What do you think?
Rate this book
The Secrets at Ocean's Edge
1932. Ernie and Lily Hass, and their daughter, Girlie, have lost almost everything in the Depression; all they have keeping their small family together are their secrets. Abandoning their failing wheat farm and small-town gossip, they make a new start on the west coast of Australia where they begin to build a summer guesthouse. But forming new alliances with the locals isn't easy.
Into the Hasses' new life wanders Lily's shell-shocked brother, Tommy, after three harrowing years on the road following his incarceration. Tommy is seeking answers that will cut to the heart of who Ernie, Lily, and Girlie really are.
Inspired by the author's own family history, The Secrets at Ocean's Edge is a haunting, memorable and moving tale of one family's search for belonging. Kali Napier breathes a fever-pitch intensity into the story of these emotionally fragile characters as their secrets are revealed with tragic consequences. If you loved The Light Between Oceans and The Woolgrower's Companion you will love this story.
Into the Hasses' new life wanders Lily's shell-shocked brother, Tommy, after three harrowing years on the road following his incarceration. Tommy is seeking answers that will cut to the heart of who Ernie, Lily, and Girlie really are.
Inspired by the author's own family history, The Secrets at Ocean's Edge is a haunting, memorable and moving tale of one family's search for belonging. Kali Napier breathes a fever-pitch intensity into the story of these emotionally fragile characters as their secrets are revealed with tragic consequences. If you loved The Light Between Oceans and The Woolgrower's Companion you will love this story.
405 pages, Paperback
First published January 30, 2018
40 people are currently reading
762 people want to read
About the author
Kali Napier
6 books58 followersKali lives in Meanjin Brisbane, on unceded Yuggera land.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
January 18, 2018
It was 1932 when Ernie and Lily Hass and their ten-year-old daughter Girlie packed the last of their meagre belongings onto the cart behind Brownie and slowly headed away from their home in Perenjori, making their way into their new life in Dongarra. The wheat farm that had failed because of the Depression, the lack of support from the Government and a fire was what they were turning their backs on. Ernie was sure he could make their future better with the guesthouse they would open beside the beach in Dongarra.
Lily was desperate to climb the social ladder in her new town, but making new friends wasn’t easy. She had to be careful at what she said – her secrets needed to remain buried. But Ernie’s business acumen – or lack of it – was dragging him down. And he wouldn’t tell Lily of his problems either. But it was when Lily’s brother Tommy arrived in town, having searched until he found her, that troubles intensified. Tommy was shell-shocked from the war and wasn’t always at his best. Plus Ernie didn’t want him there…
Girlie was alone and lonely. She had only one friend at school – but was she a friend? And when she found another, she realised she would need to keep that secret as well. What would happen to the small family who seemed buried in secrets?
The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is Aussie author Kali Napier’s debut novel and is a deeply moving story of a family just trying to be accepted. The racial prejudice of the day is highlighted; the shocking effects on men who have returned from war; and the consequences of keeping secrets – plus the importance of family. A novel that will be accepted into the literary fiction genre, The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is one I highly recommend.
With thanks to Hachette Australia, NetGalley and the author for my ARC to read and review.
Lily was desperate to climb the social ladder in her new town, but making new friends wasn’t easy. She had to be careful at what she said – her secrets needed to remain buried. But Ernie’s business acumen – or lack of it – was dragging him down. And he wouldn’t tell Lily of his problems either. But it was when Lily’s brother Tommy arrived in town, having searched until he found her, that troubles intensified. Tommy was shell-shocked from the war and wasn’t always at his best. Plus Ernie didn’t want him there…
Girlie was alone and lonely. She had only one friend at school – but was she a friend? And when she found another, she realised she would need to keep that secret as well. What would happen to the small family who seemed buried in secrets?
The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is Aussie author Kali Napier’s debut novel and is a deeply moving story of a family just trying to be accepted. The racial prejudice of the day is highlighted; the shocking effects on men who have returned from war; and the consequences of keeping secrets – plus the importance of family. A novel that will be accepted into the literary fiction genre, The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is one I highly recommend.
With thanks to Hachette Australia, NetGalley and the author for my ARC to read and review.
January 29, 2018
Kali Napier may be a debut author but she is certainly no novice. The Secret’s at Ocean’s Edge is an incredible novel, a story layered with all of the hallmarks that make for an Australian classic.
Set in Australia during 1932, in an area of Western Australia where everyone knows everyone else’s business – and if they don’t, you can bet they’ll find out – the nation is in the grips of the Depression with its population still feeling the immediate effects of the Great War. Shame and pride stitch together the social fabric of people’s lives within The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge and I feel this novel might be one of the most authentic I’ve read in a very long time. Kali has captured Australia within this era to perfection: the small town atmosphere where the shame at everyone knowing your business and the pride associated with not wanting everyone to know your business dictates the pattern of your life; the deep seated fear of anyone who wasn’t white; the expectations that women go from being submissive daughters to submissive wives, where the very notion of a woman working is a challenge to her husband’s ability to provide for his family; the judgement attached to those deemed ‘not a real man’; a nation full of people caught between mounting their high horses and cutting down the tall poppies. I loved this novel, enjoyed every beautifully evocative sentence and I will admit to lingering over the last 100 pages because I didn’t want it to end.
The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is told in alternating chapters between Lily, her husband Ernie, her brother Tommy, and her daughter Girlie. I have deliberately mentioned all these characters here in terms of their relationship to Lily because to my mind, this is very much Lily’s story. She’s the linchpin here, the stationary point that each of the other characters orbit around, and indeed, for Ernie, Tommy, and Girlie, seeking Lily’s approval was a driving force for each of them. Indeed, Ernie never seemed to be able to make his wife happy, Girlie was seemingly a constant disappointment to her mother, and Tommy was a millstone around Lily’s neck that she felt obligated to endure.
Perhaps on the surface all of these things seemed to be the case, yet Lily was a much more complicated character than that and Kali did an excellent job of having Lily walk a very fine line between shrew and martyr. I felt for Lily, the burden of all of her secrets stacking up and weighing her down. Unable to really rely on Ernie, as his track record was not all that great. Yet even Ernie roused my empathy towards the end. As the story progressed and you got a real handle on who Ernie was, even his ‘second son syndrome’ ceased to aggravate. I mean, essentially, he was a bit of an idiot and truly brought most of his problems down onto himself, but he was also the victim of not being ‘a true Aussie bloke’. Shame at his war experiences and his failings as a provider had shaped Ernie into a prickly and prideful man who had to a certain degree sacrificed his own empathy for ambition. The marriage between Lily and Ernie had a ring of authenticity to it, and it was here that Ernie proved himself in terms of honour; he never, despite Lily’s lack of attention to him, pressed his ‘rights’ upon her as a husband. He adored her and wanted her adoration in turn and never really gave up on the ideal of it. I thought this showed a depth to Ernie’s character that forgave the shallow exterior that dominated his day to day existence. As a dutiful daughter, an obliging sister, a reluctant wife, and a disappointed mother, Lily was a woman who had suppressed herself to the point where she no longer was her own self. I enjoyed the unravelling of Lily’s web and the anticipation that she would one day find herself again, if only she would just let all of the secrets go.
Never more does Kali’s skill as a writer shine than when you are immersed in the chapters told from Girlie’s and Tommy’s perspectives. In terms of Girlie, telling a story through the eyes of a child can be a powerful writing technique, but only if it is done very well, which in this case, it is. There’s a stunningly honest simplicity to Girlie; she calls it like she sees it, as the majority of children will. They are yet to begin filtering, and Girlie was on the cusp of that, one foot still on the side of being a child, the other edging into womanhood. She was beginning to see that some secrets needed to be kept and some needed to be disclosed, but her youth put her in a position of not fully being able to reconcile the consequences of being entirely honest and transparent at all times. There were moments of true heartbreak for Girlie, particularly when she was misconstruing her mother’s feelings towards her. And this is why telling part of the story from Girlie’s point for view works so well: the perceptions of a child vary greatly to that of an adult and their confusion about events, their questioning about what’s going on and why begs notice. For example, when Girlie first meets Ruby, she can’t really understand why Ruby wouldn’t be allowed to go to school with her or be friends with her openly. She sees Ruby as a fellow companion, oblivious to the fact that Ruby is Aboriginal and the laws that were in place – not to mention the prejudices – to prevent their daily interaction. Ruby is just another girl to Girlie. What’s the problem with being friends with her? Girlie’s questioning of her own identity throughout the novel was particularly poignant and at times crushing to consider. She really was such a beautiful girl and I just wanted to reach into the pages and give her a big hug.
Out of each of the main characters, I quickly formed a soft spot for Tommy, Lily’s brother. He is suffering from severe PTS and has been living the life of a homeless wanderer since being discharged from a hospice for soldiers suffering from the effects of the war, a place that didn’t seem to help him all that much in the end, except to give him a few coping techniques that didn’t quite match up to the extent of his needs. Lily is his anchor, the one person he relies on for his memories. He looks to her for the truth about who he is given that he cannot fully rely on his own mind. The lines of the present and the past are blurred for Tommy. He has some very obvious triggers and some not so obvious ones. He blacks out at the most inconvenient times and has no control over himself while experiencing an episode, nor can he fully recollect his actions once he returns to himself. In terms of depicting PTS in a realistic fashion, I have nothing but the highest of praise for Kali’s character development of Tommy. She didn’t sugar coat his suffering, nor did she avoid making us uncomfortable when presented with his actions. The ignorance of PTS as a credible ailment has truly terrible consequences and leads to needless suffering for all involved. Tommy is but one of countless young men who would have returned home from experiencing a level of horror that is beyond our capacity to truly visualise, yet these men were then expected to just get back into the groove of their old lives, get a job, get a wife, be a provider, be a man and step up. The mental anguish that Tommy experienced every second of every day was so well depicted by Kali. It’s only with regard to Tommy that I ever judged Lily harshly. She let him down, over and over. He relied on her honesty but her secrets confused his already confused mind to the point where tragedy was inevitable. Such a realistic interpretation of what living with such turmoil must be like.
The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is an explicitly Australian novel, from the dialogue through to the way of life, everything is comfortingly familiar and glaringly apparent. The setting is richly depicted and incorporated into the narrative fully. The story unfolds at good even pace and with so many secrets, I felt Kali was particularly skilled at disclosing these in a way that they just slipped into the narrative, surprising you yet also making you aware that they were there all along, just waiting to be discovered. The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is Kali Napier’s first novel but you would never know it if you hadn’t been told beforehand. This is a fine achievement, a literary historical fiction novel that I think will sit right up there at the top in a class of its own.
Thanks is extended to Hachette Australia for providing me with an advance copy of The Secrets of Ocean’s Edge for review. I’d like to especially thank Kali Napier for putting me forward as an early reviewer of her novel.
Set in Australia during 1932, in an area of Western Australia where everyone knows everyone else’s business – and if they don’t, you can bet they’ll find out – the nation is in the grips of the Depression with its population still feeling the immediate effects of the Great War. Shame and pride stitch together the social fabric of people’s lives within The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge and I feel this novel might be one of the most authentic I’ve read in a very long time. Kali has captured Australia within this era to perfection: the small town atmosphere where the shame at everyone knowing your business and the pride associated with not wanting everyone to know your business dictates the pattern of your life; the deep seated fear of anyone who wasn’t white; the expectations that women go from being submissive daughters to submissive wives, where the very notion of a woman working is a challenge to her husband’s ability to provide for his family; the judgement attached to those deemed ‘not a real man’; a nation full of people caught between mounting their high horses and cutting down the tall poppies. I loved this novel, enjoyed every beautifully evocative sentence and I will admit to lingering over the last 100 pages because I didn’t want it to end.
The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is told in alternating chapters between Lily, her husband Ernie, her brother Tommy, and her daughter Girlie. I have deliberately mentioned all these characters here in terms of their relationship to Lily because to my mind, this is very much Lily’s story. She’s the linchpin here, the stationary point that each of the other characters orbit around, and indeed, for Ernie, Tommy, and Girlie, seeking Lily’s approval was a driving force for each of them. Indeed, Ernie never seemed to be able to make his wife happy, Girlie was seemingly a constant disappointment to her mother, and Tommy was a millstone around Lily’s neck that she felt obligated to endure.
Perhaps on the surface all of these things seemed to be the case, yet Lily was a much more complicated character than that and Kali did an excellent job of having Lily walk a very fine line between shrew and martyr. I felt for Lily, the burden of all of her secrets stacking up and weighing her down. Unable to really rely on Ernie, as his track record was not all that great. Yet even Ernie roused my empathy towards the end. As the story progressed and you got a real handle on who Ernie was, even his ‘second son syndrome’ ceased to aggravate. I mean, essentially, he was a bit of an idiot and truly brought most of his problems down onto himself, but he was also the victim of not being ‘a true Aussie bloke’. Shame at his war experiences and his failings as a provider had shaped Ernie into a prickly and prideful man who had to a certain degree sacrificed his own empathy for ambition. The marriage between Lily and Ernie had a ring of authenticity to it, and it was here that Ernie proved himself in terms of honour; he never, despite Lily’s lack of attention to him, pressed his ‘rights’ upon her as a husband. He adored her and wanted her adoration in turn and never really gave up on the ideal of it. I thought this showed a depth to Ernie’s character that forgave the shallow exterior that dominated his day to day existence. As a dutiful daughter, an obliging sister, a reluctant wife, and a disappointed mother, Lily was a woman who had suppressed herself to the point where she no longer was her own self. I enjoyed the unravelling of Lily’s web and the anticipation that she would one day find herself again, if only she would just let all of the secrets go.
Never more does Kali’s skill as a writer shine than when you are immersed in the chapters told from Girlie’s and Tommy’s perspectives. In terms of Girlie, telling a story through the eyes of a child can be a powerful writing technique, but only if it is done very well, which in this case, it is. There’s a stunningly honest simplicity to Girlie; she calls it like she sees it, as the majority of children will. They are yet to begin filtering, and Girlie was on the cusp of that, one foot still on the side of being a child, the other edging into womanhood. She was beginning to see that some secrets needed to be kept and some needed to be disclosed, but her youth put her in a position of not fully being able to reconcile the consequences of being entirely honest and transparent at all times. There were moments of true heartbreak for Girlie, particularly when she was misconstruing her mother’s feelings towards her. And this is why telling part of the story from Girlie’s point for view works so well: the perceptions of a child vary greatly to that of an adult and their confusion about events, their questioning about what’s going on and why begs notice. For example, when Girlie first meets Ruby, she can’t really understand why Ruby wouldn’t be allowed to go to school with her or be friends with her openly. She sees Ruby as a fellow companion, oblivious to the fact that Ruby is Aboriginal and the laws that were in place – not to mention the prejudices – to prevent their daily interaction. Ruby is just another girl to Girlie. What’s the problem with being friends with her? Girlie’s questioning of her own identity throughout the novel was particularly poignant and at times crushing to consider. She really was such a beautiful girl and I just wanted to reach into the pages and give her a big hug.
Out of each of the main characters, I quickly formed a soft spot for Tommy, Lily’s brother. He is suffering from severe PTS and has been living the life of a homeless wanderer since being discharged from a hospice for soldiers suffering from the effects of the war, a place that didn’t seem to help him all that much in the end, except to give him a few coping techniques that didn’t quite match up to the extent of his needs. Lily is his anchor, the one person he relies on for his memories. He looks to her for the truth about who he is given that he cannot fully rely on his own mind. The lines of the present and the past are blurred for Tommy. He has some very obvious triggers and some not so obvious ones. He blacks out at the most inconvenient times and has no control over himself while experiencing an episode, nor can he fully recollect his actions once he returns to himself. In terms of depicting PTS in a realistic fashion, I have nothing but the highest of praise for Kali’s character development of Tommy. She didn’t sugar coat his suffering, nor did she avoid making us uncomfortable when presented with his actions. The ignorance of PTS as a credible ailment has truly terrible consequences and leads to needless suffering for all involved. Tommy is but one of countless young men who would have returned home from experiencing a level of horror that is beyond our capacity to truly visualise, yet these men were then expected to just get back into the groove of their old lives, get a job, get a wife, be a provider, be a man and step up. The mental anguish that Tommy experienced every second of every day was so well depicted by Kali. It’s only with regard to Tommy that I ever judged Lily harshly. She let him down, over and over. He relied on her honesty but her secrets confused his already confused mind to the point where tragedy was inevitable. Such a realistic interpretation of what living with such turmoil must be like.
The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is an explicitly Australian novel, from the dialogue through to the way of life, everything is comfortingly familiar and glaringly apparent. The setting is richly depicted and incorporated into the narrative fully. The story unfolds at good even pace and with so many secrets, I felt Kali was particularly skilled at disclosing these in a way that they just slipped into the narrative, surprising you yet also making you aware that they were there all along, just waiting to be discovered. The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is Kali Napier’s first novel but you would never know it if you hadn’t been told beforehand. This is a fine achievement, a literary historical fiction novel that I think will sit right up there at the top in a class of its own.
Thanks is extended to Hachette Australia for providing me with an advance copy of The Secrets of Ocean’s Edge for review. I’d like to especially thank Kali Napier for putting me forward as an early reviewer of her novel.
January 18, 2020
During the early Depression years, Ernie and Lily Haas and their daughter Girlie have left their abandoned wheat farm to make a new start in Dongarra on the west coast of Australia. Ernie’s plan is to leave behind all the gossip and speculation about events of the past and build a new life starting with a summer guesthouse. Lily is ill prepared for the condition she finds once they move. But she tries to adapt and attempts to relate to the locals. But that is not as easy as it seems. Meanwhile Girlie is finding it hard being separated from her best friend Katie and the comfort of the aboriginal adult Jenny. No matter what she does, Girlie never seems to end up in her mother’s good graces which makes Girlie miss Jenny and her acceptance all the more. Before they are even settled in the new place, Lily’s brother Tommy who is suffering after effects from the war arrives. How will this family cope with the new lifestyle? Will they find acceptance? Or will secrets from the past tear this family and any chance of a new life apart?
The book covers areas such as racial prejudice, PTSD, the lack of say women often had over their own lives during this time as well as family dramas, and difficult community relationships. It had all the ingredients of a great read. And yet…. I struggled with it. Chapters of this book fluctuate between Lilly, Girlie, Tommy and Ernie. Often stories that show events from more than one character work really well. In this case I wasn’t so sure it did. It felt like I was always being pulled around to focus somewhere else and never really connecting with anyone.
I also found it difficult to like any of the characters, except Girlie. This is not necessarily a deal breaker. I have read other books where I dislike the main characters but for some reason it troubled me in this book. Now it may be me and a severe case of overtiredness and lack of concentration at the time and not the book’s fault at all, but I felt I was plodding my way through. While the historical component and the setting was well done, the characters never fully engaged me. I found the book depressing with little light and shade.
To say that, ‘if you loved The Light between Oceans….. you will love this story,’ does this book a disservice. It certainly didn’t come close for me to that other book which I loved. I wish publishers would stop this habit of comparing one book to another in this way. It does no-one any favours. I was so looking forward to this book after hearing a bit about it and started it eagerly. But it never lived up to my expectations. I am probably going to be on the outer with this book. There are going to be a lot of people who will love this book, but despite some good aspects I found it just an okay read. Maybe a case of the wrong book at the wrong time for me? Not sure. Think I now need something lighter to read.
The book covers areas such as racial prejudice, PTSD, the lack of say women often had over their own lives during this time as well as family dramas, and difficult community relationships. It had all the ingredients of a great read. And yet…. I struggled with it. Chapters of this book fluctuate between Lilly, Girlie, Tommy and Ernie. Often stories that show events from more than one character work really well. In this case I wasn’t so sure it did. It felt like I was always being pulled around to focus somewhere else and never really connecting with anyone.
I also found it difficult to like any of the characters, except Girlie. This is not necessarily a deal breaker. I have read other books where I dislike the main characters but for some reason it troubled me in this book. Now it may be me and a severe case of overtiredness and lack of concentration at the time and not the book’s fault at all, but I felt I was plodding my way through. While the historical component and the setting was well done, the characters never fully engaged me. I found the book depressing with little light and shade.
To say that, ‘if you loved The Light between Oceans….. you will love this story,’ does this book a disservice. It certainly didn’t come close for me to that other book which I loved. I wish publishers would stop this habit of comparing one book to another in this way. It does no-one any favours. I was so looking forward to this book after hearing a bit about it and started it eagerly. But it never lived up to my expectations. I am probably going to be on the outer with this book. There are going to be a lot of people who will love this book, but despite some good aspects I found it just an okay read. Maybe a case of the wrong book at the wrong time for me? Not sure. Think I now need something lighter to read.
January 23, 2018
Like so many other farmers in the Depression of the 1930s, Ernie and Lily Hass have to walk off their drought-affected wheat farm north of Perth. Together with their daughter, nicknamed Girlie, they decide to start again on the coast and open a guesthouse for holidaymakers. Unfortunately Ernie has no head for business and is also a bit of a philanderer. Life is a struggle without much money but Lily is determined to fit in and make friends. However, just as they are starting to make their way in their new community, Lily’s war trauma affected brother, Tommy, turns up and Lily’s carefully prepared plans start to unravel and family secrets are at danger of being exposed.
In this novel Kali Napier looks at the issues that can blow families apart – not only external factors such as drought, economic depression, homelessness, PTSD and racial prejudice but also long hidden secrets. The characters are well written and the main characters all get to add to the narrative from their point of view so that we get a good understanding of what motivates Ernie, Lily, Girlie and Tommy and how they are affected by the events that unfold. In this very accomplished debut novel, Kali Napier has perfectly captured the jealousy, gossip and claustrophobia of a small community in 1930s Australia as Lily tries to be accepted into the hierarchical Country Women’s Association and Girlie tries to make friends at school and please her mother. Racial segregation and discrimination was also rife and dealt with sensitivity and empathy in the novel. Recommended for all readers who enjoy a well researched and engaging historical novel.
With thanks to Netgalley, the publisher Hachette Australia and the author for a copy to read and review
In this novel Kali Napier looks at the issues that can blow families apart – not only external factors such as drought, economic depression, homelessness, PTSD and racial prejudice but also long hidden secrets. The characters are well written and the main characters all get to add to the narrative from their point of view so that we get a good understanding of what motivates Ernie, Lily, Girlie and Tommy and how they are affected by the events that unfold. In this very accomplished debut novel, Kali Napier has perfectly captured the jealousy, gossip and claustrophobia of a small community in 1930s Australia as Lily tries to be accepted into the hierarchical Country Women’s Association and Girlie tries to make friends at school and please her mother. Racial segregation and discrimination was also rife and dealt with sensitivity and empathy in the novel. Recommended for all readers who enjoy a well researched and engaging historical novel.
With thanks to Netgalley, the publisher Hachette Australia and the author for a copy to read and review
November 14, 2017
The Secrets at Ocean's Edge is about how a family coped after losing everything during the depression. Ernie Hass due to wrong financial discussions during the depression uplift his wife Lilly and his daughter Girlie to Dongarra to start a new life. However, this did not happen the families problems followed them to Dongarra. The readers of The Secrets at Ocean's Edge will follow the twist and turns in the lives of Ernie, Lilly and Girlie Hass to see what happens to them.
The Secrets at Ocean's Edge is the first book I have read of Kali Napier, and I did enjoy reading it. I like Kali Napier writing style by using Multi-POV representing each chapter as a narrative of the main character. I love Kali Napier description of the setting of The Secrets at Ocean's Edge for her readers. I especially appreciate the way Kali Napier portrayed her characters. Kali Napier did a fantastic job in ensure that her readers engaged with her characters and the plot of The Secrets at Ocean's Edge.
The readers of The Secrets at Ocean's Edge will learn about the problems and consequences of military combat and how it can have devastating effects on everyone around them. Also, the readers of The Secrets at Ocean's Edge will learn the results of blackmailing someone. Reading The Secrets at Ocean's Edge, I started to think about the difficulties that rural communities had during the depression. Also, the readers of The Secrets at Ocean's Edge will begin to learn about the role of CWA in small rural communities.
Thank you, NetGalley and Hachette Australia for my free copy of The Secrets at Ocean's Edge for an honest review. I recommend this book.
The Secrets at Ocean's Edge is the first book I have read of Kali Napier, and I did enjoy reading it. I like Kali Napier writing style by using Multi-POV representing each chapter as a narrative of the main character. I love Kali Napier description of the setting of The Secrets at Ocean's Edge for her readers. I especially appreciate the way Kali Napier portrayed her characters. Kali Napier did a fantastic job in ensure that her readers engaged with her characters and the plot of The Secrets at Ocean's Edge.
The readers of The Secrets at Ocean's Edge will learn about the problems and consequences of military combat and how it can have devastating effects on everyone around them. Also, the readers of The Secrets at Ocean's Edge will learn the results of blackmailing someone. Reading The Secrets at Ocean's Edge, I started to think about the difficulties that rural communities had during the depression. Also, the readers of The Secrets at Ocean's Edge will begin to learn about the role of CWA in small rural communities.
Thank you, NetGalley and Hachette Australia for my free copy of The Secrets at Ocean's Edge for an honest review. I recommend this book.
April 19, 2020
*https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogsp...
Set in Western Australia in the early 1930’s, Kali Napier has highlighted the difficulty farmer’s had during times of drought and trying to start over in a new town. This was an era when position in society meant everything and being accepted into a new community was all about befriending the right people and being on the right committees.
Ernie and Lily Hass, together with their daughter Girlie, leave their failed wheat farm to start a new life in the seaside town of Dongarra. The story is told in the alternating view of Lily, Ernie, Girlie and Thomas (Lily’s brother).
Lily is the family rock. She is the one who seems to carry the family burden with each of the other characters leaning on her but also feeling like they are failing her; not living up to her expectations. It is Lily who must make the right connections to be accepted into this new town. Whilst she tries tirelessly to tame tomboy Girlie, she is continually questioning her mothering skills. She must also keep watch over her brother Thomas who is suffering PTSD, a condition that garnered sympathy from no-one but had all, including Lily, questioning his mental capacity.
This is a story about reputation and standing in a community where nobody is who they seem on the surface and everyone has their secrets.
The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is as the title suggests, a story full of secrets, disappointments and errors in judgements but it’s also a story of family, belonging and new beginnings.
*I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley.
Set in Western Australia in the early 1930’s, Kali Napier has highlighted the difficulty farmer’s had during times of drought and trying to start over in a new town. This was an era when position in society meant everything and being accepted into a new community was all about befriending the right people and being on the right committees.
Ernie and Lily Hass, together with their daughter Girlie, leave their failed wheat farm to start a new life in the seaside town of Dongarra. The story is told in the alternating view of Lily, Ernie, Girlie and Thomas (Lily’s brother).
Lily is the family rock. She is the one who seems to carry the family burden with each of the other characters leaning on her but also feeling like they are failing her; not living up to her expectations. It is Lily who must make the right connections to be accepted into this new town. Whilst she tries tirelessly to tame tomboy Girlie, she is continually questioning her mothering skills. She must also keep watch over her brother Thomas who is suffering PTSD, a condition that garnered sympathy from no-one but had all, including Lily, questioning his mental capacity.
This is a story about reputation and standing in a community where nobody is who they seem on the surface and everyone has their secrets.
The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is as the title suggests, a story full of secrets, disappointments and errors in judgements but it’s also a story of family, belonging and new beginnings.
*I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley.
March 2, 2019
*https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com
‘She’d thought she’d known all of Jenny’s secrets. But not the secret of Jimbo. How could adults keep secrets this big?’
Secrets, this book is brimming with them. The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge by Kali Napier is a 2018 debut publication by Hachette Books Australia. This novel represents a stunning ode to the Great Depression, with a distinct Australian focus, and a deep introspection into coastal life. Taking us deep into the lives of four pivotal characters, The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is one of the strongest examples of an Australian family mystery novel I have ever had the pleasure of encountering.
It is the year 1932. We meet Ernie and Lily Hass, along with their daughter Girlie, who are a solid example of the Great Depression. After their wheat farm goes under, Ernie decides to move on to a new venture. This move takes the family from the Wheatbelt to the coast, settling in a town named Dongarra. Ernie hopes the family’s fortunes will take a turn for the better, as he sets up a guesthouse. However, for his wife and daughter, things are not easy. Mother and daughter both struggle to assimilate into the local community. Deep seated secrets also overhang the Hass family, making it impossible for them to move on from the past. When Tommy, Lily’s brother, a returning solider from the Great War re-enters their lives, he brings about a revelation of secrets that will result in broken hearts across the Hass family. The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is an Australian historical fiction novel, drawn for the personal experiences of the author, Kali Napier’s family history. In experiencing this moving this tale, we learn that it is impossible to hide secrets and that finding your place in the world is a difficult feat.
I was searching my bookshelves for a book to read that would successfully fulfil the category for a book set on the Australian coast, for a challenge I am completing this year, Book Bingo 2019. My eyes rested on a book I purchased last year, but regretfully, I did not get a chance to read. The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge, penned by Kali Napier, is a book that I feel is a perfect example of a book set on the Australian coast. The bulk of the novel is set on the West Australian coast, mainly in a tiny town named Dongarra (spelt with an extra ‘r’ during the time the book is set). I have personally visited this picturesque locally, albeit briefly, on route to Geraldton. From firsthand experience, I can tell you Dongarra (Dongara) is a breathtaking place. Kali Napier gives us a wonderful impression of this coastal spot.
‘Though the sky was almost cloudless, the wind that whirled through the open doorway carried a veil of sea spray the numbed Lily’s hands and nose and ears.’
The sense of place, so vividly set to the pages of this book, is what makes The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge such a magical novel in my eyes. I find it absolutely unfathomable that Kali Napier is a debut writer, for her command of words is simply stunning and completely masterful. There is so much imagery in her writing that I felt deeply rooted in the locale of this novel, from the moment that the Hass family set foot in Dongarra.
I love to sink my teeth into a good family mystery novel and The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge delivered. The mystery aspect of the novel is established very early on the piece and Kali Napier stretches this intrigue level as much as she can. She held me captive for the entire length of her novel, which is not always easy to come by. The way the secrets are held, maintained and gradually revealed was breathtaking. I certainly felt more than a few surprises. Napier also does a very good job of illuminating just what happens in terms of the consequences of holding on to these secrets. The results are explosive to say the least!
An area that I felt Napier really shines is in her examination of the Depression, from an Australian set of eyes. This as a unique and insightful narrative focus. Through the character of Ernie Hass, we learn of the struggles to gain the upper hand over property, livelihood and poverty. Through the character of Tommy, Lily’s troubled brother, we also gain an important insight into the lives of returned soldiers, especially those with PTSD. Tommy’s experience shines a light on the tragedy and the after effects of the war. Tommy is a man who struggles to settle in one place and on one thing after the war. I feel this one experience is just a drop in the ocean as to what our returned soldiers would have experienced.
Another focal point that resonated with me as reader was Napier’s focus on the prejudice that defined this era. The plight of the local indigenous population is considered thoughtfully by Napier and it gave me a sad appreciation for the toils of our first people. In addition, there are side references to the racism experienced by the Asian population, which mentions ‘chinamen’ in the novel. Napier also chooses to focus her attention on the plight of women in this era, their lack of choice, control and through Lily Hass, the sacrifices that were made just to stay afloat.
A number of reviewers before me have remarked on the characterisation of this book and commented on the fact that this is a book largely driven by the actions of the characters, rather than a fast moving plot. I have to agree. The characterisation present in The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is outstanding. Choosing to alternate the narration between four central characters gives Kali Napier the creative licence to explore the depths of each of her four main protagonists. As a result, we receive a full impression of each individual character. We glean so much by way of their motivations, thoughts, fears, dreams and of course, their secrets, which is the central focus of this exceptional novel. Napier also draws on a narrative trick of delving into the memories of each of her characters, delivered on the page like a stream of consciousness, separated, but at the same time connected to the present time events. I felt Napier used this device to the fullest advantage. I also appreciated Napier’s balance on the flaws of these characters. Interestingly enough, I didn’t have favourite character in this novel, Ernie, Lily, Girlie and Tommy each touched me in their own special way. I will not be forgetting this cast any time soon.
There is just so much more I could say about this remarkable novel, but I am conscious of this review being lengthy. My initial pull to this novel was the fact that is set in a part of my home state I am familiar with and it is inspired by the author’s own family history. The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge did leave a deep impact on me and although it is early on in my reading journey of 2019, I am sure this evocative Australian novel will remain on my favourites list of 2019.
***** 5 stars
The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is book #25 of the 2019 Australian Women Writers Challenge
‘She’d thought she’d known all of Jenny’s secrets. But not the secret of Jimbo. How could adults keep secrets this big?’
Secrets, this book is brimming with them. The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge by Kali Napier is a 2018 debut publication by Hachette Books Australia. This novel represents a stunning ode to the Great Depression, with a distinct Australian focus, and a deep introspection into coastal life. Taking us deep into the lives of four pivotal characters, The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is one of the strongest examples of an Australian family mystery novel I have ever had the pleasure of encountering.
It is the year 1932. We meet Ernie and Lily Hass, along with their daughter Girlie, who are a solid example of the Great Depression. After their wheat farm goes under, Ernie decides to move on to a new venture. This move takes the family from the Wheatbelt to the coast, settling in a town named Dongarra. Ernie hopes the family’s fortunes will take a turn for the better, as he sets up a guesthouse. However, for his wife and daughter, things are not easy. Mother and daughter both struggle to assimilate into the local community. Deep seated secrets also overhang the Hass family, making it impossible for them to move on from the past. When Tommy, Lily’s brother, a returning solider from the Great War re-enters their lives, he brings about a revelation of secrets that will result in broken hearts across the Hass family. The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is an Australian historical fiction novel, drawn for the personal experiences of the author, Kali Napier’s family history. In experiencing this moving this tale, we learn that it is impossible to hide secrets and that finding your place in the world is a difficult feat.
I was searching my bookshelves for a book to read that would successfully fulfil the category for a book set on the Australian coast, for a challenge I am completing this year, Book Bingo 2019. My eyes rested on a book I purchased last year, but regretfully, I did not get a chance to read. The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge, penned by Kali Napier, is a book that I feel is a perfect example of a book set on the Australian coast. The bulk of the novel is set on the West Australian coast, mainly in a tiny town named Dongarra (spelt with an extra ‘r’ during the time the book is set). I have personally visited this picturesque locally, albeit briefly, on route to Geraldton. From firsthand experience, I can tell you Dongarra (Dongara) is a breathtaking place. Kali Napier gives us a wonderful impression of this coastal spot.
‘Though the sky was almost cloudless, the wind that whirled through the open doorway carried a veil of sea spray the numbed Lily’s hands and nose and ears.’
The sense of place, so vividly set to the pages of this book, is what makes The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge such a magical novel in my eyes. I find it absolutely unfathomable that Kali Napier is a debut writer, for her command of words is simply stunning and completely masterful. There is so much imagery in her writing that I felt deeply rooted in the locale of this novel, from the moment that the Hass family set foot in Dongarra.
I love to sink my teeth into a good family mystery novel and The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge delivered. The mystery aspect of the novel is established very early on the piece and Kali Napier stretches this intrigue level as much as she can. She held me captive for the entire length of her novel, which is not always easy to come by. The way the secrets are held, maintained and gradually revealed was breathtaking. I certainly felt more than a few surprises. Napier also does a very good job of illuminating just what happens in terms of the consequences of holding on to these secrets. The results are explosive to say the least!
An area that I felt Napier really shines is in her examination of the Depression, from an Australian set of eyes. This as a unique and insightful narrative focus. Through the character of Ernie Hass, we learn of the struggles to gain the upper hand over property, livelihood and poverty. Through the character of Tommy, Lily’s troubled brother, we also gain an important insight into the lives of returned soldiers, especially those with PTSD. Tommy’s experience shines a light on the tragedy and the after effects of the war. Tommy is a man who struggles to settle in one place and on one thing after the war. I feel this one experience is just a drop in the ocean as to what our returned soldiers would have experienced.
Another focal point that resonated with me as reader was Napier’s focus on the prejudice that defined this era. The plight of the local indigenous population is considered thoughtfully by Napier and it gave me a sad appreciation for the toils of our first people. In addition, there are side references to the racism experienced by the Asian population, which mentions ‘chinamen’ in the novel. Napier also chooses to focus her attention on the plight of women in this era, their lack of choice, control and through Lily Hass, the sacrifices that were made just to stay afloat.
A number of reviewers before me have remarked on the characterisation of this book and commented on the fact that this is a book largely driven by the actions of the characters, rather than a fast moving plot. I have to agree. The characterisation present in The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is outstanding. Choosing to alternate the narration between four central characters gives Kali Napier the creative licence to explore the depths of each of her four main protagonists. As a result, we receive a full impression of each individual character. We glean so much by way of their motivations, thoughts, fears, dreams and of course, their secrets, which is the central focus of this exceptional novel. Napier also draws on a narrative trick of delving into the memories of each of her characters, delivered on the page like a stream of consciousness, separated, but at the same time connected to the present time events. I felt Napier used this device to the fullest advantage. I also appreciated Napier’s balance on the flaws of these characters. Interestingly enough, I didn’t have favourite character in this novel, Ernie, Lily, Girlie and Tommy each touched me in their own special way. I will not be forgetting this cast any time soon.
There is just so much more I could say about this remarkable novel, but I am conscious of this review being lengthy. My initial pull to this novel was the fact that is set in a part of my home state I am familiar with and it is inspired by the author’s own family history. The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge did leave a deep impact on me and although it is early on in my reading journey of 2019, I am sure this evocative Australian novel will remain on my favourites list of 2019.
***** 5 stars
The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge is book #25 of the 2019 Australian Women Writers Challenge
September 27, 2017
The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge (Hachette Australia Books 2018), Kali Napier’s debut novel, to be released in January, 2018, is an engaging mystery that provides all the interesting facts of historical research while also being an absorbing tale of family secrets, lies, betrayal and sacrifice.
One of the characters, Ernie, is based on Kali’s great-grandfather, and the story – which is set in Western Australia during the Great Depression – brims with the authenticity and believability that comes from painstaking research and significant investigation into family history and lore. But it is the women in this story who shine: Lily (Ernie’s wife) and their daughter, Girlie. Along with Lily’s brother, Tommy, who has arrived shell-shocked and damaged after his wartime experiences, these four key characters each give their own perspectives as the narrative unfolds. The author makes particular use of these different points of view to revisit the same incident or experience through the lenses of various characters, layering the story with nuance, depth and an inevitable capacity for misunderstandings and deceptions.
I found the setting and the time period thoroughly researched and believable. Kali has authenticated the characters, the landscape and the period through the myriad of small details included in the story – from the hardships of daily life such as washing clothes and bathing, to descriptions of the food and the elements, to school life, transport, mode of dress and more. Lily’s dressmaking expertise, Ernie’s business ventures, and Tommy’s peripatetic lifestyle are depicted in rich and full detail, with the interesting minutiae of their activities immersing the reader in their stories and investing us in their individual lives.
The trauma and horror of war is handled with a particularly deft hand. Tommy’s psychological state is gradually revealed: at first there are only hints of his scarred mind, but as the story progresses, we see firsthand through his actions and his thoughts just how damaged his war experience has left him. The misunderstandings or lack of comprehension of the psychological ravages of conflict echo strongly throughout the book. But Tommy’s behaviour – and indeed, the behaviour of all of the characters – is never excused or minimalised by their past experiences, although it is somewhat justified or explained.
As the title of the book suggests, this is a tale of secrets, and one of the great achievements of the novel is that the author knows how to keep a secret, how to betray a secret, how to pass on a secret and how – and when – to divulge a secret. There are so many secrets in these pages, hidden from some characters by others, or hiding within the characters themselves. Confidences they can’t admit to or won’t share, promises broken, lies told, and always secrets about their pasts undisclosed to others. The slow unfurling of the secrets and the gradual release of information about their family combine to create a level of suspense that is sustained throughout the book, and that kept me guessing until the very end. The last few chapters are short and tense as the page-turning climax reaches its conclusion; the reveals come thick and fast, our understanding of the situation moving between the characters’ perspectives, as realisation dawns that there is so much we have not understood, perhaps not even imagined. What we thought was one person’s motivation turns out to be another; the reason for one event becomes blurred by another’s provocation; what we thought was one intention appears to be something else entirely.
There are several other elements that are done really well. The female characters are strong, gutsy, determined and intuitive, and even though the time in which they lived forces a certain reticence upon them, particularly in their dealings with the men of the book, their inner courage and fortitude shines through in the way they deal with adversity, hardship and conflict. The language of the story is easy to read and authentic, never jarring. The mind and feelings of a young girl – Girlie – are portrayed with sensitivity and a keen ear for dialogue. The petty jealousies, difficulties with friendships, striving to succeed and to please her parents, peer pressure, the demands of schooling, and her childish and undeveloped sense of herself, her worth and her place in the world all seem very real. The back and forth in time – through flashbacks – is also done really well, allowing snippets of the past to intrude upon the present at opportune moments, giving us a flash of understanding about an event from the past and how it has impacted on the current situation. The relentlessness and fruitlessness of the characters’ yearning and scheming, the foolishness of their best laid plans, is also developed nicely, as we struggle along with the characters to make the best of what they’ve got, to improve their situation, and to make up for their mistakes.
And finally, the utter sadness of the depiction of the racism that abounded towards indigenous people at that time – it is there in all its harsh, grim reality. The language used about them and towards them, the acts against them, the rules and laws that governed their every move. This makes for uncomfortable reading, because it feels so wrong and yet it also feels so true – we know that it happened this way, and being confronted by the darkness of our colonial history is painful and unnerving. The Aboriginal characters represented in these pages are often treated with disdain and denigration by the other characters (and this feels a true reflection of what might have happened at the time), but they are treated with respect by the author. Their land, their history, their culture and their connection to country is regarded with deference and subtle veneration.
This novel is pitched as ‘a haunting, memorable and moving tale of one family’s search for belonging’, and I wholeheartedly agree. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and found it difficult to put down.
One of the characters, Ernie, is based on Kali’s great-grandfather, and the story – which is set in Western Australia during the Great Depression – brims with the authenticity and believability that comes from painstaking research and significant investigation into family history and lore. But it is the women in this story who shine: Lily (Ernie’s wife) and their daughter, Girlie. Along with Lily’s brother, Tommy, who has arrived shell-shocked and damaged after his wartime experiences, these four key characters each give their own perspectives as the narrative unfolds. The author makes particular use of these different points of view to revisit the same incident or experience through the lenses of various characters, layering the story with nuance, depth and an inevitable capacity for misunderstandings and deceptions.
I found the setting and the time period thoroughly researched and believable. Kali has authenticated the characters, the landscape and the period through the myriad of small details included in the story – from the hardships of daily life such as washing clothes and bathing, to descriptions of the food and the elements, to school life, transport, mode of dress and more. Lily’s dressmaking expertise, Ernie’s business ventures, and Tommy’s peripatetic lifestyle are depicted in rich and full detail, with the interesting minutiae of their activities immersing the reader in their stories and investing us in their individual lives.
The trauma and horror of war is handled with a particularly deft hand. Tommy’s psychological state is gradually revealed: at first there are only hints of his scarred mind, but as the story progresses, we see firsthand through his actions and his thoughts just how damaged his war experience has left him. The misunderstandings or lack of comprehension of the psychological ravages of conflict echo strongly throughout the book. But Tommy’s behaviour – and indeed, the behaviour of all of the characters – is never excused or minimalised by their past experiences, although it is somewhat justified or explained.
As the title of the book suggests, this is a tale of secrets, and one of the great achievements of the novel is that the author knows how to keep a secret, how to betray a secret, how to pass on a secret and how – and when – to divulge a secret. There are so many secrets in these pages, hidden from some characters by others, or hiding within the characters themselves. Confidences they can’t admit to or won’t share, promises broken, lies told, and always secrets about their pasts undisclosed to others. The slow unfurling of the secrets and the gradual release of information about their family combine to create a level of suspense that is sustained throughout the book, and that kept me guessing until the very end. The last few chapters are short and tense as the page-turning climax reaches its conclusion; the reveals come thick and fast, our understanding of the situation moving between the characters’ perspectives, as realisation dawns that there is so much we have not understood, perhaps not even imagined. What we thought was one person’s motivation turns out to be another; the reason for one event becomes blurred by another’s provocation; what we thought was one intention appears to be something else entirely.
There are several other elements that are done really well. The female characters are strong, gutsy, determined and intuitive, and even though the time in which they lived forces a certain reticence upon them, particularly in their dealings with the men of the book, their inner courage and fortitude shines through in the way they deal with adversity, hardship and conflict. The language of the story is easy to read and authentic, never jarring. The mind and feelings of a young girl – Girlie – are portrayed with sensitivity and a keen ear for dialogue. The petty jealousies, difficulties with friendships, striving to succeed and to please her parents, peer pressure, the demands of schooling, and her childish and undeveloped sense of herself, her worth and her place in the world all seem very real. The back and forth in time – through flashbacks – is also done really well, allowing snippets of the past to intrude upon the present at opportune moments, giving us a flash of understanding about an event from the past and how it has impacted on the current situation. The relentlessness and fruitlessness of the characters’ yearning and scheming, the foolishness of their best laid plans, is also developed nicely, as we struggle along with the characters to make the best of what they’ve got, to improve their situation, and to make up for their mistakes.
And finally, the utter sadness of the depiction of the racism that abounded towards indigenous people at that time – it is there in all its harsh, grim reality. The language used about them and towards them, the acts against them, the rules and laws that governed their every move. This makes for uncomfortable reading, because it feels so wrong and yet it also feels so true – we know that it happened this way, and being confronted by the darkness of our colonial history is painful and unnerving. The Aboriginal characters represented in these pages are often treated with disdain and denigration by the other characters (and this feels a true reflection of what might have happened at the time), but they are treated with respect by the author. Their land, their history, their culture and their connection to country is regarded with deference and subtle veneration.
This novel is pitched as ‘a haunting, memorable and moving tale of one family’s search for belonging’, and I wholeheartedly agree. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and found it difficult to put down.
July 28, 2019
Uneasy.
You know those little quizzes that ask you to describe yourself (or someone else) in one word? Well,if I were to describe this book in one word, that word would be 'uneasy'.
I really, really, wanted to love this book. I bought it, I was excited by it, I listened to an author talk, which I loved, about the writing of it... There is so much about The Secrets at Ocean's Edge that I was excited by; the setting, the history, the research that went into it. I loved the author talk and really liked the author. I had every reason to love this book, except that reading it made me uneasy and so I didn't enjoy it very much at all. In fact I very almost couldn't read it. The first few times I tried I didn't get much further than the first few chapters and I limped that far. So, this book was on my shelf, bought but unread, making me uneasy by it's unread presence, but even more uneasy when I tried to read it. If it was not for a reading challenge I would probably never have got through it at all.
The characters in the book are all uneasy as well - uneasy in themselves, unhappy with their lot, feeling cheated or lost or confused, constantly transmitting their uneasiness to me, the reader.
There are four main characters through which we experience this story; Lily 'the mother', Ernie 'the father', Girlie is, obviously the little girl and finally Tommy 'the uncle'. Tommy returned from the great war with PTSD, which was not well understood at the time. Lily wanted to be wealthy and influential as a married woman, but is close to destitute. Ernie wants to be successful rich and looked up to, instead he fails at everything and is bankrupt. And Girlie, she wants fairly modest things, for her parents to love her and to have friends, her uneasiness is the hardest to bear as she is ostracized in their new home and disregarded by her parents. All of them keep secrets wrapped in secrets from each other and themselves. Layers of uneasy secrets that are the source of the books name (great name, great cover art by the way).
Now, for the most part this is a very good book, not only the name and the cover are good by any means. It is beautifully written, extensively and impressively edited and laid out. The descriptive scenes of the time and the place are excellently done and engaging to read, none of that is the source of uneasiness. The slow build up and gradual revealing of the multiple secrets that is the bulk of the plot however, despite the intricacy leaves me uneasy. Perhaps it is intentional? I suspect that the uneasy restlessness of each character clutching their secrets to themselves, which is the crux of the plot after all, is meant to be at least somewhat unsettling. And it is a dynamic way of describing a small town of the time. The interactions between the town women at the CWA, the main towns folk and their various concerns reveal a depth of historical research which comes through beautifully in the small details.
All the above is completely true, but nevertheless I found myself teetering on a void of squirming uneasiness for much of the book. Because, really, do all these meticulously created people need to be quite so unpleasant?
That really was the core problem and cause of unease; I found most of the characters quite repellent, yet strangely two dimensional. While reading them I was constantly left with an uneasy disgust. I didn't want to read about them, I didn't like them, nor really care about what their secrets were and I honestly couldn't give a toss as to how they would get out of the nasty little binds they had willfully twisted themselves into. Yet at the same time I couldn't feel that most of them were real people -except Girlie and Tommy - because all we were seeing of them was bad and no one is all bad. Seriously, people from their own point of view are not creepy, they may be selfish and self absorbed but to have no mitigating factors at all, especially when we are looking out from their own POV made Lily and Ernie very, very flat.
Truly, I have no idea if the author meant for Lily and Ernie to be as flatly horrid as they are. Maybe she did, It makes it an uneasy experience reading about them though. Lily wants to be wealthy and influential in the community, so does Ernie (at least you can see why they are together). Both however are islands of uneasy resentment and anger that the world has not provided them with these desires that they seem to feel they are entitled to. Both are constantly scheming to be seen as what they are not, to have what they can't. Reading this is uneasy because they are so superficial, self-absorbed and oblivious to anything outside their own desires. Lily especially is bewildering, pathological in her disinterest in people as anything other than vehicles for her ambition. She seems to be a stereotype of someone trying to achieve status, making for uneasy reading. If this is intentional, it is masterfully done, but not pleasant to read. There is an attempt at backstory to try and give us a context for this pathological level of selfishness on the part of Lily and Ernie, but it comes too late in the book to recover them from uneasy dislike.
Girlie now, a more sympathetic character, the one that the author most relates too, most of the readers too I expect. Lonely after having moved away from her home, friends and the maid who was closer to her than her mother, she wafts uneasily and sadly through the story. She wants her parents love, but her father mostly ignores her, her mother bullies her and she does not understand and cannot deal with the world around her. Well written and all good stuff about a child on the cusp of being an adult but it is still uneasy reading.
Tommy was a great character; mentally maimed from the war, searching and hoping to find refuge with his repugnant sister Lily, who does little enough for him. He suffers the PTSD as well as the casual brutality of the society that sent him to war and cannot deal with what he has become. Great stuff! I believe that this is very accurate portrait of the experiences of many WWI vets. But, though it is great writing it is not a topic that could be anything but uneasy is it now?
Now, Girlie and Tommy are the good bits, the characters I liked, and their stories are deeply uneasy but they are not the majority of the plot. We must read a lot more about Lily and Ernie and a host of pretty nasty secondary characters, so there is really no relief from uneasiness as long as any character is in play. The descriptions of the town, beach and landscapes the historical setting, these are all a real relief from the chore that all character interaction tended to be. It is not that all characters in all books need to be nice or likable, I find it easier to relate to if there is at least one character to bond with but it is not essential for a good book. This is a good book, just an uneasy one.
Several other points I would like to make about the book are definitely spoilers, so don't read them unless you have read the book, or never plan to.
The ending is a pretty good one, in a way, ending on a high note I guess, leaving the reader with a pleasant aspect of Lily living a life with hope and a future. While a nice change, this image is completely disparate to anything, any aspect of her character that we encountered anywhere else in the novel. So, I guess I have to conclude that this is a very well done novel, and obviously much liked by most who read it, it is clearly just not for me and can I just say, I even feel uneasy about that. I hate how critical I have been of this debut novel, which is so well done in so many ways. And Now I have this book that I will continue to be uneasy about when ever I see it on the shelf.
You know those little quizzes that ask you to describe yourself (or someone else) in one word? Well,if I were to describe this book in one word, that word would be 'uneasy'.
I really, really, wanted to love this book. I bought it, I was excited by it, I listened to an author talk, which I loved, about the writing of it... There is so much about The Secrets at Ocean's Edge that I was excited by; the setting, the history, the research that went into it. I loved the author talk and really liked the author. I had every reason to love this book, except that reading it made me uneasy and so I didn't enjoy it very much at all. In fact I very almost couldn't read it. The first few times I tried I didn't get much further than the first few chapters and I limped that far. So, this book was on my shelf, bought but unread, making me uneasy by it's unread presence, but even more uneasy when I tried to read it. If it was not for a reading challenge I would probably never have got through it at all.
The characters in the book are all uneasy as well - uneasy in themselves, unhappy with their lot, feeling cheated or lost or confused, constantly transmitting their uneasiness to me, the reader.
There are four main characters through which we experience this story; Lily 'the mother', Ernie 'the father', Girlie is, obviously the little girl and finally Tommy 'the uncle'. Tommy returned from the great war with PTSD, which was not well understood at the time. Lily wanted to be wealthy and influential as a married woman, but is close to destitute. Ernie wants to be successful rich and looked up to, instead he fails at everything and is bankrupt. And Girlie, she wants fairly modest things, for her parents to love her and to have friends, her uneasiness is the hardest to bear as she is ostracized in their new home and disregarded by her parents. All of them keep secrets wrapped in secrets from each other and themselves. Layers of uneasy secrets that are the source of the books name (great name, great cover art by the way).
Now, for the most part this is a very good book, not only the name and the cover are good by any means. It is beautifully written, extensively and impressively edited and laid out. The descriptive scenes of the time and the place are excellently done and engaging to read, none of that is the source of uneasiness. The slow build up and gradual revealing of the multiple secrets that is the bulk of the plot however, despite the intricacy leaves me uneasy. Perhaps it is intentional? I suspect that the uneasy restlessness of each character clutching their secrets to themselves, which is the crux of the plot after all, is meant to be at least somewhat unsettling. And it is a dynamic way of describing a small town of the time. The interactions between the town women at the CWA, the main towns folk and their various concerns reveal a depth of historical research which comes through beautifully in the small details.
All the above is completely true, but nevertheless I found myself teetering on a void of squirming uneasiness for much of the book. Because, really, do all these meticulously created people need to be quite so unpleasant?
That really was the core problem and cause of unease; I found most of the characters quite repellent, yet strangely two dimensional. While reading them I was constantly left with an uneasy disgust. I didn't want to read about them, I didn't like them, nor really care about what their secrets were and I honestly couldn't give a toss as to how they would get out of the nasty little binds they had willfully twisted themselves into. Yet at the same time I couldn't feel that most of them were real people -except Girlie and Tommy - because all we were seeing of them was bad and no one is all bad. Seriously, people from their own point of view are not creepy, they may be selfish and self absorbed but to have no mitigating factors at all, especially when we are looking out from their own POV made Lily and Ernie very, very flat.
Truly, I have no idea if the author meant for Lily and Ernie to be as flatly horrid as they are. Maybe she did, It makes it an uneasy experience reading about them though. Lily wants to be wealthy and influential in the community, so does Ernie (at least you can see why they are together). Both however are islands of uneasy resentment and anger that the world has not provided them with these desires that they seem to feel they are entitled to. Both are constantly scheming to be seen as what they are not, to have what they can't. Reading this is uneasy because they are so superficial, self-absorbed and oblivious to anything outside their own desires. Lily especially is bewildering, pathological in her disinterest in people as anything other than vehicles for her ambition. She seems to be a stereotype of someone trying to achieve status, making for uneasy reading. If this is intentional, it is masterfully done, but not pleasant to read. There is an attempt at backstory to try and give us a context for this pathological level of selfishness on the part of Lily and Ernie, but it comes too late in the book to recover them from uneasy dislike.
Girlie now, a more sympathetic character, the one that the author most relates too, most of the readers too I expect. Lonely after having moved away from her home, friends and the maid who was closer to her than her mother, she wafts uneasily and sadly through the story. She wants her parents love, but her father mostly ignores her, her mother bullies her and she does not understand and cannot deal with the world around her. Well written and all good stuff about a child on the cusp of being an adult but it is still uneasy reading.
Tommy was a great character; mentally maimed from the war, searching and hoping to find refuge with his repugnant sister Lily, who does little enough for him. He suffers the PTSD as well as the casual brutality of the society that sent him to war and cannot deal with what he has become. Great stuff! I believe that this is very accurate portrait of the experiences of many WWI vets. But, though it is great writing it is not a topic that could be anything but uneasy is it now?
Now, Girlie and Tommy are the good bits, the characters I liked, and their stories are deeply uneasy but they are not the majority of the plot. We must read a lot more about Lily and Ernie and a host of pretty nasty secondary characters, so there is really no relief from uneasiness as long as any character is in play. The descriptions of the town, beach and landscapes the historical setting, these are all a real relief from the chore that all character interaction tended to be. It is not that all characters in all books need to be nice or likable, I find it easier to relate to if there is at least one character to bond with but it is not essential for a good book. This is a good book, just an uneasy one.
Several other points I would like to make about the book are definitely spoilers, so don't read them unless you have read the book, or never plan to.
The ending is a pretty good one, in a way, ending on a high note I guess, leaving the reader with a pleasant aspect of Lily living a life with hope and a future. While a nice change, this image is completely disparate to anything, any aspect of her character that we encountered anywhere else in the novel. So, I guess I have to conclude that this is a very well done novel, and obviously much liked by most who read it, it is clearly just not for me and can I just say, I even feel uneasy about that. I hate how critical I have been of this debut novel, which is so well done in so many ways. And Now I have this book that I will continue to be uneasy about when ever I see it on the shelf.
February 27, 2018
‘People were different in different places.’
In 1932, Australia is in the grip of the Great Depression. Ernie and Lily Hass and their daughter Girlie have lost almost everything. They pack their remaining belongings onto a cart behind their horse Brownie and abandon their failing wheat farm in Perenjori for the West Australian coast at Dongarra. Ernie has a plan for a new start: a summer guest house by the coast. The Hasses quickly find that it isn’t easy to make a new start: Ernie’s plans upset some of the locals, while Lily cannot easily make friends with the ‘better class’ of women. And Girlie finds it hard to make friends in a place where every child has known every other child in the district from birth.
But it isn’t just the Hasses desire to fit into the local community which causes grief: each member of the family has secrets. Just as the Hasses seem to be making some headway, Lily’s shell-shocked brother Tommy appears. Ernie wants Tommy to move on, but Lily feels a sense of responsibility towards him even though his presence threatens to expose some carefully kept secrets.
‘Secrets weren’t fun to collect when they would hurt others.’
I found a lot to like about this finely crafted novel. The story unfolds through the different perspectives of the four main characters: Lily, Girlie, Tommy and Ernie. This enables the reader to see some of the same events from very different viewpoints which adds to the depth of the story as well as showing how easy it can be to misrepresent (and misinterpret). The detail of life in the Great Depression echoed the experiences my grandparents shared of the same period. In a small town everyone knows your business, and people are judged by the company they keep or where they are perceived to fit in. And the Hass family are not the only people carrying secrets.
‘There were too many secrets.’
Gradually, as Ms Napier reveals (some of) those secrets, the nature of 1930s small town society becomes even clearer: elements of generosity and kindness together with snobbery, racism and hypocrisy. All reinforced by the (largely unspoken but clearly understood) rules of ‘proper’ behaviour. Some of the secrets may seem comparatively trivial in the 21st century, but they were not during the first half of the 20th century. Ms Napier allows the tension to build as the reader tries to work out what truths are being concealed, from whom and why.
This is Ms Napier’s debut novel, and I highly recommend it as a fine example of Australian historical fiction.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In 1932, Australia is in the grip of the Great Depression. Ernie and Lily Hass and their daughter Girlie have lost almost everything. They pack their remaining belongings onto a cart behind their horse Brownie and abandon their failing wheat farm in Perenjori for the West Australian coast at Dongarra. Ernie has a plan for a new start: a summer guest house by the coast. The Hasses quickly find that it isn’t easy to make a new start: Ernie’s plans upset some of the locals, while Lily cannot easily make friends with the ‘better class’ of women. And Girlie finds it hard to make friends in a place where every child has known every other child in the district from birth.
But it isn’t just the Hasses desire to fit into the local community which causes grief: each member of the family has secrets. Just as the Hasses seem to be making some headway, Lily’s shell-shocked brother Tommy appears. Ernie wants Tommy to move on, but Lily feels a sense of responsibility towards him even though his presence threatens to expose some carefully kept secrets.
‘Secrets weren’t fun to collect when they would hurt others.’
I found a lot to like about this finely crafted novel. The story unfolds through the different perspectives of the four main characters: Lily, Girlie, Tommy and Ernie. This enables the reader to see some of the same events from very different viewpoints which adds to the depth of the story as well as showing how easy it can be to misrepresent (and misinterpret). The detail of life in the Great Depression echoed the experiences my grandparents shared of the same period. In a small town everyone knows your business, and people are judged by the company they keep or where they are perceived to fit in. And the Hass family are not the only people carrying secrets.
‘There were too many secrets.’
Gradually, as Ms Napier reveals (some of) those secrets, the nature of 1930s small town society becomes even clearer: elements of generosity and kindness together with snobbery, racism and hypocrisy. All reinforced by the (largely unspoken but clearly understood) rules of ‘proper’ behaviour. Some of the secrets may seem comparatively trivial in the 21st century, but they were not during the first half of the 20th century. Ms Napier allows the tension to build as the reader tries to work out what truths are being concealed, from whom and why.
This is Ms Napier’s debut novel, and I highly recommend it as a fine example of Australian historical fiction.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
November 17, 2017
This book is set in 1932 when, after a series of financial misfortunes, Ernie and Lily Hass and their daughter Girlie escape their farm and the tiny West Australian town of Perenjori for a new start running a guest house in coastal Dongarra.
But starting again isn't easy, and Lily's attempts to climb the social ladder are thwarted by Ernie's ineptitude in business.
Holding them back, too, are their secrets, which they try to keep hidden not only from the townsfolk of Dongarra, but from each other as well. One by one, though, their secrets are revealed and it looks as if they'll lose everything again.
Added to the mix are Lily's forlorn and shell-shocked brother, Tommy, and the question of who are Girlie's real parents.
Napier's prose is delightful, and has about it a lyrical simplicity:
'It's pretty out here at night. The stars. You know, I sometimes wonder if they're not all the souls of people we've lost, set up there to watch over us, let us know we're going to be all right.'
The book covers many themes, including the devastating aftermath of war, the importance of family, and racism in early twentieth century Australia. The characters are flawed but likeable, and beg the question: How much can people really change?
The historical period in which the novel is set feels authentic and the research involved is obvious. Napier also knows when to keep a secret and when to reveal it, giving away just enough to keep the reader turning the page.
This is a beautiful book—a literary page-turner!
But starting again isn't easy, and Lily's attempts to climb the social ladder are thwarted by Ernie's ineptitude in business.
Holding them back, too, are their secrets, which they try to keep hidden not only from the townsfolk of Dongarra, but from each other as well. One by one, though, their secrets are revealed and it looks as if they'll lose everything again.
Added to the mix are Lily's forlorn and shell-shocked brother, Tommy, and the question of who are Girlie's real parents.
Napier's prose is delightful, and has about it a lyrical simplicity:
'It's pretty out here at night. The stars. You know, I sometimes wonder if they're not all the souls of people we've lost, set up there to watch over us, let us know we're going to be all right.'
The book covers many themes, including the devastating aftermath of war, the importance of family, and racism in early twentieth century Australia. The characters are flawed but likeable, and beg the question: How much can people really change?
The historical period in which the novel is set feels authentic and the research involved is obvious. Napier also knows when to keep a secret and when to reveal it, giving away just enough to keep the reader turning the page.
This is a beautiful book—a literary page-turner!
November 29, 2017
I am deferring to Cass Moriaty! Her review says it all about this stunning debut novel. But I will say this...
It’s rare to have an author so eloquently and veraciously transport me to another time and place. Historically significant and eloquently told, this novel is a tour de force that will find its place among Australia’s best.
It’s rare to have an author so eloquently and veraciously transport me to another time and place. Historically significant and eloquently told, this novel is a tour de force that will find its place among Australia’s best.
February 25, 2018
This is a debut novel? Wow. I will only assume that Kali Napier has had extensive experience in some other area of writing because The Secrets of Ocean’s Edge is an impressive piece of Australian literature.
Set in 1932, WW1 is still affecting many of its characters either physically, mentally or financially.
With the country in the grips of a depression, Ernie Hass and his family have been forced off their wheat farm in the Western Australian region of Perenjori. Ernie’s big idea is to settle in Dongarra, a small coastal town, and open up a guesthouse for tourists. Going reluctantly along for the ride is his wife, Lilly, and their daughter, with a very Aussie sounding nickname, perfect for the time, of Girlie.
Both Ernie and Lilly have secrets, just as the title suggests, and both imagine Dongarra could be their big chance to start afresh. Unfortunately, it’s soon apparent that not only will some secrets they both know be revealed to Dongarra’s other residents, but also the secrets they are hiding from each other.
In fact, Dongarra, rather than alleviating their anxieties, adds to them, with its small town penchant for gossip, racism, sexism and as much classism as you can find in Australia.
We'll soon learn that simple things such as CWA meetings, golf tournaments, and fairs can be fraught with danger.
Also thrown into the mix to complicate the Hass family’s life is Lilly’s brother, Tommy. Tommy is suffering from severe PTSD and his behaviour could be described as erratic at best.
Obviously Napier doesn’t reveal all the characters’ secrets immediately but, by the three quarter mark, we know enough to realise that all is not going to end well. Napier builds the tension with a deft hand and this is probably my favourite thing about the book.
The secrets of the title are many and varied. Napier covers tough issues: sexual abuse/rape, child abuse, adultery, arson, extortion. The book can be quite harrowing at times.
Australia’s history is put under the spotlight too. Other than the serious subjects, such as our treatment of our Indigenous peoples and the effects of the depression, the inclusion of the Great Emu War excited me hugely. I know, I’m frivolous, but the hilarity of that ‘campaign’ is one of my favourite things ever, so any book including it gets an extra star from me. (I must point out that Napier does not make the emu war humourous in any way and, instead, shows the heartbreak of the farmers battle to eradicate the emus who were decimating their crops.)
This book is definitely a piece of literature and would be perfect for older students to study. Although historical, many themes reflect modern problems. One in particular that I couldn’t help thinking about is America's need for gun control. The ease of obtaining firearms in 1932 was disturbing, especially for Tommy, who is in an extremely fragile mental state.
The one problem I had with the book is that I didn’t particularly like many of the characters. Lilly and Ernie in particular had no redeeming features, and it was difficult for me to feel sympathy for their plights at times. Yes, we all have flaws, but...
Overall, however, Napier’s superior writing kept me reading to find out their fate, but I did remove a star from my rating for this. Although, I still highly recommend the book.
4 out of 5
Set in 1932, WW1 is still affecting many of its characters either physically, mentally or financially.
With the country in the grips of a depression, Ernie Hass and his family have been forced off their wheat farm in the Western Australian region of Perenjori. Ernie’s big idea is to settle in Dongarra, a small coastal town, and open up a guesthouse for tourists. Going reluctantly along for the ride is his wife, Lilly, and their daughter, with a very Aussie sounding nickname, perfect for the time, of Girlie.
Both Ernie and Lilly have secrets, just as the title suggests, and both imagine Dongarra could be their big chance to start afresh. Unfortunately, it’s soon apparent that not only will some secrets they both know be revealed to Dongarra’s other residents, but also the secrets they are hiding from each other.
In fact, Dongarra, rather than alleviating their anxieties, adds to them, with its small town penchant for gossip, racism, sexism and as much classism as you can find in Australia.
We'll soon learn that simple things such as CWA meetings, golf tournaments, and fairs can be fraught with danger.
Also thrown into the mix to complicate the Hass family’s life is Lilly’s brother, Tommy. Tommy is suffering from severe PTSD and his behaviour could be described as erratic at best.
Obviously Napier doesn’t reveal all the characters’ secrets immediately but, by the three quarter mark, we know enough to realise that all is not going to end well. Napier builds the tension with a deft hand and this is probably my favourite thing about the book.
The secrets of the title are many and varied. Napier covers tough issues: sexual abuse/rape, child abuse, adultery, arson, extortion. The book can be quite harrowing at times.
Australia’s history is put under the spotlight too. Other than the serious subjects, such as our treatment of our Indigenous peoples and the effects of the depression, the inclusion of the Great Emu War excited me hugely. I know, I’m frivolous, but the hilarity of that ‘campaign’ is one of my favourite things ever, so any book including it gets an extra star from me. (I must point out that Napier does not make the emu war humourous in any way and, instead, shows the heartbreak of the farmers battle to eradicate the emus who were decimating their crops.)
This book is definitely a piece of literature and would be perfect for older students to study. Although historical, many themes reflect modern problems. One in particular that I couldn’t help thinking about is America's need for gun control. The ease of obtaining firearms in 1932 was disturbing, especially for Tommy, who is in an extremely fragile mental state.
The one problem I had with the book is that I didn’t particularly like many of the characters. Lilly and Ernie in particular had no redeeming features, and it was difficult for me to feel sympathy for their plights at times. Yes, we all have flaws, but...
Overall, however, Napier’s superior writing kept me reading to find out their fate, but I did remove a star from my rating for this. Although, I still highly recommend the book.
4 out of 5
May 14, 2018
Set during the Great Depression, The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge tells the story of Lily Hass and her daughter Girlie who have just moved to the small West Australian town of Dongarra, where Lily’s husband Ernie hopes to kick-start a new business running a guest house. Both Lily and Girlie struggle to make new friends and adapt to their new home. Secrets from the past shadow their lives, and things are complicated by the arrival of Lily’s brother, Tommy, who struggles to deal with shellshock from his experiences in the war. The narrative moves between these four points-of-view, allowing the reader a deeper knowledge of true events than any one of the characters. Themes addressed by the story include the casual racism of Australia in the 1930s, the horror of war, and the difficulties of holding a family together in tough times. Girlie was my favourite character – shy, unsure of herself, yet filled with compassion for others and a true desire to help. Simply and beautifully told, this is a poignant and memorable novel.
April 9, 2018
I feel in love with this book even before I carried it out of the store. The cover was gorgeous, the blurb interesting, and the first few paragraphs were promising.
Very well written and researched, the book didn’t disappoint. A complex web of secrets is woven through the entire novel, linking characters, settings and events in such a way that had me caught hook, line and sinker, right until the end.
Set in 1932, in the isolated costal town of Dongarra (Dongara) in Western Australia, Ernie and Lily have left a trail of failures and secrets behind them. Perth to Perenjoi, and then on to Dongarra, neither of them want to be found; worried that their past will catch up with them and ruin their future chances of success, and inclusion within the community. But of course, their past does unravel, and the interlocked secrets between all characters brings the book to a pacy climax.
I didn’t particularly like Ernie and Lily to begin with, but their faults and failures, insecurities and hints at their past intrigued me. They found their way under my skin, as did Girlie, and Tommy, and Lorna and Ruby. The characterisation in this novel is superb, even for minor characters, and I felt part of their little community.
Ernie and Lily are married, with a ten year old daughter called Girlie. They are unhappy with their lot in life, including their marriage. Evocative of the era, Lily is respectful and dutiful towards her husband, despite the hardships his run of poor business decisions create for the family. Ernie promised Lily early on that marrying him would not be a compromise, and he tries to make her happy, but this is a marriage spent walking on eggshells, and he fails at this promise, time and time again. ‘Marriage is always better when you want the same thing,’ says Lily perceptively.
The plot centres around Ernie and Lily trying to establish themselves in Dongarra, hoping to leave poor business decisions, gambling, and blackmail behind them. They are unaware of the full extent of each other’s secrets, especially the gambling and blackmail, and complicating things is the arrival of Lily’s shell-shocked brother, Tommy. A familial sense of duty keeps Tommy on the scene, with devastating consequences. I loved the depiction of small-town politics in the 1930s, as Ernie and Lily target friendships they believe will help them get ahead. The cut-throat world of the Country Women’s Association, and the Beach Improvement Committee, in earlier times reads fairly true to life.
Alternating chapters are written from the differing points of view of Ernie, Lily, Girlie and Tommy. This helps give the reader a clearer insight into what’s going on in the head of each character, and an understanding, little by little, of the secrets each keep. Being privy to information that other characters are unaware of helps the reader feel invested in the story, and gives a foreboding of events to come. Chapter lengths vary, staying true to what a scene or event needs, rather than a prescribed idea of what a correct chapter length ‘should’ be. Towards the end of the novel as secrets rapidly unravel, the story flicks quickly and easily between view points - some chapters being only a page or two long - making the book hard to put down, as the impact of these secrets derails like a runaway train.
Many themes are addressed in this novel - mental health and PTSD, repetition of family patterns, family relationships, motherhood, adoption, shame, the need to keep up appearances, and the disgraceful treatment of Aborigines. Everyones need to keep their own secrets - both small and large - heightens the effect of these themes on the characters.
The Secrets at Ocean’s edge is aptly named. For Girlie, ‘growing up meant knowing which secrets to keep and which to tell.’ Writing a book review whilst trying to avoid spoilers can be tricky. I hope I haven’t given away too many secrets, because this is a book definitely worth reading for yourself.
Very well written and researched, the book didn’t disappoint. A complex web of secrets is woven through the entire novel, linking characters, settings and events in such a way that had me caught hook, line and sinker, right until the end.
Set in 1932, in the isolated costal town of Dongarra (Dongara) in Western Australia, Ernie and Lily have left a trail of failures and secrets behind them. Perth to Perenjoi, and then on to Dongarra, neither of them want to be found; worried that their past will catch up with them and ruin their future chances of success, and inclusion within the community. But of course, their past does unravel, and the interlocked secrets between all characters brings the book to a pacy climax.
I didn’t particularly like Ernie and Lily to begin with, but their faults and failures, insecurities and hints at their past intrigued me. They found their way under my skin, as did Girlie, and Tommy, and Lorna and Ruby. The characterisation in this novel is superb, even for minor characters, and I felt part of their little community.
Ernie and Lily are married, with a ten year old daughter called Girlie. They are unhappy with their lot in life, including their marriage. Evocative of the era, Lily is respectful and dutiful towards her husband, despite the hardships his run of poor business decisions create for the family. Ernie promised Lily early on that marrying him would not be a compromise, and he tries to make her happy, but this is a marriage spent walking on eggshells, and he fails at this promise, time and time again. ‘Marriage is always better when you want the same thing,’ says Lily perceptively.
The plot centres around Ernie and Lily trying to establish themselves in Dongarra, hoping to leave poor business decisions, gambling, and blackmail behind them. They are unaware of the full extent of each other’s secrets, especially the gambling and blackmail, and complicating things is the arrival of Lily’s shell-shocked brother, Tommy. A familial sense of duty keeps Tommy on the scene, with devastating consequences. I loved the depiction of small-town politics in the 1930s, as Ernie and Lily target friendships they believe will help them get ahead. The cut-throat world of the Country Women’s Association, and the Beach Improvement Committee, in earlier times reads fairly true to life.
Alternating chapters are written from the differing points of view of Ernie, Lily, Girlie and Tommy. This helps give the reader a clearer insight into what’s going on in the head of each character, and an understanding, little by little, of the secrets each keep. Being privy to information that other characters are unaware of helps the reader feel invested in the story, and gives a foreboding of events to come. Chapter lengths vary, staying true to what a scene or event needs, rather than a prescribed idea of what a correct chapter length ‘should’ be. Towards the end of the novel as secrets rapidly unravel, the story flicks quickly and easily between view points - some chapters being only a page or two long - making the book hard to put down, as the impact of these secrets derails like a runaway train.
Many themes are addressed in this novel - mental health and PTSD, repetition of family patterns, family relationships, motherhood, adoption, shame, the need to keep up appearances, and the disgraceful treatment of Aborigines. Everyones need to keep their own secrets - both small and large - heightens the effect of these themes on the characters.
The Secrets at Ocean’s edge is aptly named. For Girlie, ‘growing up meant knowing which secrets to keep and which to tell.’ Writing a book review whilst trying to avoid spoilers can be tricky. I hope I haven’t given away too many secrets, because this is a book definitely worth reading for yourself.
Read
March 3, 2022Five stars for effort.
April 2, 2018
An enjoyable read and certainly agree with Melissa Ashley's comments about the characterisation being superb - this was one of the novel's strengths. I thought it conveyed the upheaval and the worrying days of post depression Australia very well, the uncertainty and the optimism of farmers who faced and still face many challenges due to weather events and the rise and fall of commodities. Napier's own family story was pivotal in creating the storyline and she created an intriguing and fragile cast of players who all had the burden of their own secrets and one by one they were cleverly revealed. Her sensitive approach in the way she conveyed the post traumatic effects of the war and the way in which aboriginal families were often treated should also be acknowledged. I look forward to seeing what Napier writes next, I anticipate that she will become a very popular Australian author.
August 26, 2019
What a brilliant and moving story! The setting is in West Australia in 1932 and so the story begins....
Throughout we witnessed a very troubled family, all carrying so many secrets, which when revealed had very horrible consequences. I think all they wanted to do was be accepted for who they were. They also wanted to belong, each in their own way but they had trouble doing so.
I highly recommend this very memorable piece of Australian historical fiction.
Throughout we witnessed a very troubled family, all carrying so many secrets, which when revealed had very horrible consequences. I think all they wanted to do was be accepted for who they were. They also wanted to belong, each in their own way but they had trouble doing so.
I highly recommend this very memorable piece of Australian historical fiction.
February 12, 2018
Fantastic!!! There are not many books that I read in a few weeks but this was one of them. Next one?
September 17, 2018
The Secrets at Ocean's Edge follows the hardships and heartaches of the Hass family during the Depression. Set in a small country town in Western Australia this story contains events which are both tragic and haunting. I really enjoyed Kali Napier's debut novel. Thanks to Books With Heart for my ARC.
October 29, 2017
I expect this novel will be a strong contender for a few literary awards. Full review coming soon.
November 2, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. If you liked "The Light Between Oceans" and "The Dressmaker" this Australian Gothic novel is for you.
Set in 1932, Ernie and Lily Hass and their daughter girlie make a new start, having lost everything to a failed wheat farming venture. But it's not easy. They move to a coastal community on the Western Australian coast, that is fraught with small town intricacies that are hard to see and difficult to navigate.
The plot unfolds well, the characters are beautifully drawn and the reader is taken on a well paced journey with unexpected and tragic consequences.
This book is inspired by Kali's own family history and is beautifully constructed.
5 stars!
Set in 1932, Ernie and Lily Hass and their daughter girlie make a new start, having lost everything to a failed wheat farming venture. But it's not easy. They move to a coastal community on the Western Australian coast, that is fraught with small town intricacies that are hard to see and difficult to navigate.
The plot unfolds well, the characters are beautifully drawn and the reader is taken on a well paced journey with unexpected and tragic consequences.
This book is inspired by Kali's own family history and is beautifully constructed.
5 stars!
February 22, 2018
4.5 stars. In this day and age of internet outrage it's easy to forget just the difficulty of life in Australia after the great depression. This book is an excellent reminder. Napier brilliantly recreates the sexism, racism and classism that existed in this period of Australian history. The research that's obviously gone into this book cannot be faulted, yet at the same time, the story is never overwhelmed by historical detail. The other standout of this book is the author's ability to create nuanced characters who are deeply flawed yet somehow very understandable. There is so much tendency in fiction to create 'likeable' characters, when really what we crave is characters with depth and complexity and this is what Kali Napier gives us on the page.
February 17, 2018
Congrats to the author for her excellent debut. This is one of my favourite topics - early Australian society. Life was hard, especially for women, for men returned from war, for children, for men. A little predictable and soapy but hey I love a good soapy! The comparison with The Light Between Oceans and The Woolgrower’s Wife is apt. The writing is crafted and as an audio book it is brilliant.
January 23, 2018
3.5**** This was an enjoyable story set in the 1930's in small town WA. I like reading stories set in my home town, but I'm glad I wasn't around then. The constant worrying about what other people think and wanting to keep in with the best of society like Lily and Ernie feel they have to do in this story would have worn me down. This is a story about secrets, how everybody has them and the lengths people will go to keep them. How might life have been different for these characters had they not carried the burdens of their secrets but instead shared them with those they loved.
Thanks to Hachette Australia and Netgalley for an advanced copy in return for a honest review
Thanks to Hachette Australia and Netgalley for an advanced copy in return for a honest review
Read
February 28, 2018A taut historical drama packed with intriguing twists and turns that leave readers guessing right till the end.
April 12, 2018
A great book full of intrigue, and complex and interesting characters. I felt quite nervous for the characters at the end but was left feeling satisfied by the final page. Can’t wait to see what Kali writes next!
February 15, 2018
4.5 stars. If it wasn’t for the book club wouldn’t have picked this book up. I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. The writing was excellent and the characters were so well done even if I didn’t like them, I liked not liking them. I do feel as the the ending was slightly rushed over and I would have liked more into lily and her mother’s relationship. But I am already passing this book along to family members to read.
March 17, 2018
A very compelling read - Napier has written a thickly layered story full of characters who have strength as well as flaws. None of them are particularly good, but no one is bad without good explanations for their behaviour. The book centres on the Hass family, and the web of secrets that they have from their community, and from each other. But the secrets of lots of others within the small town come into the story too. A strong plot drives the characters, and their secrets are revealed - along with underlying issues of gender, families, mental illness, race, love, and class. One of the strengths of the book is how it does not whitewash this time in Australian history, nor does it have a super happy ending - there is some resolution, and some of it is positive, but some things just end badly, as they would have in real life. My favourite chapters were from Girlie's 10 (and three-quarters) year old perspective, because of the way that she put two and two together from snippets she overheard and imagined and her openness and curiosity about people and the world around her. Definitely worth a read!
November 20, 2017
Really enjoyed this historical fiction, set in Australia during the depression. Each of the main characters was really engaging. Often with books that have the multiple viewpoints, I find myself rushing though one, or some, waiting to get back to the chapters about the character I like the most - but not this time. Really didn’t see the end twist coming - and I love that too! And all the rain and wind in the last few chapters - so atmospheric. I was really imagining the windswept coastline, even though, of course, I’ve never been there. An absorbing first novel. Can't wait to see what Napier does next!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews