asking for some response from him”
The Last Garden is the second novel by Australian author, Eva Hornung. When fifteen-year-old Benedict Orion comes home from boarding school to find his father has shot dead his mother and then himself, the only respite he can find from memories is in the barn. In his grief, he becomes a recluse: he shuns interaction with the well-meaning townspeople of Wahrheit, and keeps company with the horses and chickens. Pastor Edmund Helfgott’s visits cause anxiety and anticipation in equal measure.
Pastor Helfgott shields the boy from contact, allowing him to come to terms with his loss in his own way, praying this is the right thing to do. He does worry about the boy’s mental state. But despite being a pastor’s son, he has never felt he is doing an adequate job for his flock, never really filled the Old Pastor’s shoes, relying on his father’s sermons and the Book of Seasons his father wrote for the community in their new land. And now, this murder-suicide seems to be a catalyst for change in the small, exclusive community that the Old Pastor had founded so many years before, established in a new land to await the Second Coming.
Months later: “The Orion tragedy bled still, for somehow they had not gathered together and staunched the wound. They had not taken the boy into the heart of the community and tended him in his grief. They had not gathered axes, saws, adzes and the women, and marched out to the farm to clean up and rebuild his house. No one yet blamed the pastor, but somehow they all felt a vague disquiet and sense of culpability. The shock of Matthias’s act had paralysed them, and Benedict had himself become part of the wound”
After some time, Benedict allows some memories to surface, good ones at first:
“He had found Ada a collection of chickens beyond any flock Benedict had ever seen. He produced each squawking specimen with a flourish, as a magician might, made it flap for Benedict, then tossed it this way or that into the pen, Benedict laughed with delight, and Ada, standing and watching, looked up first at the willow tree, then the pine tree, then smiled. Each shrieking chicken was more spectacular than the last. The final crate held a single enraged rooster. Matthias mimed the danger, wrestled, and then extracted the most spectacular of them all: he had a speckled tuxedo, a trailing tail, black and white and a yard long, and magnificent spurs. Matthias swirled him, the tail feathers flying like streamers, then hurled him like a firework into the pen. The rooster righted himself and spun, neck feathers fluffed for battle, to attack the fence near where they stood”
Hornung’s second novel is filled with gorgeous descriptive prose as the year following the initial shocking event unfolds. While the time period and location are not specified, her portrayal of what is probably 19th century country Victoria shows deep understanding of, and connection with, the land. The mindset and feel of the tightknit religious community is also expertly conveyed. This is a powerful and thought-provoking read.
August 17, 2018
‘A powerful book and the writing is mesmerising.’
Mercury
‘An extraordinarily powerful, unsettling and at times deeply moving tale.’
Sydney Review of Books
‘Harrowing reading, yet it’s beautiful too. An extraordinary novel.’
ANZ LitLovers
‘Hornung has given an allegory for the modern world…Genuine feeling for others is so much more important than adhering to doctrine. In this novel, when the lessons are learned, the Garden of Eden can have a different ending.’
Newtown Review of Books
‘Hornung writes with extraordinary force and insight…an amazing feat of imaginative power.’
Canberra Times
‘Astonishing…A strange, sombre, sobering triumph.’
Sydney Morning Herald
‘There’s human violence and the strength of animals…just gripping.’
Australian
‘The Last Garden is vivid, visceral and disconcerting. The descriptions of animals are intensely empathetic, and the book raises fundamental and confronting questions about how our animal and our human selves can or should co-exist.’
Books + Publishing
‘Eight years after the magical, Prime Minister’s Literary Award-winning Dog Boy, what a joy it is to have another beautifully-wrought novel by Adelaide author Eva Hornung.’
Adelaide Advertiser
‘Like all great literary fiction, The Last Garden provokes thought and empathy in equal measure. This visceral and utterly compelling new novel represents an ambitious new layer to Hornung’s continued investigation of the human condition, magnificently realised.’
Readings
‘This is a novel that is calm and patient in its telling, and almost hypnotic in its effect. What Hornung emphasises is that it’s neither our hopes for the future, nor the suffering of our pasts, that saves us. Rather, it’s in the act of living — the way we attune ourselves to the shifting demands of the world around us; the use we make of the time between “the first garden ... and the last” — that redemption is to be found.’
Australian
‘It's melancholy, beautiful, and deeply evocative. Michael Cathcart admitted to the writer that he knew he was going to love it from page one.’
Michael Cathcart, Radio National
‘Eva Hornung understands how critical human relationships with animals can be.’
Guardian
‘Yes, there are grotesque and sinister surprises aplenty in this weird prodigy of a book, but there is a lot of tenderness and an extraordinary beauty too.’
Saturday Paper
‘Melancholy, beautiful, and deeply evocative.’
RN Books and Arts
‘Full of symbolism but not overpowered by it, this is a powerful book, and the writing is mesmerising.’
Herald Sun
‘The Last Garden is by no means a long read but it is a big novel. Hornung’s characters, in all their awed complexity, will stay with you long after the covers of this powerful book are closed.’
Australian Book Review
‘Hornung’s knowledge and deep respect for the spiritual and emotional relationships between humans and animals shine through in her exquisite, glittering prose. This gentle, literary novel is a moving meditation on the heavy mist of grief, and will bring back a dark solace to the tormented heart.’
Big Issue
‘Full of symbolism but not overpowered by it, this is a powerful book, and the writing is mesmerising.’
Townsville Bulletin
‘Hornung is a writer of extraordinary power, using her omniscient narrator to inhabit the minds of Benedict’s father, the grieving child and the faltering pastor, following the flux of their thoughts with elegance and precision…An unusual and hypnotic novel.’
Age
‘Deep despair was cushioned by gorgeous writing in Eva Hornung’s The Last Garden.’
Bram Presser, Sydney Morning Herald’s Year in Reading
Mercury
‘An extraordinarily powerful, unsettling and at times deeply moving tale.’
Sydney Review of Books
‘Harrowing reading, yet it’s beautiful too. An extraordinary novel.’
