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Hare’s Fur
What a swift odd turn his life had taken. A teenage girl with a ring in her nose was sliding ware into his drying racks.
Russell Bass is a potter living on the edge of Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains. His wife has been dead less than a year and, although he has a few close friends, he is living a mostly solitary life. Each month he hikes into the valley below his house to collect rock for glazes from a remote creek bed. One autumn morning, he finds a chocolate wrapper on the path. His curiosity leads him to a cave where three siblings — two young children and a teenage girl — are camped out, hiding from social services and the police.
Although they bolt at first, Russell slowly gains their trust, and, little by little, this unlikely group of outsiders begin to form a fragile bond.
In luminous prose that captures the feel of hands on clay and the smell of cold rainforest as vividly as it does the minute twists and turns of human relationships, Hare’s Fur tells an exquisite story of grief, kindness, art, and the transformation that can grow from the seeds of trust.
Russell Bass is a potter living on the edge of Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains. His wife has been dead less than a year and, although he has a few close friends, he is living a mostly solitary life. Each month he hikes into the valley below his house to collect rock for glazes from a remote creek bed. One autumn morning, he finds a chocolate wrapper on the path. His curiosity leads him to a cave where three siblings — two young children and a teenage girl — are camped out, hiding from social services and the police.
Although they bolt at first, Russell slowly gains their trust, and, little by little, this unlikely group of outsiders begin to form a fragile bond.
In luminous prose that captures the feel of hands on clay and the smell of cold rainforest as vividly as it does the minute twists and turns of human relationships, Hare’s Fur tells an exquisite story of grief, kindness, art, and the transformation that can grow from the seeds of trust.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2019
About the author
Trevor Shearston
12 books12 followersTrevor Shearston has published a story collection and seven novels. The last, Game, was longlisted for the Miles Franklin, and shortlisted for the Christina Stead and Colin Roderick awards. He lives in Katoomba.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
May 29, 2019
Trevor Shearston has written a beautiful book about loss and grief and new beginnings. His main character, Russell Bass is a professional potter living in the Blue Mountains. He has only a few close friends nearby and since he lost his wife some months ago and his son died as a child, his days have been mostly solitary, working in his studio or collecting local rock for his glazes from the valley below. On one of his treks to collect a basalt that he uses in a glaze that has an appearance resembling hare's fur, he makes a startling discovery that leads him to find three children living in a cave. Teenage Jade and her young brother and sister are hiding from social services after their parents were jailed for drug dealing. Jade has been in foster care before and after a bad experience doesn't want her siblings having to experience that. Gradually Russell gains their trust by bringing them food and then a place to sleep but he knows it will only be a temporary respite until they are found by the police or social services.
I very much enjoyed the lovely writing in this book. The descriptions of the tranquility and lushness of the mountain landscape are very evocative and atmospheric. There is also a wealth of description of the making and firing of pottery which I loved. If you've ever visited a potter's studio and watched a potter at his wheel you'll know how entrancing it can be to watch a lump of clay transform into a graceful, elegant form which will eventually be transformed once again with a glorious glaze. There's a certain magic in that which the author does well to capture.
The characters are also well drawn. Russell as a lonely man, starting to feel the ravages of time, but still compassionate and realising he still has something to offer those in need. The children are initially like wild, untamed creatures who slowly open to Russell as he gains their trust and start to form a wonderful relationship. Even prickly, guarded Jade who has been damaged by her past experiences comes to see that he has a generous soul and only wants the best for them.
With thanks to Scribe Publications for a copy of this book won in a giveaway
I very much enjoyed the lovely writing in this book. The descriptions of the tranquility and lushness of the mountain landscape are very evocative and atmospheric. There is also a wealth of description of the making and firing of pottery which I loved. If you've ever visited a potter's studio and watched a potter at his wheel you'll know how entrancing it can be to watch a lump of clay transform into a graceful, elegant form which will eventually be transformed once again with a glorious glaze. There's a certain magic in that which the author does well to capture.
The characters are also well drawn. Russell as a lonely man, starting to feel the ravages of time, but still compassionate and realising he still has something to offer those in need. The children are initially like wild, untamed creatures who slowly open to Russell as he gains their trust and start to form a wonderful relationship. Even prickly, guarded Jade who has been damaged by her past experiences comes to see that he has a generous soul and only wants the best for them.
With thanks to Scribe Publications for a copy of this book won in a giveaway
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May 6, 2019At once touching and exuding charm, this still manages to pack a punch. It’s a study of what can grow from trust and caring despite grief and misfortune, that no matter what stage of life a person is at, rebirth can be unexpected and come in many forms … uplifting and satisfying.
Scott Whitmont, Books + Publishing
The descriptions of landscape, on the plateaus as well as in the deep valleys, have the ring of truth about them that only comes from years of walking the area.
Good Reading
Hare’s Fur is a tale of convalescence, a restrained, moving story about how we discover new meaning in the wake of anguish ... Hare’s Fur is about the inevitable reconfiguring of a life. It shows us that, like Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with seams of gold, we too can mend ourselves, we too can reconnect our pieces.
Jack Callil, Australian Book Review
With luminous prose and ekphrasis, Shearston depicts the ubiquitously relatable challenge of handling change in everyday life. Hare’s Fur is a poignant story of the literal and figurative pottery of trust, friendship and new beginnings, dirty hands and all.
Jeremy George, Readings Booksellers
It’s a gentle tale about grief, hope, love and kindness … The elegance of this novel is in the unfolding; it is in the way each of the characters comes to trust the possibility of a future.
Laura Kroetsch, Adelaide Advertiser
This short novel could well become that literary holy grail: the successful young adult/adult crossover. It would also be a fascinating addition to state high school curriculums. The author of nine novels, Shearston is a fine stylist and an assured storyteller.
Mandy Sayer, Weekend Australian
A wonderful novel.
Jenny Barry, Co-organiser of Bathurst Writers’ and Readers’ Festival, Western Times Bathurst
This is a meditative novel about grief, work, loneliness, trust, and dealing with fragility, whether in pots or in children. Trevor Shearston is meticulous in recording the complexity and detail of Russell’s craft, and the unfolding of the plot is moving without ever sinking into sentimentality.
Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald
Scott Whitmont, Books + Publishing
The descriptions of landscape, on the plateaus as well as in the deep valleys, have the ring of truth about them that only comes from years of walking the area.
Good Reading
Hare’s Fur is a tale of convalescence, a restrained, moving story about how we discover new meaning in the wake of anguish ... Hare’s Fur is about the inevitable reconfiguring of a life. It shows us that, like Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with seams of gold, we too can mend ourselves, we too can reconnect our pieces.
Jack Callil, Australian Book Review
With luminous prose and ekphrasis, Shearston depicts the ubiquitously relatable challenge of handling change in everyday life. Hare’s Fur is a poignant story of the literal and figurative pottery of trust, friendship and new beginnings, dirty hands and all.
Jeremy George, Readings Booksellers
It’s a gentle tale about grief, hope, love and kindness … The elegance of this novel is in the unfolding; it is in the way each of the characters comes to trust the possibility of a future.
Laura Kroetsch, Adelaide Advertiser
This short novel could well become that literary holy grail: the successful young adult/adult crossover. It would also be a fascinating addition to state high school curriculums. The author of nine novels, Shearston is a fine stylist and an assured storyteller.
Mandy Sayer, Weekend Australian
A wonderful novel.
Jenny Barry, Co-organiser of Bathurst Writers’ and Readers’ Festival, Western Times Bathurst
This is a meditative novel about grief, work, loneliness, trust, and dealing with fragility, whether in pots or in children. Trevor Shearston is meticulous in recording the complexity and detail of Russell’s craft, and the unfolding of the plot is moving without ever sinking into sentimentality.
Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald
March 28, 2019
A gentle novel, exploring loneliness and compassion. I enjoyed the crossing of paths of the potter and The fiercely independent children who are trying to stay together despite their family circumstances. I wished the book had kept going and explored the foster care and whether they got there or not. Quite a different read, but worth the effort.
August 7, 2019
What a delight to read Hare’s Fur (Scribe 2019) by author Trevor Shearston. This slim book – almost a novella – is a joy from start to finish. With literary language that sings from the pages, and a story that is poignant and moving, Hare’s Fur is a beautiful combination of the making of art, the raw ache of loss and the unexpected connections of strangers. It is a book about kindness and grief, about isolation and abandonment.
Seventy-five-year-old Russell Bass is a recently widowed potter living on the outskirts of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. Every day he grieves not only for his wife but for their son, lost many years before. Every day he devotes to his art and his work: collecting rock from the local creek to use as glaze for his pottery; making the clay; spinning the wheel; throwing the pots. His work is sought-after and sells well at exhibitions. But he lives a lonely and isolated life, his few local close friends often the only human company he sees for weeks on end.
One day, while hunting for useful rock, he comes across a simple thing – a chocolate wrapper – discarded in the bush, which immediately shatters his sense of quietude because of what it symbolises – that someone is nearby, that somebody has found his hidden paradise. The laughter and low voices of children nearby confirm it. Tentatively, he approaches them and finds a group of children, two very young, accompanied by a teenage girl, who are camping out in the cold, hiding from the police and social services.
And so begins a slow burn of developing trust, hampered along the way by suspicions of motivations from both sides, fear of alerting authorities or even the neighbours, concerns by Russell about the children’s wellbeing and whether he is doing the right thing, and anxiety by the children about his offer of shelter. But despite the difference in ages and circumstances, a bond begins to develop between these fragile and neglected children, who have a traumatic history, and the older man, who himself has his own burdens to bear.
I learnt more from this book about clay and glazes and throwing pots than I will ever need to know in a lifetime, and the book also offers a wonderfully evocative depiction of the native Australian bush – the fauna, the flora, the turn of the seasons; this is nature-writing at its most beautiful.
Seventy-five-year-old Russell Bass is a recently widowed potter living on the outskirts of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. Every day he grieves not only for his wife but for their son, lost many years before. Every day he devotes to his art and his work: collecting rock from the local creek to use as glaze for his pottery; making the clay; spinning the wheel; throwing the pots. His work is sought-after and sells well at exhibitions. But he lives a lonely and isolated life, his few local close friends often the only human company he sees for weeks on end.
One day, while hunting for useful rock, he comes across a simple thing – a chocolate wrapper – discarded in the bush, which immediately shatters his sense of quietude because of what it symbolises – that someone is nearby, that somebody has found his hidden paradise. The laughter and low voices of children nearby confirm it. Tentatively, he approaches them and finds a group of children, two very young, accompanied by a teenage girl, who are camping out in the cold, hiding from the police and social services.
And so begins a slow burn of developing trust, hampered along the way by suspicions of motivations from both sides, fear of alerting authorities or even the neighbours, concerns by Russell about the children’s wellbeing and whether he is doing the right thing, and anxiety by the children about his offer of shelter. But despite the difference in ages and circumstances, a bond begins to develop between these fragile and neglected children, who have a traumatic history, and the older man, who himself has his own burdens to bear.
I learnt more from this book about clay and glazes and throwing pots than I will ever need to know in a lifetime, and the book also offers a wonderfully evocative depiction of the native Australian bush – the fauna, the flora, the turn of the seasons; this is nature-writing at its most beautiful.
January 21, 2022
Odd story but as a potter I appreciated the accuracy of the pottery descriptions.
February 8, 2020
This a quite a short novel but one that’s powerful and different. It has lot of pottery in it. Methods, sources, descriptions, inspiration dominate the story. But the story is a great one, enriched by the unusual background. The main character is a potter, living in the Blue Mountains. His life changes enormously due to events . No spoilers here, sorry, I hope you get the chance to read it. The writing is outstandingly tactile, language forms chunks, curves, flows, with many textures, colours, shapes. The title lured me in to this book by an author new to me and it was a lucky decision.
April 6, 2019
http://jessjustreads.com
Hare’s Fur by Trevor Shearston is a literary novella about life, family, loss and the fragility of life and everything in it.
‘Hare’s fur’ is a specific pottery pattern that resembles the fur of a rabbit. Protagonist Russell is in his seventies and lives alone in the Blue Mountains. He is a professional potter. Russell takes a lot of time with his work, making sure to give everything due attention and detail. Russell applies that same attention and concern to the three kids he meets in the woods. They’re frightened and wary, and he is determined to earn their trust and help them.
“He was startled on the return walk when a small hand took his. The boy didn’t risk looking to his face for consent. He gripped back and shortened stride, coughing to swallow away the tightness in his throat. He couldn’t, and finally had to pretend to sneeze so he could wipe his eyes. He thought he must have held a child’s hand since Michael, but couldn’t think whose child.”
Hare’s Fur is rich with description and imagery, taking the reader on a journey of observation and reflection. The symbolism of the story and the characters is not lost. Russell works with pottery — fragile objects. He lives alone since his wife suddenly passed, and he doesn’t have many friends.
These three kids he meets are fragile too, much like the objects he works with. They’ve run away from a troubled home life, a broken family. He befriends them and earns their trust. They have much to learn from each other.
Unfortunately, the pacing really bothered me for most of this novel. There’s so much internal monologue and so much detailed description, that I felt the story was moving too slowly for it to really grip me. I found my attention waning — I found myself flicking through to see how many pages I had left to go.
“The fire was dead, but sitting round and black in the ashes was an object it took him a moment to recognise, so long since he’d seen one, a cast-iron camp oven. It must already have been here, no child could have carried it. The cutlery looked to be of the same vintage, with thick tines and handles.”
Hare’s Fur will be ideal for readers who are looking for character-driven stories, and not necessarily plot-driven. This is for readers who love a slow burn, with overly descriptive imagery and paragraphs. If you’re looking for something fast-paced, then this book isn’t for you.
Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Hare’s Fur by Trevor Shearston is a literary novella about life, family, loss and the fragility of life and everything in it.
‘Hare’s fur’ is a specific pottery pattern that resembles the fur of a rabbit. Protagonist Russell is in his seventies and lives alone in the Blue Mountains. He is a professional potter. Russell takes a lot of time with his work, making sure to give everything due attention and detail. Russell applies that same attention and concern to the three kids he meets in the woods. They’re frightened and wary, and he is determined to earn their trust and help them.
“He was startled on the return walk when a small hand took his. The boy didn’t risk looking to his face for consent. He gripped back and shortened stride, coughing to swallow away the tightness in his throat. He couldn’t, and finally had to pretend to sneeze so he could wipe his eyes. He thought he must have held a child’s hand since Michael, but couldn’t think whose child.”
Hare’s Fur is rich with description and imagery, taking the reader on a journey of observation and reflection. The symbolism of the story and the characters is not lost. Russell works with pottery — fragile objects. He lives alone since his wife suddenly passed, and he doesn’t have many friends.
These three kids he meets are fragile too, much like the objects he works with. They’ve run away from a troubled home life, a broken family. He befriends them and earns their trust. They have much to learn from each other.
Unfortunately, the pacing really bothered me for most of this novel. There’s so much internal monologue and so much detailed description, that I felt the story was moving too slowly for it to really grip me. I found my attention waning — I found myself flicking through to see how many pages I had left to go.
“The fire was dead, but sitting round and black in the ashes was an object it took him a moment to recognise, so long since he’d seen one, a cast-iron camp oven. It must already have been here, no child could have carried it. The cutlery looked to be of the same vintage, with thick tines and handles.”
Hare’s Fur will be ideal for readers who are looking for character-driven stories, and not necessarily plot-driven. This is for readers who love a slow burn, with overly descriptive imagery and paragraphs. If you’re looking for something fast-paced, then this book isn’t for you.
Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
August 26, 2019
A magical little book in the vein of Kent Haruf. The writing is beautiful and descriptions of the Blue Mountains particularly evocative. The setting, social commentary on family challenges, loss and detail on pottery and glazes all combine to make a special read.
August 26, 2019
A gentle and hopeful story that intersects the creation of art with finding trust and friendship in unexpected places.
October 4, 2019
I borrowed this book from the library as it is set in Katoomba the Blue Mountains being a favourite location to me. Although there was some reference to the setting in the main this was totally people focussed which of course can be a plus or minus depending upon your viewpoint. For me it was a minus. The writing was also to me quite simplistic - again a plus or minus. For the right reader it would be very enjoyable.
March 4, 2019
A lovely novel reminding us that a little compassionate goes a long way
March 5, 2019
Hare’s Fur is such a lovely book! The Australian literary scene is awash with grim books at the moment, but as the blurb says Hare’s Fur offers an exquisite story of grief, kindness, art, and the transformation that can grow from the seeds of trust.
The novel doesn’t shy away from the realities of life. Russell Bass is a Blue Mountains potter, alone after the recent death of his wife, and of his child, long ago. He has kindly neighbours who offer companionship and he has his highly-regarded creative work as a potter to keep him busy, but nothing can fill the chasm of loss after his beloved wife died unexpectedly almost a year ago.
That is, until Russell stumbles upon some children hiding out in the remote bush where he goes to harvest clay for his pots. These kids are from an entirely different world. They are sleeping rough in a freezing cave because their feckless parent has been taken off to gaol for dealing in drugs. The oldest of these kids, Jade, has at 15 seen it all before, and she believes that DoCS (the Department of Community Services) will separate the trio when they go into care. Because, the last time her mother was gaoled, that’s what happened to her and her older sister Kayla.
Russell, knowing nothing of this when he first sees the two younger ones playing a game in the creek, sees straight away that all is not well. He judges the smaller one to be about five and the other eight or nine...
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/03/04/h...
The novel doesn’t shy away from the realities of life. Russell Bass is a Blue Mountains potter, alone after the recent death of his wife, and of his child, long ago. He has kindly neighbours who offer companionship and he has his highly-regarded creative work as a potter to keep him busy, but nothing can fill the chasm of loss after his beloved wife died unexpectedly almost a year ago.
That is, until Russell stumbles upon some children hiding out in the remote bush where he goes to harvest clay for his pots. These kids are from an entirely different world. They are sleeping rough in a freezing cave because their feckless parent has been taken off to gaol for dealing in drugs. The oldest of these kids, Jade, has at 15 seen it all before, and she believes that DoCS (the Department of Community Services) will separate the trio when they go into care. Because, the last time her mother was gaoled, that’s what happened to her and her older sister Kayla.
Russell, knowing nothing of this when he first sees the two younger ones playing a game in the creek, sees straight away that all is not well. He judges the smaller one to be about five and the other eight or nine...
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/03/04/h...
August 12, 2021
I loved this book it's about the creative process and trust and it allowed me to revisit familiar places.
December 28, 2021
As someone who has spent a bit of time making and playing with clay and who lives in the Blue Mountains, I thoroughly enjoyed reading a book that felt so familiar.
July 5, 2020
Hare's Fur by Trevor Shearston is a very highly recommended, beautifully presented novel and character study.
Russell Bass is a potter and recent widower living on the edge of the Blue Mountains of New South Wales in Australia. He lives a mostly solitary life with a few close friends. When he is hiking to a specific vein of basalt that he uses in one of his glazes to get the hare's fur effect, he sees a new candy wrapper in the forest. Then he hears the voices of children. He ends up discovering and later bringing food to a teen age girl and her two younger siblings. They are living in a nearby cave, hiding from the police and child services. Russell offers them the food and his phone number, should they need more help. Circumstances send the three to his house, living with him, while still hiding from authorities.
Hare's Fur is a wonderful, quiet, tender, and thoughtful novel, both for the writing and the character development. The descriptions are incredible. If you have ever done any pottery you will immediately be taken back to your experiences and understand intimately the descriptions lovingly provided in the narrative. The setting is handled with the same amount of care and attention. Equally compelling are the descriptions of the people and the connections that are slowly built between them. This is a finely crafted novel with prose that serenades the reader while depicting the time, setting, and characters in a quiet, contemplative manner.
With compassion and introspection, Hare's Fur becomes a novel about working through grief and loneliness. It is about having your life's work also be your passion. It is about aging and acceptance. It is about setting mistakes aside, whether in life or pottery. And it is about trusting other people and the fragility of forging a family and pottery. Quite simply, Hare's Fur is a lovely novel. It was the perfect quiet, contemplative novel to read during a very stressful time.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Scribe Publications.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2020/0...
Russell Bass is a potter and recent widower living on the edge of the Blue Mountains of New South Wales in Australia. He lives a mostly solitary life with a few close friends. When he is hiking to a specific vein of basalt that he uses in one of his glazes to get the hare's fur effect, he sees a new candy wrapper in the forest. Then he hears the voices of children. He ends up discovering and later bringing food to a teen age girl and her two younger siblings. They are living in a nearby cave, hiding from the police and child services. Russell offers them the food and his phone number, should they need more help. Circumstances send the three to his house, living with him, while still hiding from authorities.
Hare's Fur is a wonderful, quiet, tender, and thoughtful novel, both for the writing and the character development. The descriptions are incredible. If you have ever done any pottery you will immediately be taken back to your experiences and understand intimately the descriptions lovingly provided in the narrative. The setting is handled with the same amount of care and attention. Equally compelling are the descriptions of the people and the connections that are slowly built between them. This is a finely crafted novel with prose that serenades the reader while depicting the time, setting, and characters in a quiet, contemplative manner.
With compassion and introspection, Hare's Fur becomes a novel about working through grief and loneliness. It is about having your life's work also be your passion. It is about aging and acceptance. It is about setting mistakes aside, whether in life or pottery. And it is about trusting other people and the fragility of forging a family and pottery. Quite simply, Hare's Fur is a lovely novel. It was the perfect quiet, contemplative novel to read during a very stressful time.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Scribe Publications.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2020/0...
February 4, 2019
Russell Bass is a septuagenarian professional potter, leading a quiet and solitary life in the Blue Mountains following the death of his wife. Whilst gathering basalt for his pottery glaze in remote bushland outside Katoomba, he stumbles across a determined teenager and her two young siblings hiding out in a cave, terrified of being separated and leading a feral-like existence to avoid authorities who wish to put them into care.
‘Hare’s fur’ refers to unique striated glaze pottery patterns resembling the fur of a rabbit. Just as potters create it with skill and individual, meticulous attention to detail, so Russell - determined to help - slowly earns the waifs’ trust and his life changes drastically as he forms an unlikely and unique connection with the trio.
Touching and exuding charm, at only 140 pages, this novella still manages to pack a punch as a study of what can grow from trust and caring despite grief and misfortune and that no matter what one’s stage of life, rebirth can be unexpected and in many forms. Readers who enjoyed the unexpected human connection aspect of Haruf’s Our Souls at Night will also find this pithy tale both uplifting and satisfying.
‘Hare’s fur’ refers to unique striated glaze pottery patterns resembling the fur of a rabbit. Just as potters create it with skill and individual, meticulous attention to detail, so Russell - determined to help - slowly earns the waifs’ trust and his life changes drastically as he forms an unlikely and unique connection with the trio.
Touching and exuding charm, at only 140 pages, this novella still manages to pack a punch as a study of what can grow from trust and caring despite grief and misfortune and that no matter what one’s stage of life, rebirth can be unexpected and in many forms. Readers who enjoyed the unexpected human connection aspect of Haruf’s Our Souls at Night will also find this pithy tale both uplifting and satisfying.
November 18, 2019
There was something incredibly moving about the story of Russell and the three runaways.
From the beginning of the story, it was clear that Russell was seeking something to help fill the gap left in his life from the passing of his wife. Finding the children on his way to securing some additional material for his pottery was a blessing – especially for the increasingly isolated life he was starting to live.
Though I loved the premise of this story, I found the shifting points of view – from Russell’s present to his past – to be a little disjointed. As there were no chapters, it made the alternating time lines and trips into his memory a little hard to follow.
The establishment of setting, the bush in the Blue Mountains in particular, was incredibly well done. As he did this quite well, I wanted there to be more backstory for the kids and where they were living before being found in the bush.
Thank you for @scribepub for gifting me a copy to review!
From the beginning of the story, it was clear that Russell was seeking something to help fill the gap left in his life from the passing of his wife. Finding the children on his way to securing some additional material for his pottery was a blessing – especially for the increasingly isolated life he was starting to live.
Though I loved the premise of this story, I found the shifting points of view – from Russell’s present to his past – to be a little disjointed. As there were no chapters, it made the alternating time lines and trips into his memory a little hard to follow.
The establishment of setting, the bush in the Blue Mountains in particular, was incredibly well done. As he did this quite well, I wanted there to be more backstory for the kids and where they were living before being found in the bush.
Thank you for @scribepub for gifting me a copy to review!
December 28, 2019
What a beautiful slow gentle read, touching on loss and grief but also the many positives we can take from the simplest things in life. People are not always what they seem, just like the clay or glazes a potter uses, the end result may be perfect or chucked in the discard bin of life. Set in the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney this is not a travelogue style descriptive book, but is instantly recognisable to anyone who has visited this area. Almost a novella, I read it in a day. Highly recommended (& if you plan an autumnal visit to the mountains I couldn't think of a better companion as you sit by a crackling fire, drinking your choice tipple out of a beautifully crafted ceramic vessel)
September 25, 2023
Russell lives tucked away in the Blue Mountains, both absorbed and hiding in his work as a potter. His wife has died suddenly and the work stops his thoughts. The discovery of a chocolate bar wrapper on his land punctures this isolation and the novel tracks his movement from his inner to exterior world. Some of this transition occurs at a fast pace, with the man he was emerging quickly. Shearston writes with ease as a potter and captures the rhythm and rigour. The land also receives some of this careful attention, along with some beautiful objects. It’s a lovely Australian read, with the hardness and sweetness of the children burning brightly.
December 22, 2020
The premise is great. Russell is a lonely widower living in the Blue Mountains when he finds a candy wrapper in the forest, but I almost put this Australian novel down many times, asking my wife if I should quit it. With her encouragement, I continued and I am so thankful that I picked it up each time and read on to the end. It turns out Hare's Fur is a powerful novel exploring loneliness and compassion. I am so glad I kept going, but I need a sequel. I need to find out what happens to Russell and the children he plans to foster.
November 3, 2025
Excellent book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. As an artist myself it was wonderful for a book to be structured around the process of making. And as an ex Katoomba-ite, it resonated so clearly of the Blue Mountains and brought back wonderful memories. It was also great to read a book that was hopeful rather than cynical, and that captured the magic of life and its unexpected turns. My only real criticism- I would have liked more. The characters were so lively I wanted to find out what happened next. I will certainly seek out more books by this author.
June 2, 2019
Lovely read set in the chill beauty of the Blue Mountains. We meet a widowed potter who befriends two young children and their teenage sister on the run from social services and the police. This tells of the generosity of a man who opens his heart to complete strangers. The bonds of trust and love are interwoven with the creation of beautiful objects formed on the potter's wheel. Amid the pain and grief there is forged the chance of a new beginning and life in this quiet and simply told story
June 23, 2019
I had been waiting for this book to come to library. Set in Blue Mountains I was interested in the area as a potter I knew had lived down a road and track from Blackheath. Interesting descriptions of rock and potting. The characters were interesting & typical of some we find around Katoomba. However the ending was too abrupt.
August 3, 2019
Evocative and touching, a sweet little book set in the glorious and magnificent Blue Mountains, where an old potter learns he can find space in his heart and days for new life. I mostly love this for the attention to detail of the flora and fauna and the clay/pottery, but the story is a sweet one as well.
June 2, 2019
A gentle little book filled with love and care. There was a huge amount of information about the making of pottery which I did find myself skimming through but I loved the respect for pottery and people that the book showed. I think I will have to read another book by Trevor Shearston.
June 5, 2019
Beautiful little book about grief loneliness, the therapeutic value of art set in the blue mountains near Sydney
I read this after reading a much lauded recent American book on a similar subject. I much preferred the gentle tone and atmosphere of this story.
I read this after reading a much lauded recent American book on a similar subject. I much preferred the gentle tone and atmosphere of this story.
October 19, 2019
Very easy read. Loved the storyline. It is about loneliness and how one develops attachments. Shows that every human being needs love and care. Also it gives some sort of happiness and fulfillment when one provides that care to other human beings.
March 21, 2020
Melodic, rich, satisfying, and of the heart. Curious, I have never thought of men as sentimental. This earthy story depicts not only a man who is rooted in his heart, but suggests in several other ways the sentimentality of the male human; a perspective I appreciated.
September 29, 2020
A quietly beautiful, delicate and reflective novel. Quite rare to read a novel set in the area in which I grew up, the western end of Australia's Blue Mountains. I look forward to reading another Shearston.
April 18, 2021
Ashes to...Ashes? Fashioning from Clay.
Of loss and continuing. Of abandonment and separation. This novel charms the reader with the vistas of the Blue Mountains, a potter’s ways and some young people in need of a secure future.
Of loss and continuing. Of abandonment and separation. This novel charms the reader with the vistas of the Blue Mountains, a potter’s ways and some young people in need of a secure future.
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