ANZ LitLovers
‘Hornung has given an allegory for the modern world…Genuine feeling for others is so much more important than adhering to doctrine. In this novel, when the lessons are learned, the Garden of Eden can have a different ending.’
Newtown Review of Books
‘Hornung writes with extraordinary force and insight…an amazing feat of imaginative power.’
Canberra Times
‘Astonishing…A strange, sombre, sobering triumph.’
Sydney Morning Herald
‘There’s human violence and the strength of animals…just gripping.’
Australian
‘The Last Garden is vivid, visceral and disconcerting. The descriptions of animals are intensely empathetic, and the book raises fundamental and confronting questions about how our animal and our human selves can or should co-exist.’
Books + Publishing
‘Eight years after the magical, Prime Minister’s Literary Award-winning Dog Boy, what a joy it is to have another beautifully-wrought novel by Adelaide author Eva Hornung.’
Adelaide Advertiser
‘Like all great literary fiction, The Last Garden provokes thought and empathy in equal measure. This visceral and utterly compelling new novel represents an ambitious new layer to Hornung’s continued investigation of the human condition, magnificently realised.’
Readings
‘This is a novel that is calm and patient in its telling, and almost hypnotic in its effect. What Hornung emphasises is that it’s neither our hopes for the future, nor the suffering of our pasts, that saves us. Rather, it’s in the act of living — the way we attune ourselves to the shifting demands of the world around us; the use we make of the time between “the first garden ... and the last” — that redemption is to be found.’
Australian
‘It's melancholy, beautiful, and deeply evocative. Michael Cathcart admitted to the writer that he knew he was going to love it from page one.’
Michael Cathcart, Radio National
‘Eva Hornung understands how critical human relationships with animals can be.’
Guardian
‘Yes, there are grotesque and sinister surprises aplenty in this weird prodigy of a book, but there is a lot of tenderness and an extraordinary beauty too.’
Saturday Paper
‘Melancholy, beautiful, and deeply evocative.’
RN Books and Arts
‘Full of symbolism but not overpowered by it, this is a powerful book, and the writing is mesmerising.’
Herald Sun
‘The Last Garden is by no means a long read but it is a big novel. Hornung’s characters, in all their awed complexity, will stay with you long after the covers of this powerful book are closed.’
Australian Book Review
‘Hornung’s knowledge and deep respect for the spiritual and emotional relationships between humans and animals shine through in her exquisite, glittering prose. This gentle, literary novel is a moving meditation on the heavy mist of grief, and will bring back a dark solace to the tormented heart.’
Big Issue
‘Full of symbolism but not overpowered by it, this is a powerful book, and the writing is mesmerising.’
Townsville Bulletin
‘Hornung is a writer of extraordinary power, using her omniscient narrator to inhabit the minds of Benedict’s father, the grieving child and the faltering pastor, following the flux of their thoughts with elegance and precision…An unusual and hypnotic novel.’
Age
‘Deep despair was cushioned by gorgeous writing in Eva Hornung’s The Last Garden.’
Bram Presser, Sydney Morning Herald’s Year in Reading
December 5, 2024
‘He could not make sense of it all until he let a trickle of memory in: …’
Benedict Orion returns home to Wahreit from boarding school on the day that his father Matthias shoots his wife Eva and himself dead. Benedict, fifteen years old, discovers their bodies. The community of Wahreit is shocked. Wahreit, an isolated settlement set somewhere in colonial Australia has been founded by a community in exile awaiting the return of the Messiah. It is the ‘last garden’ of the title. But the community has been waiting for a long time, and Pastor Helfgott can feel some waverings of faith. He is not the leader that his predecessor was, and feels his deficiency keenly.
Benedict is unable to remain inside his parents’ home, and moves into the barn to live with the horses. Pastor Helfgott visits Benedict, bringing him food from the community. The novel marks the passage of the seasons. Benedict’s passage through grief is difficult to observe: he becomes more like the animals he is living with, and the community is unsure how to react. The horses, particularly the mare named Melba, provide Dominic with a focus and a way to relate to the external world. Dominic tries hard to keep hens as well (his mother had a collection of exotic hens) but there’s a fox to contend with.
Dominic’s difference becomes an issue with the community: especially when a scapegoat is needed. It has become clear that this isolated and closed community has flaws and faults.
As I read this beautifully written novel with its polished prose, I wondered if Dominic could ever find his way back to the world of humans. I wondered, too, about the community and Pastor Helfgott. Should they have done more, and what could they have done? Four themes stand out for me: the violence committed by humans (and not just that of Matthias Orion), the persistence and cunning of the fox, the strength of the horses, and the definition of redemption.
‘He opens the door with a firm hand and walks into the room.’
I found this novel unsettling in parts: I wanted to intervene in the story, to (somehow) improve Dominic’s life. It was a novel I wanted to read quickly (to know how it ended) and to read slowly (to enjoy the beauty of the writing). It’s a novel which will stay with me for a long time.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Benedict Orion returns home to Wahreit from boarding school on the day that his father Matthias shoots his wife Eva and himself dead. Benedict, fifteen years old, discovers their bodies. The community of Wahreit is shocked. Wahreit, an isolated settlement set somewhere in colonial Australia has been founded by a community in exile awaiting the return of the Messiah. It is the ‘last garden’ of the title. But the community has been waiting for a long time, and Pastor Helfgott can feel some waverings of faith. He is not the leader that his predecessor was, and feels his deficiency keenly.
Benedict is unable to remain inside his parents’ home, and moves into the barn to live with the horses. Pastor Helfgott visits Benedict, bringing him food from the community. The novel marks the passage of the seasons. Benedict’s passage through grief is difficult to observe: he becomes more like the animals he is living with, and the community is unsure how to react. The horses, particularly the mare named Melba, provide Dominic with a focus and a way to relate to the external world. Dominic tries hard to keep hens as well (his mother had a collection of exotic hens) but there’s a fox to contend with.
Dominic’s difference becomes an issue with the community: especially when a scapegoat is needed. It has become clear that this isolated and closed community has flaws and faults.
As I read this beautifully written novel with its polished prose, I wondered if Dominic could ever find his way back to the world of humans. I wondered, too, about the community and Pastor Helfgott. Should they have done more, and what could they have done? Four themes stand out for me: the violence committed by humans (and not just that of Matthias Orion), the persistence and cunning of the fox, the strength of the horses, and the definition of redemption.
‘He opens the door with a firm hand and walks into the room.’
I found this novel unsettling in parts: I wanted to intervene in the story, to (somehow) improve Dominic’s life. It was a novel I wanted to read quickly (to know how it ended) and to read slowly (to enjoy the beauty of the writing). It’s a novel which will stay with me for a long time.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
April 26, 2017
This was a very powerful and moving novel about relationships. The two main characters are both dealing with the legacies of their fathers but also dealing with their trust/relationship with God. The allegory of seasons is used to represent the different stages of grief. There is also a great deal of symbolism within the novel such as fire, birth, death and the fox. The more I think about this story the more complex and layered it becomes. The only thing I would have liked would be a bit more context to explain the origins of this 'Old Germanic' group of people. A haunting novel about living in the present and accepting the past. Thanks to Goodreads and Text for my copy of this novel.
December 21, 2017
The previous Horning novel I read was Dog Boy, in which an abandoned child in Moscow is adopted by a pack of dogs. This novel shows a boy, Benedict, finding his only solace in his farm’s horses, after the shocking murder/suicide of his parents. Horning again shows her understanding of animals and how contact with animals can help us deal with the most raw emotions. She writes prose that is both lucid and lyrical, both brutal and tender.
The other strand to the novel is the rural community in which Benedict and his family have lived - German immigrants to Australia who have cut themselves off from regular society while they await the appearance of their Messiah. Because of the murder/suicide, people appear not to be able to cope with the survival of Benedict and it is really only the Pastor who reaches out to support him. This is not just a story of survival, it is a story of an isolated community which harbours dark secrets. Adam and Eve were cast out of the first garden. What knowledge can be found in the last garden, what sins revealed and what redemption achieved? I was both moved and unsettled by this brilliantly written novel.
The other strand to the novel is the rural community in which Benedict and his family have lived - German immigrants to Australia who have cut themselves off from regular society while they await the appearance of their Messiah. Because of the murder/suicide, people appear not to be able to cope with the survival of Benedict and it is really only the Pastor who reaches out to support him. This is not just a story of survival, it is a story of an isolated community which harbours dark secrets. Adam and Eve were cast out of the first garden. What knowledge can be found in the last garden, what sins revealed and what redemption achieved? I was both moved and unsettled by this brilliantly written novel.
June 27, 2017
It took me a while after the dramatic start to really warm to this, but Hornung is a wonderful storyteller, not rushing through anything and really building up her isolated little world. The Last Garden is set in a small German religious community in the Adelaide hills sometime in the 1800s and examines grief, faith and nature in exacting and thoughtful ways. This didn't drag me along like Dog Boy, but it was still a deeply interesting read.
July 31, 2018
Sometime in the 1800s, a farming community established in outback Australia by a German religious sect is not progressing well. They are waiting for the Messiah and strangely he doesn't. Benedict is a 15 year old who returns from boarding school to find his mother killed by his father who in turn kills himself. Benedict goes and lives in the barn with his horses and chickens.
This book is full of descriptive prose - most of it rather bleak as madness, isolation, despair and depravity pervades the community. But if you are into horses than this is a winner.
This book is full of descriptive prose - most of it rather bleak as madness, isolation, despair and depravity pervades the community. But if you are into horses than this is a winner.
September 19, 2018
A book club choice that I left to the last few days to both obtain and read. A friend said not to worry, it would not take long to read. She was right. Once I started I just kept reading. The prose is mesmerising, the observations of grief and survival convincing. Each chapter is preceded by an extract from the Book, designed to guide the life of the community. This technique, used to good effect in Robyn Cadwallader’s Colours, provides a seasonal rhythm,given greater impact by the Southern Hemisphere contrasts. Added to this is the passing of an Aboriginal family through the property, following their seasonal journey in which the ‘seasins’ have an uncanny resemblance to the divisions of the Calendar of the Germanic sect.
Eva Hornung’s empathy is tangible. She fine-tunes her writing to the journey of a soul to healing and life - to the voices of Benjamin and Pastor Helfgott, reducing to static the voices of anger, envy, presumption and judgement. It’s a remarkable achievement - and uplifting.
Eva Hornung’s empathy is tangible. She fine-tunes her writing to the journey of a soul to healing and life - to the voices of Benjamin and Pastor Helfgott, reducing to static the voices of anger, envy, presumption and judgement. It’s a remarkable achievement - and uplifting.
September 2, 2018
4 1/2 rounded up, as its a mesmerizing, cinematic, fast paced, believable chronicle. The achingly beautiful , sensitive interactions with his animals, insects, trees, and encounters with a travelling group of Aboriginals, leaves a reader with such hope for Benedict's future.
What to write a book? This is how it's done ! Reminds me apropos of nothing , of the rhythm and pace of "Leap" by Myfanwy Jones.
What to write a book? This is how it's done ! Reminds me apropos of nothing , of the rhythm and pace of "Leap" by Myfanwy Jones.
August 25, 2018
Well, wasn't this an unexpected delight. I read way too many reviews of this before I read it, all of which gave me the wrong expectations (so you might want to stop now and just read the book). I can see why I got confused: the book is so subtle it would be easier to make it seem more definitive than it is. Stuff I liked:
Evocation of the Barossa I don't think about the Barossa much, although I spent much of the first decadeof my life there. But this book *smelt* like the Barossa. I could feel the heat, and the dusty wind, and see the grape vines, and taste the bottled fruit. It had that sense that strange set of interconnected communities which is both communal and isolated all at once. It had that weird nostalgia effect of making me ache and feel satisfied all at once, and I honestly don't know how Hornung did that because…
The world building is exquisite. There is a particular trick to inventing a perfectly real world that is all new, and yet feels like it just *should* exist, and Hornung pulls this off perfectly. This might smell, feel, look and taste like the Barossa, but it is an alterna-Barossa, a community existing in a distinct time and place which is not quite ours. The framing device of the Book of Seasons works beautifully, and also provides..
A tangled tension between change and continuityThis was one of the strongest themes of the book for me. The Book of Seasons lays out a sense of cyclical time, with the inherent timelessness and continuity that goes with it. But at its heart, the book is written to cope with jarring change, uprooted change, and that points to the lesson: that unchanging rhythm is a lie. Evidence of growth - economic, emotional, physical - abounds, which brings us to..
A celebration of humanityFrom the reviews I really had expected this to be much grimmer - I mean the premise is loaded with trauma. But its dominant themes were healing and growth, and the interlocked perspectives of the young pastor and the boy both reinforce this. Both have to recover, and also to grow (up?). Both have to shift worldview to understand and manage complexity, humanity and allowance for fraility and vulnerability. As they do so, they make deeper connections. It would be easy for this to be a simple condemnation of religion, but it's really much more nuanced than that: it is a condemnation of rigidity, abuse and control, maybe, but it is also a testament (heh) to what people - including people wothin these communities can do. There is an intreesting, and unexpected, celebration of women towards the end, which was unsettling in a very good way.
So, yeah, I think you could say I'm recommending this. It is the kind of book that you can savour well past when your eyes were on the text.
Evocation of the Barossa I don't think about the Barossa much, although I spent much of the first decadeof my life there. But this book *smelt* like the Barossa. I could feel the heat, and the dusty wind, and see the grape vines, and taste the bottled fruit. It had that sense that strange set of interconnected communities which is both communal and isolated all at once. It had that weird nostalgia effect of making me ache and feel satisfied all at once, and I honestly don't know how Hornung did that because…
The world building is exquisite. There is a particular trick to inventing a perfectly real world that is all new, and yet feels like it just *should* exist, and Hornung pulls this off perfectly. This might smell, feel, look and taste like the Barossa, but it is an alterna-Barossa, a community existing in a distinct time and place which is not quite ours. The framing device of the Book of Seasons works beautifully, and also provides..
A tangled tension between change and continuityThis was one of the strongest themes of the book for me. The Book of Seasons lays out a sense of cyclical time, with the inherent timelessness and continuity that goes with it. But at its heart, the book is written to cope with jarring change, uprooted change, and that points to the lesson: that unchanging rhythm is a lie. Evidence of growth - economic, emotional, physical - abounds, which brings us to..
A celebration of humanityFrom the reviews I really had expected this to be much grimmer - I mean the premise is loaded with trauma. But its dominant themes were healing and growth, and the interlocked perspectives of the young pastor and the boy both reinforce this. Both have to recover, and also to grow (up?). Both have to shift worldview to understand and manage complexity, humanity and allowance for fraility and vulnerability. As they do so, they make deeper connections. It would be easy for this to be a simple condemnation of religion, but it's really much more nuanced than that: it is a condemnation of rigidity, abuse and control, maybe, but it is also a testament (heh) to what people - including people wothin these communities can do. There is an intreesting, and unexpected, celebration of women towards the end, which was unsettling in a very good way.
So, yeah, I think you could say I'm recommending this. It is the kind of book that you can savour well past when your eyes were on the text.
March 8, 2019
Utterly beautiful. I surprised myself by loving Hornung’s previous novel Dog Boy but, whilst still enjoying it, initially this book felt very different. Although the story is based on Benedict, a sixteen year old driven almost mad with grief following the murder suicide of his parents, much of the writing focuses on his interactions with the farming seasons, and, cutting himself off from the town due to the manner of his parents’ deaths, the relationships that he finds instead with the animals around him. The prose is delicious and you can feel and taste the South Australian countryside and seasons as they change. The fact that Wahrheit was originally created by a German religious community to await the coming of the Messiah almost seems superfluous to start but as the story progresses, this gains more resonance and the elements that I loved so much in Dog Boy became evident.
This is not one to read if you are looking for thrills and spills, but for beautiful prose and an intelligent, thoughtful story I think it is perfect. The storyline unfurls slowly and incorporates so much - grief, shame, the nature of faith, the loss of faith, redemption.. It is amazing that it is all contained within a relatively short book. I do not know why Eva Hornung has not yet had more recognition in the UK.
This is not one to read if you are looking for thrills and spills, but for beautiful prose and an intelligent, thoughtful story I think it is perfect. The storyline unfurls slowly and incorporates so much - grief, shame, the nature of faith, the loss of faith, redemption.. It is amazing that it is all contained within a relatively short book. I do not know why Eva Hornung has not yet had more recognition in the UK.
December 15, 2018
I received a copy through Goodreads giveaways.
October 28, 2024
An intriguing story about how 15 year old Benedict copes with the murder-suicide of his mother and father. He finds the bodies in the family house on his arrival home from boarding school. The novel is set in the 19th century in a German religious settlement in South Australia.
Benedict lives alone in the family barn, caring for his horses. Impetuously, he burned down the family house. Benedict refuses to leave his property. The community leaves Benedict alone. The parson, Paster Helgott, visits Benedict regularly, with food from the community. Benedict bonds with his horses, his cat and his mother’s chickens. He is unprepared for the winter. Aborigines passing through the area, stay with Benedict for a short time and help him find sources of nourishment.
A beautifully written short novel.
This book was shortlisted for the 2018 Miles Franklin Award.
Benedict lives alone in the family barn, caring for his horses. Impetuously, he burned down the family house. Benedict refuses to leave his property. The community leaves Benedict alone. The parson, Paster Helgott, visits Benedict regularly, with food from the community. Benedict bonds with his horses, his cat and his mother’s chickens. He is unprepared for the winter. Aborigines passing through the area, stay with Benedict for a short time and help him find sources of nourishment.
A beautifully written short novel.
This book was shortlisted for the 2018 Miles Franklin Award.
July 17, 2018
Another recommendation by Mathilda Bookshop at Stirling. Marvellous!
couldn-t-finish
August 7, 2018Neigh! A bit horsey for me.
April 8, 2018
The Last Garden by Eva Hornung
Published by Text, 2017. This is I think the first book Eva Hornung has published since her masterpiece, Dog Boy, won the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for fiction in 2010. I reviewed it here: https://memoryandyou.wordpress.com/20...
The Last Garden has some similarities in theme, in that it imagines a boy crossing the border between human and animal, becoming animal for a time, and experiencing the world from a double, human-animal perspective. Benedict Orion, the hero, aged fifteen, returns home from boarding school to find that a terrible crime has shattered his childhood paradise, the farm outside the Wahrheit settlement. His father has shot his mother through the heart, and then himself.
The crime is not explained, and the year in Benedict’s life that the book covers is in part about his quest to understand it. Yet he goes about this by escaping to the barn, where he lives with the horses and the chickens and a cat, and avoids human contact, except for the irregular visits of Pastor Helfgott, who believes, for a time, that Benedict may be the Saviour that the religious community is awaiting. At the same time, he protects Benedict from being ‘civilised’ by the members of the community and allows him time to heal, to live half wild, bringing him offerings of food and reminding him to eat and pray. Benedict, who responds to the shock that has shattered his life by not speaking for a long time, is haunted not only by his father’s crime but by a fox that flickers on the edge of his vision, and brings murder and death back into his world, wounding and killing his beloved hens and roosters. The fox enters his consciousness and becomes God, taunting and enslaving him.
I have not forsaken you, said the fox, one night. I am with you always.
He has encounters, perhaps dreamed, perhaps real, with black people, and they heal him of self-inflicted wounds.The fox reminds him that he needs only him and this is his farm.
Finally, he confronts the fox and kills it. The voice of God is gone, yet there is a profound mistake. He has killed a vixen, mother of suckling cubs. This takes him back to his own family and his father’s crime, and he reviews his life. He begins to understand how his father had made such a terrible mistake.
Maybe if Matthias had counted to ten, as Ada always told him he should, if Matthias had seen himself in the eyes of a dead fox, a horse, or for that matter a koala—any god would do— if he had let the wave of whatever pain, guilt or madness pass…
There are other strands to this story, and other voices, mainly that of Pastor Helfgott. I found this strand less convincing.
I prefer the two-dimensional world of Dog Boy, where the boy’s consciousness is the main voice.
I have to say that this is not an easy book to read. It is enigmatic and much is unspoken. I read it once and immediately began to read it again. I recall I did the same thing with Dog Boy. But I can say that this book haunted me and still does, though not as much as Dog Boy did.
June 27, 2018
The residents of the separatist enclave of Wahrheit have their idyll shattered by the news of a murder-suicide by community member Matthias Orion. They are a group of German immigrants who have gathered together to await their Messiah, and are quick to blame Matthias' contact with the outside world for this shocking news.
The community lives by the Book of Seasons: prescriptions from their founder about what they should be doing at all times of the year, in order to be prepared for the coming. The founder's son, Pastor Helfgott, continues to preach to his flock but lacks his father's zeal.
Matthias' son Benedict, who discovered his dead mother and father, begins a slow descent into madness. He moves from the house to the barn, lives with the animals and neglects the farm and the strictures of the Seasons. The community avoids contact with him because they cannot deal with the enormity of what happened. Benedict subsumes his need for human contact by looking after his horses and ceases to speak. Pastor Helfgott continues to visit him and worries that his madness may become worse. But Helfgott has a deeper worry: is Benedict some sort of harbinger of the Messiah that his father foretold? And what would that mean for Wahrheit?
This is a splendid book. Parts of it reminded me of Equus in the portrayal of Benedict's relationship with his horses. It is beautifully written, with bucolic descriptions of the changes in the countryside, the farming activities and the cultural events as the seasons shift. It also captures an important element of the immigrant experience; farmers from the other side of the world adjusting to a new reality. Finally, it tells a thoughtful story of religious doubt and the blights that can hide even in the gardens of paradise.
The Last Garden has been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, and I think it would be a worthy winner.
The community lives by the Book of Seasons: prescriptions from their founder about what they should be doing at all times of the year, in order to be prepared for the coming. The founder's son, Pastor Helfgott, continues to preach to his flock but lacks his father's zeal.
Matthias' son Benedict, who discovered his dead mother and father, begins a slow descent into madness. He moves from the house to the barn, lives with the animals and neglects the farm and the strictures of the Seasons. The community avoids contact with him because they cannot deal with the enormity of what happened. Benedict subsumes his need for human contact by looking after his horses and ceases to speak. Pastor Helfgott continues to visit him and worries that his madness may become worse. But Helfgott has a deeper worry: is Benedict some sort of harbinger of the Messiah that his father foretold? And what would that mean for Wahrheit?
This is a splendid book. Parts of it reminded me of Equus in the portrayal of Benedict's relationship with his horses. It is beautifully written, with bucolic descriptions of the changes in the countryside, the farming activities and the cultural events as the seasons shift. It also captures an important element of the immigrant experience; farmers from the other side of the world adjusting to a new reality. Finally, it tells a thoughtful story of religious doubt and the blights that can hide even in the gardens of paradise.
The Last Garden has been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, and I think it would be a worthy winner.
March 22, 2018
Eva Hornung is a Victorian-born author who now lives in rural South Australia, and her love of the bush environment dominates this intriguing novel. I’ve had The Last Garden on my TBR since I bought it last year, but it’s been long-listed for the 2018 ALS Gold Medal so this seems like a good time to read it.
#Understatement I wasn’t very keen on Dog Boy (which won the 2010 Prime Minister’s Award, so I was well-and-truly out of step there!) but The Last Garden is a less confronting novel. It does, however, include grotesque elements that Hornung seems to favour. This is how it begins:
Horrific, yes, but irresistible too. There are puzzling elements in this striking introduction. A quick Google search told me that ‘Wahrheit’ is a German word meaning ‘Truth’, but I had to read on to confirm my suspicion that the Wagnerian-sounding ‘Nebelung’ was derived from an archaic calendar. Each chapter, one for each month of the year, is prefaced by a quasi-religious tract describing the climate, but if Nebelung, preceding the Old High German ‘Christmond‘, is November, then these events are not taking place in the northern hemisphere. The European calendar’s ‘Wintermond’ isn’t an appropriate name for a mild November like this:
This is a 19th century German religious settlement in South Australia…
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/03/22/t...
#Understatement I wasn’t very keen on Dog Boy (which won the 2010 Prime Minister’s Award, so I was well-and-truly out of step there!) but The Last Garden is a less confronting novel. It does, however, include grotesque elements that Hornung seems to favour. This is how it begins:
On a mild Nebelung’s afternoon, Matthias Orion, having lived as an exclamation mark in the Wahrheit settlement and as the capital letter at home, killed himself.
He spent a strange day in surly, secret violence, compelled to destroy anything he considered to be part of himself, but almost unaware of where his black mood was taking him. He could find no release. He walked, reloading as he trod, crunching up his own driveway and entered his beautiful house as if blown by a harsh wind, unable to stop and remove his boots.
Ada came out of the kitchen, wiped befeathered hands on her pinafore.
Her eyes widened, travelled up and down with a storm brewing behind them as her mouth moved, but he heard nothing above the roar in his head. A wave swept over him, and before he had stopped to think he had shot his wife through the heart as she stood by the sideboard. She crumpled into silence, a hush that he recognised as unique among hushes: the end of everything. (p.3-4)
Horrific, yes, but irresistible too. There are puzzling elements in this striking introduction. A quick Google search told me that ‘Wahrheit’ is a German word meaning ‘Truth’, but I had to read on to confirm my suspicion that the Wagnerian-sounding ‘Nebelung’ was derived from an archaic calendar. Each chapter, one for each month of the year, is prefaced by a quasi-religious tract describing the climate, but if Nebelung, preceding the Old High German ‘Christmond‘, is November, then these events are not taking place in the northern hemisphere. The European calendar’s ‘Wintermond’ isn’t an appropriate name for a mild November like this:
Now we have Nebelung, but what a Nebelung! The grass ripens at a marvellous height, the baby animals gambol at their mother’s sides, the heavens are mild, the rain enriching, the sun warm. Our gardens are places of praise. Our houses are places of worship, our fields ring with the songs of scythe and reaper and our children’s songs of joy. No fog or mist darkens our world, no ice bars our labours. No snow falls. We plan marriages and we harvest as we have sown. (p.1)
This is a 19th century German religious settlement in South Australia…
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/03/22/t...
May 10, 2017
The Wahrheit settlement (or The Last Garden) are a community lead spiritually by Pastor Helfgott. Matthias returns to the community after his family was cast out when he was a child. He and his bride have new ideas that unsettle the settlement.
One November afternoon, Matthias murders his wife. 15 year old son Benedict is late home from boarding school and therefore is spared as Matthias kills himself. Benedict responds by moving into the farm shed and living with the animals. This story follows his journey of connecting with the animals, grieving for his past and moving towards the future.
Pastor Helfgott is the son of the first pastor of Wahrheit. He senses that he has not the influence that his late father had due to his accommodation of Benedict and his wavering leadership.
The story could be set in Germany. It is well into the story when a koala appears and we learn that the story is set in Hornung's native Australia. The chapters are divided by the months in German and preluded by the sermons from either Pastor Helfgott or his father.
I have three issues: the reader does not have an opportunity to witness the pivotal moment in Benedict's life when he finds his parents dead. It is mentioned briefly later in the book but I felt robbed of the moment. We did not have a chance to know Benedict much before this event and were not privy to his thinking - or numbness - in the moment and immediate aftermath.
Also there is not much context given to the Wehrheit community. I would like to know more about their history and the people in it. What time in history does this story take place?
A 15 year old minor is left alone to fend for himself in his late father's shed. Rations of food are delivered by the pastor and a few others from the settlement but how is he allowed to remain alone for so long? His aunt, Tante Ilse is his guardian and she only encourages him to move to the farm house and not away from the farm to her house. Where is the legality in this?
After 100 pages, I put these questions to the back of my mind, continued reading and enjoyed the beauty of the story telling and the satisfying end.
Thankyou to Goodreads and text publishing for providing a copy of this book for review.
One November afternoon, Matthias murders his wife. 15 year old son Benedict is late home from boarding school and therefore is spared as Matthias kills himself. Benedict responds by moving into the farm shed and living with the animals. This story follows his journey of connecting with the animals, grieving for his past and moving towards the future.
Pastor Helfgott is the son of the first pastor of Wahrheit. He senses that he has not the influence that his late father had due to his accommodation of Benedict and his wavering leadership.
The story could be set in Germany. It is well into the story when a koala appears and we learn that the story is set in Hornung's native Australia. The chapters are divided by the months in German and preluded by the sermons from either Pastor Helfgott or his father.
I have three issues: the reader does not have an opportunity to witness the pivotal moment in Benedict's life when he finds his parents dead. It is mentioned briefly later in the book but I felt robbed of the moment. We did not have a chance to know Benedict much before this event and were not privy to his thinking - or numbness - in the moment and immediate aftermath.
Also there is not much context given to the Wehrheit community. I would like to know more about their history and the people in it. What time in history does this story take place?
A 15 year old minor is left alone to fend for himself in his late father's shed. Rations of food are delivered by the pastor and a few others from the settlement but how is he allowed to remain alone for so long? His aunt, Tante Ilse is his guardian and she only encourages him to move to the farm house and not away from the farm to her house. Where is the legality in this?
After 100 pages, I put these questions to the back of my mind, continued reading and enjoyed the beauty of the story telling and the satisfying end.
Thankyou to Goodreads and text publishing for providing a copy of this book for review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2018
A strange tale set in a closed self-contained religious community which is lead by Pastor Helfgott, whose father was the pastor before him. The community is located in an isolated rural area in Australia and the inhabitants are of European origin.
The community members do not welcome change and prefer to cast out those who threaten them or their beliefs. The Pastor tries to maintain the status quo even to the extreme of rehashing his father's sermons. Children are taught within the community and women are supposed to be subservient to men. The community meets regularly at their central Hall but their Messiah is a long time coming.
Benedict Orion's parents are different and live on the edge of the community physically and psychologically. They breed horses and strange domestic hens and send Benedict to school outside the community.
Benedict's father snaps the day Benedict is due home from school. The community is unable to cope with the disaster let alone assist Benedict who is left to fend for himself with only Pastor Helfgott bringing him food and conversation on an irregular basis. This uncharitable attitude and behaviour is a very unusual and indicates that all is far from well in the community.
Benedict runs wild with the horses and survives basically on his own for over twelve months. His growing maturity and amazing strength of character in overcoming his trauma and eventually his growing desire to return to the community contrasts with the Pastor and the community which comes close to breaking apart.
The book tracks the changes of the seasons and Benedict's travails in monthly chapters. The writing and structure plus the visual images are quite beautiful.
3 1/2 stars - It is an interesting story and leaves the reader with a positive future outlook for both Benedict and the Pastor
The community members do not welcome change and prefer to cast out those who threaten them or their beliefs. The Pastor tries to maintain the status quo even to the extreme of rehashing his father's sermons. Children are taught within the community and women are supposed to be subservient to men. The community meets regularly at their central Hall but their Messiah is a long time coming.
Benedict Orion's parents are different and live on the edge of the community physically and psychologically. They breed horses and strange domestic hens and send Benedict to school outside the community.
Benedict's father snaps the day Benedict is due home from school. The community is unable to cope with the disaster let alone assist Benedict who is left to fend for himself with only Pastor Helfgott bringing him food and conversation on an irregular basis. This uncharitable attitude and behaviour is a very unusual and indicates that all is far from well in the community.
Benedict runs wild with the horses and survives basically on his own for over twelve months. His growing maturity and amazing strength of character in overcoming his trauma and eventually his growing desire to return to the community contrasts with the Pastor and the community which comes close to breaking apart.
The book tracks the changes of the seasons and Benedict's travails in monthly chapters. The writing and structure plus the visual images are quite beautiful.
3 1/2 stars - It is an interesting story and leaves the reader with a positive future outlook for both Benedict and the Pastor
May 6, 2017
Benedict Orion, at 15, is taking his last trip home from boarding school. He is excited, looking forward to working on the family farm, and to proving to his parents how responsible he has become. He arrives home to disaster, discovering his mother and father dead in a murder-suicide.
Benedict cannot bear to be in the house and moves into the newly constructed shed, which is free of memories, sharing it with animals including his favourite horse Mabel. Benedict withdraws from life, with only the animals and the community’s leader, Pastor Helfgott, for company. He finds solace in his solitude – “Far from living in darkness and pain, his days were luminous, timeless.”
It soon becomes clear that Benedict lives in a traditional religious community, in Warheit, a fictional Australian town mirrored on the namesake town in Germany made famous by Martin Luther. Actually, you don’t find out the novel is set in Australia until some time into the novel as the cults and traditions are based on a German way of life. Pastor Helgott is the son of the founder of the sect and is losing his influence on the members of the community.
The novel alternates between Benedict’s and Pastor Helfgott’s journey, one coming to terms with his grief and isolation, the other coming to terms with the breakdown of his religious sect. The novel is a slow burner and is clunky at times - it took me a long time to become engaged with the characters and the story. My husband, who is generally harsher on books than I am, enjoyed this more than I did.
Thanks to Text Publishing for the giveaway.
Benedict cannot bear to be in the house and moves into the newly constructed shed, which is free of memories, sharing it with animals including his favourite horse Mabel. Benedict withdraws from life, with only the animals and the community’s leader, Pastor Helfgott, for company. He finds solace in his solitude – “Far from living in darkness and pain, his days were luminous, timeless.”
It soon becomes clear that Benedict lives in a traditional religious community, in Warheit, a fictional Australian town mirrored on the namesake town in Germany made famous by Martin Luther. Actually, you don’t find out the novel is set in Australia until some time into the novel as the cults and traditions are based on a German way of life. Pastor Helgott is the son of the founder of the sect and is losing his influence on the members of the community.
The novel alternates between Benedict’s and Pastor Helfgott’s journey, one coming to terms with his grief and isolation, the other coming to terms with the breakdown of his religious sect. The novel is a slow burner and is clunky at times - it took me a long time to become engaged with the characters and the story. My husband, who is generally harsher on books than I am, enjoyed this more than I did.
Thanks to Text Publishing for the giveaway.
May 29, 2018
I read this one of Eva's after Dog Boy. Both were recommended by a friend.
I liked The Last Garden even more than Dog Boy.
A young 15-year-old man comes home from boarding school to discover his father has shot his mother and himself. It is through this young man's journey through grief that Eva again, peels back social conditioning and exposes the barbarianism (probably not quite the right word) within. It is set in a fundamentalist German Christian community along the lines of the Amish. Another interesting aspect is the philosophical journey of the pastor - challenging his own beliefs and role - as he wrestles with the boy's healing process and the unrest and undercurrents within the closed community.
Highly recommend this deeply moving, thought provoking work. I can only imagine the emotional journey Eva embarked upon herself to write this book. I would love to meet her one day and talk writing.
I liked The Last Garden even more than Dog Boy.
A young 15-year-old man comes home from boarding school to discover his father has shot his mother and himself. It is through this young man's journey through grief that Eva again, peels back social conditioning and exposes the barbarianism (probably not quite the right word) within. It is set in a fundamentalist German Christian community along the lines of the Amish. Another interesting aspect is the philosophical journey of the pastor - challenging his own beliefs and role - as he wrestles with the boy's healing process and the unrest and undercurrents within the closed community.
Highly recommend this deeply moving, thought provoking work. I can only imagine the emotional journey Eva embarked upon herself to write this book. I would love to meet her one day and talk writing.
June 19, 2017
Somewhat different to what I would normally read, I can't even recall how this book ended up on my 'To Read' list - possibly thanks to Readings Monthly. However it happened, I am glad that it did.
Essentially the story of two men, both haunted by their fathers. Benedict is looking forward to returning home to the religious community and family farm after being away at boarding school and has plans to so impress his parents with his farming skills that they won't want to send him back to school.
Pastor Helfgott, is struggling to maintain the community that his father founded and is increasingly questioning his father's motives and methods.
Benedict's arrival is marred by the unspeakable horror of his parents murder suicide and Benedict reacts by retreating into the barn with his animals.
*As a little piece of trivia, I found it amusing that one of the seasons was named Hornung.
Essentially the story of two men, both haunted by their fathers. Benedict is looking forward to returning home to the religious community and family farm after being away at boarding school and has plans to so impress his parents with his farming skills that they won't want to send him back to school.
Pastor Helfgott, is struggling to maintain the community that his father founded and is increasingly questioning his father's motives and methods.
Benedict's arrival is marred by the unspeakable horror of his parents murder suicide and Benedict reacts by retreating into the barn with his animals.
*As a little piece of trivia, I found it amusing that one of the seasons was named Hornung.
March 28, 2019
Dark. Dismal. Dispiriting.
I read the many glowing reviews of this book, but cannot fathom the appeal.
Perhaps I was annoyed by feeling disoriented from the start: I wanted indicators of place and time. And a Glossary would be handy.
The characters seemed contrived and lacked substance. There were some hints as to the cause of the family tragedy, but these threads were never followed through.
I very nearly dnf. But, it is our Bookclub book so I persisted, and the final third of the book was more engaging. Hannelore's actions helped to salvage the story. But, too little too late.
The author writes well about the horses, and Benedict's connection with them. But these passages are not enough to rescue the story.
1 star only - for Hannelore.
I read the many glowing reviews of this book, but cannot fathom the appeal.
Perhaps I was annoyed by feeling disoriented from the start: I wanted indicators of place and time. And a Glossary would be handy.
The characters seemed contrived and lacked substance. There were some hints as to the cause of the family tragedy, but these threads were never followed through.
I very nearly dnf. But, it is our Bookclub book so I persisted, and the final third of the book was more engaging. Hannelore's actions helped to salvage the story. But, too little too late.
The author writes well about the horses, and Benedict's connection with them. But these passages are not enough to rescue the story.
1 star only - for Hannelore.
July 7, 2017
A very strange story about a German community whose members have chosen to live isolated lives in rural Australia. When Benedict discovers his parents' bodies when he returns from boarding school - the result of a murder-suicide - he descends into a kind of madness as he struggles with his grief and isolation. The local minister visits and provides support and the companionship of the farm animals eventually help him to heal. This is beautifully written and a winner of the Prime Minister's Award for Literature, but the story leaves many unanswered questions. What drove his father to this terrible act which triggered Benedict's temporary madness? Why did the community not take him in?
March 30, 2018
This is a beautifully written book, with rich descriptions of characters and place, but it just didn't engage me. I found the plot patchy and at times ponderous. It was one of those books that concentrated more on the beauty of the prose than in having an engaging plot.
The religious sect that is the foundation of the book wasn't clearly defined to me. I would like to have understood more about their ways. I also felt that whilst the characters were well described, I could not form the least relationship with them. They seemed remote to my feelings and I was frustrated by so many unexplained things and loose ends.
The religious sect that is the foundation of the book wasn't clearly defined to me. I would like to have understood more about their ways. I also felt that whilst the characters were well described, I could not form the least relationship with them. They seemed remote to my feelings and I was frustrated by so many unexplained things and loose ends.
October 3, 2018
I finished this gem with such a feeling of relief, regret and satisfaction. Relief because I was waiting for it to fall apart, but Eva Hornung maintained the power and suspense so beautifully on every page. Regret because it had to end, and it did in the right place. It is a moving and strong novel about grief, endurance and understanding. Really loved the Germanic historical link.
I think The Last Garden compares well with Charlotte Wood's The Natural Way of Things because of the "feralness" of Benedict and the hunting girl (can't remember her name....)
Well deserved Franklin Shortlist and, although I haven't read them all yet, my favourite so far.
I think The Last Garden compares well with Charlotte Wood's The Natural Way of Things because of the "feralness" of Benedict and the hunting girl (can't remember her name....)
Well deserved Franklin Shortlist and, although I haven't read them all yet, my favourite so far.
February 23, 2018
Exquisite writing and such a heart-rending story! With his animals as his only solace a young man tries to deal with an horrific event which happened with no explanation. How he gets through this is quite fascinating. It’s a beautiful bond he makes with his horses and his chickens, but even there, there is more tragedy. The pastor tries to support the boy and give him time; he doubts himself but he is exactly what the boy needs. I absolutely love the support the wife gives him at the end and also the way the novel finishes. Totally recommend.
August 1, 2018
The author describes this as an odd little book and I have to agree.
I never warmed to the construct of the orphaned youth being abandoned to a lost and lonely life. The pastor visits but seems to have no power to heal the wounds caused by previous tragic events.
Many questions remain unanswered.
Why didn't the townspeople show more compassion?
What led to the horrible tragedy in the first place?
Why was there so little hope on the pages of this book.
Mournful but well written prose.
Hoping the next book explores a topic with more light.
I never warmed to the construct of the orphaned youth being abandoned to a lost and lonely life. The pastor visits but seems to have no power to heal the wounds caused by previous tragic events.
Many questions remain unanswered.
Why didn't the townspeople show more compassion?
What led to the horrible tragedy in the first place?
Why was there so little hope on the pages of this book.
Mournful but well written prose.
Hoping the next book explores a topic with more light.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews