What do you think?
Rate this book
The Tally Stick
A compulsive and chilling novel about subjugation, survival and the meaning of family.
Up on the highway, the only evidence that the Chamberlains had ever been there was two smeared tyre tracks in the mud leading into the almost undamaged screen of bushes and trees. No other cars passed that way until after dawn. By that time the tracks had been washed away by the heavy rain . . . It was a magic trick. After being in the country for only five days, the Chamberlain family had vanished into the air. The date was 4 April 1978.
In 2010 the remains of the eldest Chamberlain child have been discovered in a remote part of the West Coast, showing he lived for four years after the family disappeared. Found alongside him are his father’s watch and what turns out to be a tally stick, a piece of wood scored across, marking items of debt.
How had he survived and then died? Where was the rest of his family? And what is the meaning of the tally stick?
Up on the highway, the only evidence that the Chamberlains had ever been there was two smeared tyre tracks in the mud leading into the almost undamaged screen of bushes and trees. No other cars passed that way until after dawn. By that time the tracks had been washed away by the heavy rain . . . It was a magic trick. After being in the country for only five days, the Chamberlain family had vanished into the air. The date was 4 April 1978.
In 2010 the remains of the eldest Chamberlain child have been discovered in a remote part of the West Coast, showing he lived for four years after the family disappeared. Found alongside him are his father’s watch and what turns out to be a tally stick, a piece of wood scored across, marking items of debt.
How had he survived and then died? Where was the rest of his family? And what is the meaning of the tally stick?
288 pages, Trade Paperback
First published August 4, 2020
44 people are currently reading
3804 people want to read
About the author
Carl Nixon
21 books44 followersCarl Nixon is a playwright, a short story writer and a novelist. He has written original plays and has adapted Lloyd Jones’ novel The Book of Fame and JM Coetzee's Disgrace.
Born in Christchurch, Nixon graduated with a Masters degree in Religious Studies from Canterbury University. He briefly taught secondary school English before leaving to teach in Japan for two years.
He has won numerous awards for his fiction, including winning and being nominated for key short story competitions.
Nixon was the Ursula Bethell/Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence at Canterbury University in 2006, where he completed his first novel, Rocking Horse Road. He has also written numerous plays for children.
2017 recipient of the Mansfield Menton Fellowship, with a sum of $35,000 to cover the time in Menton, France.
Born in Christchurch, Nixon graduated with a Masters degree in Religious Studies from Canterbury University. He briefly taught secondary school English before leaving to teach in Japan for two years.
He has won numerous awards for his fiction, including winning and being nominated for key short story competitions.
Nixon was the Ursula Bethell/Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence at Canterbury University in 2006, where he completed his first novel, Rocking Horse Road. He has also written numerous plays for children.
2017 recipient of the Mansfield Menton Fellowship, with a sum of $35,000 to cover the time in Menton, France.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 220 reviews
August 5, 2021
As distressing as the opening chapter of The Tally Stick was, I was unable to tear myself away from it, such was the intensity of the storyline.
The date is 4th April 1978, and the Chamberlain family ( Mum, Dad, and four kids) had only been in New Zealand for five days. They’d left behind their lives in London after the father John was offered a job in Wellington. On the day in question, they set off on a road trip to explore South Island before John’s start date, and, according to the local press, simply vanished into thin air.
Fast forward to 2010, and the remains of the eldest child Maurice were discovered, with forensics showing that he’d lived for around another four years after their disappearance! Where had he been, and where were the others? Had they survived?
It would be too easy to give away some snippet of the storyline that would spoil it for those intending to read The Tally Stick, so I deliberately aren’t saying much about it. However, I simply had to find out what had happened to the Chamberlain’s, and this wonderfully atmospheric and beautifully written novel took me on a journey to do just that, a journey to the West Coast of New Zealand, a journey that was full of mystery and intrigue, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
*Thank you to Netgalley and World Editions for an ARC in exchange for an honest unbiased review *
The date is 4th April 1978, and the Chamberlain family ( Mum, Dad, and four kids) had only been in New Zealand for five days. They’d left behind their lives in London after the father John was offered a job in Wellington. On the day in question, they set off on a road trip to explore South Island before John’s start date, and, according to the local press, simply vanished into thin air.
Fast forward to 2010, and the remains of the eldest child Maurice were discovered, with forensics showing that he’d lived for around another four years after their disappearance! Where had he been, and where were the others? Had they survived?
It would be too easy to give away some snippet of the storyline that would spoil it for those intending to read The Tally Stick, so I deliberately aren’t saying much about it. However, I simply had to find out what had happened to the Chamberlain’s, and this wonderfully atmospheric and beautifully written novel took me on a journey to do just that, a journey to the West Coast of New Zealand, a journey that was full of mystery and intrigue, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
*Thank you to Netgalley and World Editions for an ARC in exchange for an honest unbiased review *
December 1, 2025
EXCERPT: The car containing the four sleeping children left the earth. From the top of the wooded bluff, where the rain-slicked road had curved so treacherously, down to the swollen river at the base of the cliff, was easily sixty feet. There was no moon that night, only low, leaden cloud clogging the sky. As if suspended, the car hung in the air for a fraction - of a fraction - of a moment. very soon the children would begin to fall. Towards the tops of the trees. Towards the headlong water rushing between the boulders. Into the future.
The only person awake was the driver, the children's father, John Chamberlain. His long, narrow face was visible in the dashboard light. He was staring forward at the headlights as they shone east over the seemingly endless forest, fat, diamond drops of rain slanting through the beams. His expression was, more than anything - even more than fearful - disbelieving. Both hands still grasped the wheel as if he remained in control. Perhaps he believed there might, even then, be a manoeuvre he could perform, a secret lever known only to a few he could search for, yank; something - anything - he could do that might save his family. Behind him, one of the children groaned and shifted in their sleep.
ABOUT 'THE TALLY STICK': Up on the highway, the only evidence that the Chamberlains had ever been there was two smeared tire tracks in the mud leading into an almost undamaged screen of bushes and trees. No other cars passed that way until after dawn. By that time the tracks had been washed away by the heavy rain. After being in New Zealand for only five days, the English Chamberlain family had vanished into thin air.
The date was 4 April 1978. In 2010, the remains of the eldest Chamberlain child are discovered in a remote part of the West Coast, showing he lived for four years after the family disappeared. Found alongside him are his father’s watch and what turns out to be a tally stick, a piece of scored wood marking items of debt. How had he survived and then died? Where is the rest of the family? And what is the meaning of the tally stick?
MY THOUGHTS: A tally stick (historical) is an ancient memory aid device used to record and document numbers or quantities. A piece of wood or bone is scored across with notches for the items of an account and then split in half, each party keeping one. An early IOU, if you will.
An intense and gripping read best gone into cold.
The opening chapter chilled me. Having driven through this area in a storm, I could understand just how easily this could happen. Even more easily when factoring into account this is an English family, unused to the narrow, winding and probably unsealed roads in this region and the severity of the West Coast weather.
The Chamberlain's had no concrete travel plans, no schedule, no-one expecting them, therefore no one to miss them and raise the alarm until John Chamberlain failed to turn up for work two weeks later.
Carl Dixon sets the scene convincingly. His writing is tense and atmospheric, his dialogue natural. It is a dark and emotional novel, at times decidedly distressing. But I was hooked. I could no more have put this book down than stop reading forever. The plight of the surviving children tore at my heart. I appreciate the way Dixon showcased the different ways the children had of coping with the situation they found themselves in.
I don't know why I have never heard of this New Zealand author previously and would like to thank Nic @Dragon Rambles for putting me onto him. I already have a hold placed on another of his books at the library.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
#TheTally Stick @WaitomoDistrictLibrary
MEET THE AUTHOR: CARL NIXON was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1967 where he still lives with his wife and two children. He is a playwright, a short story writer and a novelist. He has written original plays and has adapted Lloyd Jones’ novel The Book of Fame and JM Coetzee's Disgrace.
Nixon graduated with a Masters degree in Religious Studies from Canterbury University. He briefly taught secondary school English before leaving to teach in Japan for two years.
He has won numerous awards for his fiction, including winning and being nominated for key short story competitions.
When asked what genre he prefers writing in, he often says, "whatever one I'm not working on at the moment".
The only person awake was the driver, the children's father, John Chamberlain. His long, narrow face was visible in the dashboard light. He was staring forward at the headlights as they shone east over the seemingly endless forest, fat, diamond drops of rain slanting through the beams. His expression was, more than anything - even more than fearful - disbelieving. Both hands still grasped the wheel as if he remained in control. Perhaps he believed there might, even then, be a manoeuvre he could perform, a secret lever known only to a few he could search for, yank; something - anything - he could do that might save his family. Behind him, one of the children groaned and shifted in their sleep.
ABOUT 'THE TALLY STICK': Up on the highway, the only evidence that the Chamberlains had ever been there was two smeared tire tracks in the mud leading into an almost undamaged screen of bushes and trees. No other cars passed that way until after dawn. By that time the tracks had been washed away by the heavy rain. After being in New Zealand for only five days, the English Chamberlain family had vanished into thin air.
The date was 4 April 1978. In 2010, the remains of the eldest Chamberlain child are discovered in a remote part of the West Coast, showing he lived for four years after the family disappeared. Found alongside him are his father’s watch and what turns out to be a tally stick, a piece of scored wood marking items of debt. How had he survived and then died? Where is the rest of the family? And what is the meaning of the tally stick?
MY THOUGHTS: A tally stick (historical) is an ancient memory aid device used to record and document numbers or quantities. A piece of wood or bone is scored across with notches for the items of an account and then split in half, each party keeping one. An early IOU, if you will.
An intense and gripping read best gone into cold.
The opening chapter chilled me. Having driven through this area in a storm, I could understand just how easily this could happen. Even more easily when factoring into account this is an English family, unused to the narrow, winding and probably unsealed roads in this region and the severity of the West Coast weather.
The Chamberlain's had no concrete travel plans, no schedule, no-one expecting them, therefore no one to miss them and raise the alarm until John Chamberlain failed to turn up for work two weeks later.
Carl Dixon sets the scene convincingly. His writing is tense and atmospheric, his dialogue natural. It is a dark and emotional novel, at times decidedly distressing. But I was hooked. I could no more have put this book down than stop reading forever. The plight of the surviving children tore at my heart. I appreciate the way Dixon showcased the different ways the children had of coping with the situation they found themselves in.
I don't know why I have never heard of this New Zealand author previously and would like to thank Nic @Dragon Rambles for putting me onto him. I already have a hold placed on another of his books at the library.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
#TheTally Stick @WaitomoDistrictLibrary
MEET THE AUTHOR: CARL NIXON was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1967 where he still lives with his wife and two children. He is a playwright, a short story writer and a novelist. He has written original plays and has adapted Lloyd Jones’ novel The Book of Fame and JM Coetzee's Disgrace.
Nixon graduated with a Masters degree in Religious Studies from Canterbury University. He briefly taught secondary school English before leaving to teach in Japan for two years.
He has won numerous awards for his fiction, including winning and being nominated for key short story competitions.
When asked what genre he prefers writing in, he often says, "whatever one I'm not working on at the moment".
July 26, 2021
Thanks to NetGalley and World Editions for The Tally Stick ARC in return for an honest review. This was an intense literary novel. The author, Carl Nixon, grabs the reader emotionally from the first page with feelings of apprehension and dread. The writing is descriptive and chilling with an ominous, foreboding atmosphere. This sad, powerful story conveys the damp forests and cliffs along the west coast of New Zealand, the mud, rain, cliffs, cold rivers, little sunshine, and less hope. I admire the author's skill in establishing a mood of unease and despair, but reading this was an uncomfortable experience. The characters were well-developed and memorable.
It is a story of trauma, endurance, child abuse and neglect, denial, the killing of animals, harsh punishments, and lack of essential medical care. It centers around the plight of three children, two boys and a girl, who survived with injuries after their parents and baby sister were killed in a terrible car accident in 1978. The car went over a cliff and into a river in an isolated wooded area. The family had only arrived in New Zealand five days earlier, and the father was to be employed in Wellington. They were on an automobile tour of their new country. The fate of the family was unknown.
An aunt came to New Zealand several times over the years trying to find out the family's fate and whether any of the children survived. About 30 years later, the older boy's body was discovered, and forensic evidence showed that he had survived for four years after the crash. Where had he been, and what was the fate of his brother and sister? What was the meaning of the tally stick found with his body?
We learn that the two boys and the girl were found and taken in by a sleazy couple who treated them as captives and servants. They lived off-the-grid in a remote area. What was their life like?
There was little joy or resolution here, just an overwhelming feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. New Zealand is one of the most scenic, beautiful countries on earth, and I wish some of that had been mentioned for contrast.
It is a story of trauma, endurance, child abuse and neglect, denial, the killing of animals, harsh punishments, and lack of essential medical care. It centers around the plight of three children, two boys and a girl, who survived with injuries after their parents and baby sister were killed in a terrible car accident in 1978. The car went over a cliff and into a river in an isolated wooded area. The family had only arrived in New Zealand five days earlier, and the father was to be employed in Wellington. They were on an automobile tour of their new country. The fate of the family was unknown.
An aunt came to New Zealand several times over the years trying to find out the family's fate and whether any of the children survived. About 30 years later, the older boy's body was discovered, and forensic evidence showed that he had survived for four years after the crash. Where had he been, and what was the fate of his brother and sister? What was the meaning of the tally stick found with his body?
We learn that the two boys and the girl were found and taken in by a sleazy couple who treated them as captives and servants. They lived off-the-grid in a remote area. What was their life like?
There was little joy or resolution here, just an overwhelming feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. New Zealand is one of the most scenic, beautiful countries on earth, and I wish some of that had been mentioned for contrast.
April 20, 2022
Well, that was an enjoyable surprise!
The Chamberlain family - mom, dad and four children - are newly arrived in New Zealand from England where Dad is to start a new job. They decide to take a road trip and do some exploring before he starts his new job. On April 4, 1978 the family vanishes and "The Tally Stick" documents the ensuing story.
In order not to give anything more away, I'm going to be very brief. This story was intense, a bit dark and disturbing as well as very sad at times. Readers should be aware of many triggers including animal cruelty and child abuse. I realize this doesn't exactly sound like a glowing recommendation but I was very caught up in the story and liked it a great deal. With less than 300 pages and the fact that you just need to keep flipping those pages, it's a fairly quick read and I regret not getting to it sooner so that I could talk it up before publication. Just goes to show you can never tell!
I'll be keeping an eye out for anything this author writes in the future and will also be searching out some of his previous writing.
My thanks, as well as my apologies for missing the release date, to World Editions via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
The Chamberlain family - mom, dad and four children - are newly arrived in New Zealand from England where Dad is to start a new job. They decide to take a road trip and do some exploring before he starts his new job. On April 4, 1978 the family vanishes and "The Tally Stick" documents the ensuing story.
In order not to give anything more away, I'm going to be very brief. This story was intense, a bit dark and disturbing as well as very sad at times. Readers should be aware of many triggers including animal cruelty and child abuse. I realize this doesn't exactly sound like a glowing recommendation but I was very caught up in the story and liked it a great deal. With less than 300 pages and the fact that you just need to keep flipping those pages, it's a fairly quick read and I regret not getting to it sooner so that I could talk it up before publication. Just goes to show you can never tell!
I'll be keeping an eye out for anything this author writes in the future and will also be searching out some of his previous writing.
My thanks, as well as my apologies for missing the release date, to World Editions via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
July 3, 2021
I don’t want to give any content away, because there’s a wondrous supply of discovery for the reader, so I will say very little about that in my review. There are two time periods that alternate throughout the book—1978 and 2010. There are other years, too, but that’s sufficient to point to which decades. The first scene is the most riveting opener a novel can achieve. You, as reader, will care about these characters, this family of young husband and wife (posh) and their 4 young children (one is a baby) from London who moved to New Zealand for the man’s job. Even before you know them, you will feel every significant emotion for them in just a page or two. You will be hooked immediately in this strange, tilted, non-formulaic thriller/domestic drama.
I could just end here and urge you to absolutely read it. If you have to go to work in the middle of the book, I feel for you, friend. You may call in sick. It’s not that it is fast-paced; it’s well-paced, and it lingers on characters long enough for them to get under your skin or in your heart or both. The language is economic, with room for some provocative visuals and tense atmosphere. Nixon knows how to bide his time over a scene or tiptoe past us. He has tight control over his narrative; the story is fit, hale, and hearty. At times it is like a fable, other times a cinematic thriller, but constantly captivating. Here’s what Nixon has to say about memories, through a character:
“…people…were like cameras recording reality from slightly different angles. Now she knew that memories weren’t reliable. They were shaped and folded out of assumption and supposition, put together piece by piece from what people expected to see and what they wanted to see… Memory and the hard facts about the past, seldom had much to do with each other.”
This is a slow burn and breathtaking, and a breathable beast of a book! Unputdownable!
Thank you to World Editions for sending me an ARC to review.
I could just end here and urge you to absolutely read it. If you have to go to work in the middle of the book, I feel for you, friend. You may call in sick. It’s not that it is fast-paced; it’s well-paced, and it lingers on characters long enough for them to get under your skin or in your heart or both. The language is economic, with room for some provocative visuals and tense atmosphere. Nixon knows how to bide his time over a scene or tiptoe past us. He has tight control over his narrative; the story is fit, hale, and hearty. At times it is like a fable, other times a cinematic thriller, but constantly captivating. Here’s what Nixon has to say about memories, through a character:
“…people…were like cameras recording reality from slightly different angles. Now she knew that memories weren’t reliable. They were shaped and folded out of assumption and supposition, put together piece by piece from what people expected to see and what they wanted to see… Memory and the hard facts about the past, seldom had much to do with each other.”
This is a slow burn and breathtaking, and a breathable beast of a book! Unputdownable!
Thank you to World Editions for sending me an ARC to review.
October 21, 2020
3.5 rounded up to 4.
Tally Stick: A stick of wood where each cut indicates the amount of a debt or payment. A sort of IOU.
South Island, New Zealand, 4th April 1978. On a remote stretch of road in treacherous weather, a sedan carrying the Chamberlain family – John, Julia, and their four children: Maurice, Katherine, Tommy, Emma – skids over a cliff, landing in the rushing river below. The heavy rain quickly washes away the only evidence of the crash – tyre tracks in the mud. Having only recently emigrated to NZ, it takes nearly three weeks for them to be missed. It isn't until Julia's sister Suzanne Barnett, back in the UK, receives a call that John has failed to show up to his new job, that she contacts the authorities. An investigation is launched, but no trace of the six Chambelains is ever found.
Cut to 14th November, 2010. Suzanne receives news that the remains of her eldest nephew, Maurice have been found on NZ's West Coast, close to the shore of the Tasman Sea, at the bottom of a cliff. But there are no roads nearby so that's not where the accident occurred. Police believe Maurice was likely walking along the clifftop when he fell, likely in search of rescue. However, things take an eerie turn when the coroner's report shows that Maurice was eighteen years old when he died, four years older than the day of the car crash. How did he survive? Where was he between 1978 and 1982? What happened to the rest of his family? And what is the meaning of the tally stick, found next to his body?
I agonised over how to rate The Tally Stick as this was definitely a case of ‘It's me, not the book' that was the problem, and I'm loath to put people off as the novel doesn't deserve it. I went in fully expecting the content to be dark and emotive, but it was just too distressing and triggering for my taste. It’s a shame because the writing was beautiful, evocative, and heartfelt. Here is the opening line:
‘The car containing the four sleeping children left the earth.’
See what I mean? This sentence, as well as the book synopsis, immediately made me sit up and take notice, and hooked me into the story. Props to the author, because I’m convinced the reason I was so upset was because I was so emotionally invested in the characters and what they were going through. I must stress that none of the violence and sadness was gratuitous, it was all essential to the story, and it was tastefully worded and non-graphic – it was me that couldn't handle it. There was never any doubt that I was going to cease reading though, or put the book aside, I was compelled to find out where it was going and how it ended. And there were definitely some surprising and clever twists.
At only 286 pages, it was a quick read, and the story and wording were easy to follow. I would categorise it as mystery, suspense, drama, contemporary and tragedy. There are criminal acts, but no investigation or police procedural plotline, so not a crime novel.
Prepare to be introduced to some Maori terminology and New Zealand slang, but don't worry, every unfamiliar word is explained. If you can handle the content The Talky Stick is definitely worth your time and money. Trigger warnings here, but be aware there are major spoilers.
Tally Stick: A stick of wood where each cut indicates the amount of a debt or payment. A sort of IOU.
South Island, New Zealand, 4th April 1978. On a remote stretch of road in treacherous weather, a sedan carrying the Chamberlain family – John, Julia, and their four children: Maurice, Katherine, Tommy, Emma – skids over a cliff, landing in the rushing river below. The heavy rain quickly washes away the only evidence of the crash – tyre tracks in the mud. Having only recently emigrated to NZ, it takes nearly three weeks for them to be missed. It isn't until Julia's sister Suzanne Barnett, back in the UK, receives a call that John has failed to show up to his new job, that she contacts the authorities. An investigation is launched, but no trace of the six Chambelains is ever found.
Cut to 14th November, 2010. Suzanne receives news that the remains of her eldest nephew, Maurice have been found on NZ's West Coast, close to the shore of the Tasman Sea, at the bottom of a cliff. But there are no roads nearby so that's not where the accident occurred. Police believe Maurice was likely walking along the clifftop when he fell, likely in search of rescue. However, things take an eerie turn when the coroner's report shows that Maurice was eighteen years old when he died, four years older than the day of the car crash. How did he survive? Where was he between 1978 and 1982? What happened to the rest of his family? And what is the meaning of the tally stick, found next to his body?
I agonised over how to rate The Tally Stick as this was definitely a case of ‘It's me, not the book' that was the problem, and I'm loath to put people off as the novel doesn't deserve it. I went in fully expecting the content to be dark and emotive, but it was just too distressing and triggering for my taste. It’s a shame because the writing was beautiful, evocative, and heartfelt. Here is the opening line:
‘The car containing the four sleeping children left the earth.’
See what I mean? This sentence, as well as the book synopsis, immediately made me sit up and take notice, and hooked me into the story. Props to the author, because I’m convinced the reason I was so upset was because I was so emotionally invested in the characters and what they were going through. I must stress that none of the violence and sadness was gratuitous, it was all essential to the story, and it was tastefully worded and non-graphic – it was me that couldn't handle it. There was never any doubt that I was going to cease reading though, or put the book aside, I was compelled to find out where it was going and how it ended. And there were definitely some surprising and clever twists.
At only 286 pages, it was a quick read, and the story and wording were easy to follow. I would categorise it as mystery, suspense, drama, contemporary and tragedy. There are criminal acts, but no investigation or police procedural plotline, so not a crime novel.
Prepare to be introduced to some Maori terminology and New Zealand slang, but don't worry, every unfamiliar word is explained. If you can handle the content The Talky Stick is definitely worth your time and money. Trigger warnings here, but be aware there are major spoilers.
December 27, 2021
This book had in interesting premise but I feel as if some opportunities were missed to make more of an impact.
The Chamberlain family moved to New Zealand from London in 1978. The father, John had gotten a job with an oil company and the family was spending a couple of weeks exploring New Zealand before settling down. Not used to the narrow roads, John loses control on a corner in a remote coastal area and the car plunges down a cliff, into a river. John and wife Julia along with baby Emma die in the crash but the three older children - Maurice, Katherine and Tommy survive with varying degrees of injury.
Three days later, when they despair of ever being found, a man called only Peters comes across them and takes them to a remote clearing with a ramshackle house. It is the home of a none too young woman called Martha. She takes the children in, Peters lives a bit further away. Their joy at being rescued is short lived as they realise they are virtual prisoners and little more than slaves.
Of course the family was missed. Julia’s sister visited New Zealand many times to search for clues. But nothing was ever found….until 32 years later Maurice’s bones are found. But the strange thing is, they showed that he had lived for around another 4 years after the family disappeared. Where had he been? And what of the other children - Katherine and Tommy? Might they still be alive?
The books recounts their lives with Peters and Martha. It certainly wasn’t a gentle life but neither was it overly cruel, apart from not informing the authorities about the children being alive! The book ended somewhat abruptly and seemed quite short. When it ended I thought - is that it? It seemed ambiguous and a little unfinished to me. I also thought it was rather sparse and could have been infused with a bit more drama. Many thanks to Netgalley and World Editions for the much appreciated arc which I reviewed voluntarily and honestly.
The Chamberlain family moved to New Zealand from London in 1978. The father, John had gotten a job with an oil company and the family was spending a couple of weeks exploring New Zealand before settling down. Not used to the narrow roads, John loses control on a corner in a remote coastal area and the car plunges down a cliff, into a river. John and wife Julia along with baby Emma die in the crash but the three older children - Maurice, Katherine and Tommy survive with varying degrees of injury.
Three days later, when they despair of ever being found, a man called only Peters comes across them and takes them to a remote clearing with a ramshackle house. It is the home of a none too young woman called Martha. She takes the children in, Peters lives a bit further away. Their joy at being rescued is short lived as they realise they are virtual prisoners and little more than slaves.
Of course the family was missed. Julia’s sister visited New Zealand many times to search for clues. But nothing was ever found….until 32 years later Maurice’s bones are found. But the strange thing is, they showed that he had lived for around another 4 years after the family disappeared. Where had he been? And what of the other children - Katherine and Tommy? Might they still be alive?
The books recounts their lives with Peters and Martha. It certainly wasn’t a gentle life but neither was it overly cruel, apart from not informing the authorities about the children being alive! The book ended somewhat abruptly and seemed quite short. When it ended I thought - is that it? It seemed ambiguous and a little unfinished to me. I also thought it was rather sparse and could have been infused with a bit more drama. Many thanks to Netgalley and World Editions for the much appreciated arc which I reviewed voluntarily and honestly.
September 27, 2020
Beware, this review is full of spoilers.
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
I didn't like this book. Partly because of the book itself and partly because the marketing made it out to be something it wasn't.
The blurb suggests this will be an interesting cold case style mystery where, many years after a family disappears, bones are found and what happened to them is discovered, possibly with flashbacks to the events themselves.
Instead, it's a hodge-podge of short chapters that jump all over time without there being a clear reason why this much jumping about is necessary. I don't need a book to be totally linear, but this went beyond a clever way of telling the story to feeling it was being clever so the author could show off.
There is no passion in this book. Everything is told with a very even keel that I found unengaging, even as it talks about physical child abuse, sex with a drunk minor up against a tree, personality destroying traumatic brain injury, death of child, death of a baby, a fourteen year old watching eels eat his dead father, and I'm sure a lot else I can't remember right now.
But there's no change to how the story is told for any of it. "Poor Tommy" it says about the boy with the TBI and even tries a couple of short chapters from his point of view, but it's just words on a page. Same about being drunk for the first time (and then raped by a person who is never identified on the page that I could see), or getting beaten up, or any of the things already mentioned. People throw up and cry a lot, but there's no emotion behind it. Everything is essentially a vignette of a moment (in very scrambled chronological order) so there's not time to care.
And I felt the time jumps messed up the flow of the story so that there was no kind of real conclusion, satisfactory or not (totally not satisfactory). So specific spoilers from here...
The English Chamberlain family goes missing after running off the road in a storm on New Zealand's rugged West Coast in 1978. Three of the four children survive - we know that because after the opening chapter of the storm and crash, because we immediately keep on going to what happens in the next moment, so no suspense there.
Then we cut to 2010, when the oldest boy's bones have been found, along with a tally stick, and show he lived another three or four years after the crash. But still no suspense on that front because the story goes right on telling us what happened to the children back in 1978 (with jumps around that date up to about 1983/4). They were taken by a pretty feral pot grower and his herbalist neighbour, used as free labour, abused and told they are miles from a town with no roads from here to there (totally a lie - I mean, where do the supplies come from and how does he sell his pot?), so you'll just have to stay. Oh, and you also have to work off your food and keep by doing more slave labour and here's a tally stick to show how much you owe.
Meanwhile, the children's aunt keeps coming from England over the next four years to look for the wreck of the car at the very least, while her marriage breaks up.
Back in 2010, all the happens is that they have a funeral and bury the bones. Because you see - ha, ha, clever twist coming - back in 1983 the aunt actually found the farm where her niece was living (TBI brother had died by now, older brother had run away and fallen off a cliff so they could find his bones later), but because she didn't take the time to go and talk the the girl who was mildly similar to her niece, but had a baby, she left again, decided the family must be dead and went back to England until she got the call about the bones.
So really, what was the point of it all?
It's soulless, it has no proper structure (because you can do time jumps all you like, but there still needs to be a satisfying reading progression for the reader) and no conclusion. In fact, the final chapter is the older brother falling off the cliff to his death, but the conclusion was several chapters ago with the aunt (failing at) finding the niece. Wow, that was fun.
Oh yeah, and the tally stick? Really, it was a big nothing. The rapist/father of the baby? Never explained. Why Kate went to Hokitika? Never explained. Why she went back? Never explained.
I really didn't like this book. I skimmed the second half because I wanted to see if he pulled all the mess into some kind of coherent structure, but he didn't. Other people like this book, but I really, really didn't.
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
I didn't like this book. Partly because of the book itself and partly because the marketing made it out to be something it wasn't.
The blurb suggests this will be an interesting cold case style mystery where, many years after a family disappears, bones are found and what happened to them is discovered, possibly with flashbacks to the events themselves.
Instead, it's a hodge-podge of short chapters that jump all over time without there being a clear reason why this much jumping about is necessary. I don't need a book to be totally linear, but this went beyond a clever way of telling the story to feeling it was being clever so the author could show off.
There is no passion in this book. Everything is told with a very even keel that I found unengaging, even as it talks about physical child abuse, sex with a drunk minor up against a tree, personality destroying traumatic brain injury, death of child, death of a baby, a fourteen year old watching eels eat his dead father, and I'm sure a lot else I can't remember right now.
But there's no change to how the story is told for any of it. "Poor Tommy" it says about the boy with the TBI and even tries a couple of short chapters from his point of view, but it's just words on a page. Same about being drunk for the first time (and then raped by a person who is never identified on the page that I could see), or getting beaten up, or any of the things already mentioned. People throw up and cry a lot, but there's no emotion behind it. Everything is essentially a vignette of a moment (in very scrambled chronological order) so there's not time to care.
And I felt the time jumps messed up the flow of the story so that there was no kind of real conclusion, satisfactory or not (totally not satisfactory). So specific spoilers from here...
The English Chamberlain family goes missing after running off the road in a storm on New Zealand's rugged West Coast in 1978. Three of the four children survive - we know that because after the opening chapter of the storm and crash, because we immediately keep on going to what happens in the next moment, so no suspense there.
Then we cut to 2010, when the oldest boy's bones have been found, along with a tally stick, and show he lived another three or four years after the crash. But still no suspense on that front because the story goes right on telling us what happened to the children back in 1978 (with jumps around that date up to about 1983/4). They were taken by a pretty feral pot grower and his herbalist neighbour, used as free labour, abused and told they are miles from a town with no roads from here to there (totally a lie - I mean, where do the supplies come from and how does he sell his pot?), so you'll just have to stay. Oh, and you also have to work off your food and keep by doing more slave labour and here's a tally stick to show how much you owe.
Meanwhile, the children's aunt keeps coming from England over the next four years to look for the wreck of the car at the very least, while her marriage breaks up.
Back in 2010, all the happens is that they have a funeral and bury the bones. Because you see - ha, ha, clever twist coming - back in 1983 the aunt actually found the farm where her niece was living (TBI brother had died by now, older brother had run away and fallen off a cliff so they could find his bones later), but because she didn't take the time to go and talk the the girl who was mildly similar to her niece, but had a baby, she left again, decided the family must be dead and went back to England until she got the call about the bones.
So really, what was the point of it all?
It's soulless, it has no proper structure (because you can do time jumps all you like, but there still needs to be a satisfying reading progression for the reader) and no conclusion. In fact, the final chapter is the older brother falling off the cliff to his death, but the conclusion was several chapters ago with the aunt (failing at) finding the niece. Wow, that was fun.
Oh yeah, and the tally stick? Really, it was a big nothing. The rapist/father of the baby? Never explained. Why Kate went to Hokitika? Never explained. Why she went back? Never explained.
I really didn't like this book. I skimmed the second half because I wanted to see if he pulled all the mess into some kind of coherent structure, but he didn't. Other people like this book, but I really, really didn't.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 27, 2021
After spending three weeks in New Zealand right before COVID hit, as soon as I heard that Tally Stick was set in that country, I was all in.
Thing is, I didn’t know what I was in FOR. As it turns out, I was in for an ominous, atmosphere-rich, page-turning roller-coaster of a ride. Put starkly, I could not put this book down. It grabs you by the throat and it doesn’t let go.
Picture this: in the opening scene, three English children sleep peacefully in the back seat of a rental car in the West Coast countryside of New Zealand, which, unknown to them, is careening out of control. They survive—but it is then that their nightmare begins.
Interspersed with this narrative are scenes from back in England, where their aunt – their mother’s sister – discovers that the middle child, Maurice, was found dead four years after the accident occurred. She makes it her mission to find out what happened. Are Katherine (the oldest) and Tommy (the youngest) still alive?
I will say no more, What happens to them is a suspense-filled journey that reveals not just outward but inward transformations. Each of the children adjust in different ways. Each will be unrecognizably changed.
The title of this novel refers to the debts and obligations we owe each other. In a real sense, this is where the book bults its power. What do we owe the living, the dead, those who care for us, and those who shelter us but still may harm us? What do we owe ourselves? What is the nature of the many relationships we navigate? When is it okay to give up?
Loved this book. Thanks to World Editions for the privilege of being an advance reader in exchange for an honest review. They have a winner on their hands!
Thing is, I didn’t know what I was in FOR. As it turns out, I was in for an ominous, atmosphere-rich, page-turning roller-coaster of a ride. Put starkly, I could not put this book down. It grabs you by the throat and it doesn’t let go.
Picture this: in the opening scene, three English children sleep peacefully in the back seat of a rental car in the West Coast countryside of New Zealand, which, unknown to them, is careening out of control. They survive—but it is then that their nightmare begins.
Interspersed with this narrative are scenes from back in England, where their aunt – their mother’s sister – discovers that the middle child, Maurice, was found dead four years after the accident occurred. She makes it her mission to find out what happened. Are Katherine (the oldest) and Tommy (the youngest) still alive?
I will say no more, What happens to them is a suspense-filled journey that reveals not just outward but inward transformations. Each of the children adjust in different ways. Each will be unrecognizably changed.
The title of this novel refers to the debts and obligations we owe each other. In a real sense, this is where the book bults its power. What do we owe the living, the dead, those who care for us, and those who shelter us but still may harm us? What do we owe ourselves? What is the nature of the many relationships we navigate? When is it okay to give up?
Loved this book. Thanks to World Editions for the privilege of being an advance reader in exchange for an honest review. They have a winner on their hands!
January 18, 2022
Kiwi author Carl Nixon’s latest book, The Tally Stick is promoted as a mystery thriller. The Chamberlains, an English family, vanishes in New Zealand in 1978, their tyre tracks washed away, leaving little evidence. When a child’s remains are discovered in 2010 on the rugged West Coast, the mystery deepens. How could the Chamberlain’s eldest son have lived for four years after disappearing and what is the significance of the tally stick? At its heart, this is a story of survival, moving across various time periods that aren’t in chronological order. An engaging tale with warm resilient characters, making it literature fiction with a four-star rating and a tribute to New Zealand with its west coast setting, immigrant settlers and Maori cultural references. With thanks to World Editions and the author, for an uncorrected advanced copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given, without obligation.
October 5, 2020
I so enjoyed this book which I won in a Facebook competition. It ticked lots of boxes for me. Great kick off, I was hooked from the start, read the entire first half of the book on a flight to Wellington In the 1970s a family are on holiday on the west coast of New Zealand, it is pouring with rain, their car slides off the road killing the parents but all three of the children survive. It is rough, they are hungry, grief-struck and cold. Then rescue comes, but it comes with strings.
This book is just so good, it made me lose a whole afternoon to get it finished. I tried to eek it out. Carl Nixon knows how to hook a reader in and hold them tight. The book exudes the feel of the wild coast and is completely believable. Only one tiny glitch but who cares, it got me and I got it and I'm so pleased I won it.
This book is just so good, it made me lose a whole afternoon to get it finished. I tried to eek it out. Carl Nixon knows how to hook a reader in and hold them tight. The book exudes the feel of the wild coast and is completely believable. Only one tiny glitch but who cares, it got me and I got it and I'm so pleased I won it.
November 17, 2021
Wow, the intro alone would be enough to give this book 5 stars! And what a rollercoaster ride it turned out to be. Indepth characters set in a stunning well described landscape, filled to the brim with sounds and smells. The Tally Stick is an eerie, heartwrenching story with an unexpected ending. I'm blown away!
Thank you Netgalley and World Editions for the ARC.
Thank you Netgalley and World Editions for the ARC.
July 25, 2021
It begins with a bang, literally. It's 1978 and you're in the car on an uncharted New Zealand adventure that goes horribly awry when the Dad at the wheel misjudges, and the family of 6 is forever changed. This is no spoiler since it takes place within the opening pages. How the survivors manage forms the basis of this truly original novel that is not really a mystery, but an examination of survival, love and debt. In fact, the title references the obligation. Back in London in 2010, the mother's sister had never really given up hope that there was a chance there were survivors, and her trips back to the rough unsettled South Island where the final sighting of the doomed family occurred, cost her dearly. There is so much more to this book than I am willing to share, since Carl Nixon did such a wonderful job of setting up and spooling out the proceedings. This is the first of his books I've read, but definitely not the last.
June 15, 2021
Ready for a novel that GRABS you in the first sentence and never lets go? Then “Tally Stick” by Carl Nixon is the novel for you! It starts in 1978 with the Chamberlain family in a horrendous car crash in remote New Zealand, and what follows is a mystery that had me obsessively turning the pages to try to figure out WHAT happened to the Chamberlain children 30 years ago!
I don’t want to give ANY spoilers because the well-paced reveal of what happened was masterful and built both suspense and dread wonderfully!
This wonderfully atmospheric novel - beautiful and poignant - had me squarely in its grip until the bittersweet and satisfying end. It will be on my Top Ten list this year for sure.
I don’t want to give ANY spoilers because the well-paced reveal of what happened was masterful and built both suspense and dread wonderfully!
This wonderfully atmospheric novel - beautiful and poignant - had me squarely in its grip until the bittersweet and satisfying end. It will be on my Top Ten list this year for sure.
February 8, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
𝙇𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨: 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙟𝙪𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙡, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮
🧸 The first chapter of this book immediately drew me into the story. It started out super promising and I’m so glad it continued that way throughout the whole book. This was a super quick read as the chapters are fairly short and the story immediately pulls you in. I went into this book nothing little and I’m so glad I did. I was not expecting it to take the route it did - but HOLY CRAP this book was so good.
🪵 This story took a dark side that had me shocked. The ending also left me asking questions and speechless. This is one of those books I can’t talk much about without giving any spoilers away. Therefore my review will be very vague and lack detail. I do highly recommend this book though - there are some trigger warnings that would be considered spoilers though. I loved that the story took me somewhere I’ve never read about - New Zealand - and it perfectly demonstrated the beautiful country with the imagery.
🧸 The Tally Stick is out now and I can’t recommend it enough. I can already tell this will be one of those underhyped books not many people talk about - but seriously go read it (as long as you’re okay with the TWs - there’s a bunch so message me if you want them). This novel was so beautifully written and was full of mystery. I love a good intriguing story and this was one of those - super atmospheric as well! Highly recommend this book!
June 20, 2021
New Zealand is my dream destination. I’ll go there any way I can, which in reality translates to being transported literally, so that was my main attractor with this book. The Chamberlain family though gets to visit NZ in real life, it’s 1978 and they relocate there for the most typical of reasons, a job. Just grabbed their four kids and went. And then, driving in a storm along the West Coast’s rough terrain, went off the road. The rain washed away their tracks and for all intents and purposes the family vanished off the face of the earth.
With only one relative determined to look for them and even then only sporadically, logistics and finances being what they are, the Chamberlains would have stayed gone and forgotten but for the recently unearthed remains of their eldest child. Remains that show the boy has lived for several years past 1978. It’s a mystery, especially to the kids’ aunt who has failed to find them all those years ago, but there’ nothing to be done about it now, all these years later when she gets the news.
Back in the day especially the land held its secrets close and the dense vegetation hid much like camouflage. If someone wanted to disappear or someone wanted someone to disappear, West Coast of New Zealand was as good of a place as any and in many respects superior to most to do so. It’s frightening really, like a nightmarish coin flip off the idyll of the off grid living. And it’s frightening to contemplate just how easily one’s life can go off track…about as easily as the car can go off the road.
That’s as much as I can say without giving away too much of the plot. So read for yourself to find out the meaning of the tally stick and the fates of the vanished Chamberlains. It’s a good story well told, with excellent characterizations and vivid descriptions, heavy and emotionally charged and also good for an armchair trip to a far away place, albeit the darker side of it. A quick engaging read and a good introduction to a new to me author. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
With only one relative determined to look for them and even then only sporadically, logistics and finances being what they are, the Chamberlains would have stayed gone and forgotten but for the recently unearthed remains of their eldest child. Remains that show the boy has lived for several years past 1978. It’s a mystery, especially to the kids’ aunt who has failed to find them all those years ago, but there’ nothing to be done about it now, all these years later when she gets the news.
Back in the day especially the land held its secrets close and the dense vegetation hid much like camouflage. If someone wanted to disappear or someone wanted someone to disappear, West Coast of New Zealand was as good of a place as any and in many respects superior to most to do so. It’s frightening really, like a nightmarish coin flip off the idyll of the off grid living. And it’s frightening to contemplate just how easily one’s life can go off track…about as easily as the car can go off the road.
That’s as much as I can say without giving away too much of the plot. So read for yourself to find out the meaning of the tally stick and the fates of the vanished Chamberlains. It’s a good story well told, with excellent characterizations and vivid descriptions, heavy and emotionally charged and also good for an armchair trip to a far away place, albeit the darker side of it. A quick engaging read and a good introduction to a new to me author. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
July 28, 2021
I just finished reading The Tally Stick and feel like I was granted Dorothy's red slippers. When I clicked my heels together I found myself in another land. The story takes place in New Zealand but it's not the New Zealand I know. Here, in the northwestern region, is a mysterious and gothic place, the land covered with roots, trees, ivy - some dead and some alive - making it an almost impassable rain forest.
As the novel opens, it is raining torrentially as a father tries to find his way on a road he cannot see. His wife is sleeping beside him and his three children are peacefully asleep in the back of the car. As the car veers off a cliff and lands in pieces in a river, it is still raining. What was supposed to be a holiday for the family has turned into a tragedy in a very remote and unwelcoming place.
Because no one sees the crash and no one reports it, the family is listed as missing. Back in London, where the family is from, the children's aunt Helen keeps on looking. A few years after the crash, Helen is told that Maurice, one of the children, actually survived for four years after he was considered dead. Someone found bones in the wilderness and DNA has identified them as belonging to Maurice at 16 years old. He was 12 at the time of the crash. With the bones are his father's watch and a tally stick, 'a piece of wood with notches on it to keep tabs of something'. What happened during those four years? Helen visits New Zealand several times looking for her niece and nephews, keeping track of each unnamed turn, road, river and valley she checks.
This is a book that asks questions that had me thinking deeply. What does it mean to be lost and how important is it to be found? What makes family and who defines it? Is loyalty a blood right or must it be earned?
There is so much more I'd like to say about this wonderful novel but I encourage you to find out on your own. It is beautifully written, atmospheric and a must-read.
As the novel opens, it is raining torrentially as a father tries to find his way on a road he cannot see. His wife is sleeping beside him and his three children are peacefully asleep in the back of the car. As the car veers off a cliff and lands in pieces in a river, it is still raining. What was supposed to be a holiday for the family has turned into a tragedy in a very remote and unwelcoming place.
Because no one sees the crash and no one reports it, the family is listed as missing. Back in London, where the family is from, the children's aunt Helen keeps on looking. A few years after the crash, Helen is told that Maurice, one of the children, actually survived for four years after he was considered dead. Someone found bones in the wilderness and DNA has identified them as belonging to Maurice at 16 years old. He was 12 at the time of the crash. With the bones are his father's watch and a tally stick, 'a piece of wood with notches on it to keep tabs of something'. What happened during those four years? Helen visits New Zealand several times looking for her niece and nephews, keeping track of each unnamed turn, road, river and valley she checks.
This is a book that asks questions that had me thinking deeply. What does it mean to be lost and how important is it to be found? What makes family and who defines it? Is loyalty a blood right or must it be earned?
There is so much more I'd like to say about this wonderful novel but I encourage you to find out on your own. It is beautifully written, atmospheric and a must-read.
July 12, 2021
This was a good book, but I wouldn't categorize it as a mystery- it was more of a survival or even coming-of-age story. It centers on 3 of the 4 kids from the Chamberlain family who survive a car accident in a remote part of New Zealand in the late 1970s. There are also chapters told from the POV of their aunt Suzanne, who never gave up hope after the family disappeared.
The thing that stood out most to me throughout the book were the detailed descriptions of what was going around around them, which transported me there and helped me to feel what they were feeling. The author also did a great job of demonstrating the various lengths that different people will go to in order to survive. That being said, it also left me with some unanswered questions, and I walked away from the story feeling that not a lot actually happened, though it was engaging the whole way through. The ultimate fate of some of the characters was just plain sad and will definitely stick with me.
Overall, it was an interesting book and a bit of a divergence from what I normally read, but I'm glad I picked it up. If you are looking for a creepy read (as I thought the synopsis alluded to) this isn't it, but it's a good read nonetheless. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The thing that stood out most to me throughout the book were the detailed descriptions of what was going around around them, which transported me there and helped me to feel what they were feeling. The author also did a great job of demonstrating the various lengths that different people will go to in order to survive. That being said, it also left me with some unanswered questions, and I walked away from the story feeling that not a lot actually happened, though it was engaging the whole way through. The ultimate fate of some of the characters was just plain sad and will definitely stick with me.
Overall, it was an interesting book and a bit of a divergence from what I normally read, but I'm glad I picked it up. If you are looking for a creepy read (as I thought the synopsis alluded to) this isn't it, but it's a good read nonetheless. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
November 4, 2021
They knew they shouldn’t be driving in the pouring rain on a road they were not familiar with.
The Chamberlain family had just arrived in New Zealand for John’s new job, but before he started the job, they were going to have a vacation in their new country.
The vacation didn’t last very long when the car went off the road, down a steep hill, and landed in a raging river.
Three children did survive, but not very well. One had a broken leg and another had head trauma which caused brain damage and no one to take care of them except Katherine.
Well…someone who was an unsavory character did find them and took them to his farm.
He was cruel to the children, and they had to work very hard every day.
THE TALLY STICK is very well written and emotional, but it is also a disturbing, depressing read because of the way the children were treated.
The treatment was on the side of abuse emotionally and physically.
Despite the dark story line, you won’t be able to put the book down because you want to find out how the children make out.
You will feel their pain as they move through each day that they dread waking up to with their captors treating them like prisoners. 4/5
This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The Chamberlain family had just arrived in New Zealand for John’s new job, but before he started the job, they were going to have a vacation in their new country.
The vacation didn’t last very long when the car went off the road, down a steep hill, and landed in a raging river.
Three children did survive, but not very well. One had a broken leg and another had head trauma which caused brain damage and no one to take care of them except Katherine.
Well…someone who was an unsavory character did find them and took them to his farm.
He was cruel to the children, and they had to work very hard every day.
THE TALLY STICK is very well written and emotional, but it is also a disturbing, depressing read because of the way the children were treated.
The treatment was on the side of abuse emotionally and physically.
Despite the dark story line, you won’t be able to put the book down because you want to find out how the children make out.
You will feel their pain as they move through each day that they dread waking up to with their captors treating them like prisoners. 4/5
This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
May 29, 2023
John Chamberlain hatte 1978 seine Frau Julia überredet, gemeinsam mit ihren Kindern nach Neuseeland zu gehen. Nach diesem kurzen Schritt auf der Karriereleiter hätte er bessere Aussichten nach New York oder Paris versetzt zu werden. Bevor Vater Chamberlain seine Stelle antritt, wollen sie ohne exakte Pläne das Land erkunden und werden daher von niemandem erwartet. Als im strömenden Regen ihr PKW von der Fahrbahn abkommt und in einen Fluss stürzt, überleben die Eltern und das Baby nicht, die älteren Kinder zwischen 7 und 14 Jahren können sich schwer verletzt ans Ufer retten. Die Reifenspur von der Fahrbahn in dichtes Gestrüpp wird vom Regen fortgespült. Nach drei Tagen ohne Nahrung und dem vergeblichen Versuch der 12-jährigen Katherine, einen Zugang zur Straße zu finden, taucht ein hippiehafter Mann am Fluss auf, der die Kinder mitnimmt, nachdem er sorgfältig jede Spur verwischt hat, dass am Flussufer jemand campiert haben könnte.
30 Jahre später erhält in London Julias Schwester Suzanne einen Anruf aus Neuseeland, dass ein Knochenfund auf ihren vermissten Neffen Maurice hinweisen könnte, der Geld, eine teure Uhr und ein verwittertes Stück Holz bei sich hatte. Erst Suzannes erwachsener Sohn erkennt, dass es sich bei dem Holz um eine Hälfte eines Kerbholzes handelt, das man früher benutzte, um Gläubigern und Schuldnern eine Schuld zu dokumentieren.
Zwischen dem Unfall in dünn besiedelter Gegend, dem Aufwachsen der Geschwister bei Martha und Peters in der Wildnis und Suzannes jahrelanger Suche nach Julia und ihrer Familie entwickelt Carl Nixon – zeitlich versetzt – das Schicksal der Kinder. Als Leser ahnt man bald, dass es mit dem von einer Kopfverletzung schwer geschädigten Tommy kein gutes Ende nehmen kann. Katherine wird von Martha zu allen Arbeiten in Haus und Garten herangezogen und in Marthas Heilkünste eingeweiht. Die 12-Jährige verarztet gewissenhaft Maurices Beinverletzung und lernt von Martha, was von Frauen mit ihrer Gabe nur direkt an eine andere Frau weitergegeben wird. Für Martha könnte Katherine eine lang ersehnte Nachfolgerin sein und Katherine genießt Marthas Anerkennung. Maurice hat es mit Peters erheblich schwerer, weil er, noch verletzt, nicht wie ein Mann arbeiten kann, deshalb ständig verhöhnt wird und dennoch beharrt, es müsse eine Straße, einen Ort und ein Krankenhaus geben. Katherine ergibt sich in ihr Schicksal; Maurice, der immer noch an einer Krücke humpelt, ruht jedoch nicht, ein Schlupfloch aus Peters Arbeitslager zu finden – und die unkartierte Wildnis zu bewältigen.
Der Knoten des tragischen Abenteuers platzte für mich erst in dem Moment, als mir deutlich wurde, was Suzanne bereits auf sich genommen hatte, um ihre Familie in Neuseeland zu finden.
Mit der stimmungsvollen Schilderung der nahezu autarken Lebensweise in einer dünn besiedelten Gegend, Peters Motiv für sein Handeln und dem Machtkampf zwischen Peters und dem Großstadtkind Maurice hatte mich Carl Nixon bereits am Haken. Durch die zeitlich versetzte Erzählweise bietet sich zusätzlich die faszinierende Möglichkeit, über die Konfrontation von Städtern und einheimischen Exzentrikern zu grübeln, zwischen Kolonie und Mutterland.
Was für ein Roman!
30 Jahre später erhält in London Julias Schwester Suzanne einen Anruf aus Neuseeland, dass ein Knochenfund auf ihren vermissten Neffen Maurice hinweisen könnte, der Geld, eine teure Uhr und ein verwittertes Stück Holz bei sich hatte. Erst Suzannes erwachsener Sohn erkennt, dass es sich bei dem Holz um eine Hälfte eines Kerbholzes handelt, das man früher benutzte, um Gläubigern und Schuldnern eine Schuld zu dokumentieren.
Zwischen dem Unfall in dünn besiedelter Gegend, dem Aufwachsen der Geschwister bei Martha und Peters in der Wildnis und Suzannes jahrelanger Suche nach Julia und ihrer Familie entwickelt Carl Nixon – zeitlich versetzt – das Schicksal der Kinder. Als Leser ahnt man bald, dass es mit dem von einer Kopfverletzung schwer geschädigten Tommy kein gutes Ende nehmen kann. Katherine wird von Martha zu allen Arbeiten in Haus und Garten herangezogen und in Marthas Heilkünste eingeweiht. Die 12-Jährige verarztet gewissenhaft Maurices Beinverletzung und lernt von Martha, was von Frauen mit ihrer Gabe nur direkt an eine andere Frau weitergegeben wird. Für Martha könnte Katherine eine lang ersehnte Nachfolgerin sein und Katherine genießt Marthas Anerkennung. Maurice hat es mit Peters erheblich schwerer, weil er, noch verletzt, nicht wie ein Mann arbeiten kann, deshalb ständig verhöhnt wird und dennoch beharrt, es müsse eine Straße, einen Ort und ein Krankenhaus geben. Katherine ergibt sich in ihr Schicksal; Maurice, der immer noch an einer Krücke humpelt, ruht jedoch nicht, ein Schlupfloch aus Peters Arbeitslager zu finden – und die unkartierte Wildnis zu bewältigen.
Der Knoten des tragischen Abenteuers platzte für mich erst in dem Moment, als mir deutlich wurde, was Suzanne bereits auf sich genommen hatte, um ihre Familie in Neuseeland zu finden.
Mit der stimmungsvollen Schilderung der nahezu autarken Lebensweise in einer dünn besiedelten Gegend, Peters Motiv für sein Handeln und dem Machtkampf zwischen Peters und dem Großstadtkind Maurice hatte mich Carl Nixon bereits am Haken. Durch die zeitlich versetzte Erzählweise bietet sich zusätzlich die faszinierende Möglichkeit, über die Konfrontation von Städtern und einheimischen Exzentrikern zu grübeln, zwischen Kolonie und Mutterland.
Was für ein Roman!
June 20, 2021
From the outset with the car accident, you know this story is going to go places. As a former Kiwi (now defected across the ditch), I found the author’s writing evocative of the time and place - NZ in the late 70s, and as I read through, I could feel the bite of the sandflies, the bracing cold of the river water, the call of birds unknown in the dense and lush green bush. I could even picture Martha’s place, because it seems there’s quite a few as you drive around, particularly in the South Island. This story examines the 3 very different lives of children ‘rescued’ (you’ll see why that’s only lightly meant throughout the book) after a tragic car crash took the lives of their parents and youngest sister. How does one cope with such a change in life? Do you rebel, do you acquiesce, do you give up entirely? The phrase Stockholm Syndrome bounced around my brain in some parts.
I found this very readable, descriptive writing to set the scene of isolation and desolation - or is it? I did have a few questions, mostly the father of Kate’s baby, but once I suspended belief in forest creatures, I continued on perfectly fine. I did admire the tenacity of the aunt in her frustratingly close search for her niece and nephews.
Warning: contains death, child punishment as part of their harsh life.
With thanks to the author (have a chocolate fish), NetGalley, and World Editions Publishers for an advance copy.
I found this very readable, descriptive writing to set the scene of isolation and desolation - or is it? I did have a few questions, mostly the father of Kate’s baby, but once I suspended belief in forest creatures, I continued on perfectly fine. I did admire the tenacity of the aunt in her frustratingly close search for her niece and nephews.
Warning: contains death, child punishment as part of their harsh life.
With thanks to the author (have a chocolate fish), NetGalley, and World Editions Publishers for an advance copy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2021
I seriously loved this book. It takes place in the Deep South in the South Island of New Zealand. It is 1978 and the Chamberlain family have relocated to Wellington from England. They have 2 weeks before John, the head of the family is to start work, so they embark on a road trip. No fixed plan just follow their noses and see what they see. On a stormy wet night their car slides off the road and down into a ravine to land side on in a river. Katherine, Maurice and Tommy are in the back, sleeping when the accident happens. They survive, but mum, dad and baby Emma are dead. The children manage to get out of the car and have a range of injuries. Katherine has cracked ribs, Maurice a badly mangled foot and Tommy has a serious head injury that has left him dumb and vacant. A few days later a man out with his dogs stumbles upon them, thinking they are being rescued the kids soon realise that this isn’t the case.
Slip to 2010 and Suzanne, the sister of the kids mother, Julia, has just been informed of the discovery of Maurice’s bones. It appears he lived another four years after they went missing.
This is such a great read, told in two time frames with such believable characters and storytelling, I really hope more people become aware of this books and read it.
Slip to 2010 and Suzanne, the sister of the kids mother, Julia, has just been informed of the discovery of Maurice’s bones. It appears he lived another four years after they went missing.
This is such a great read, told in two time frames with such believable characters and storytelling, I really hope more people become aware of this books and read it.
March 22, 2021
Yeah sorry, didn't think this was a great book. It left me very dissatisfied with too many loose ends not tied up - who was the father of the baby? And then the other babies? Why wouldn't they just take the kids out to the road? It was like Peters and Martha were supposed to be criminals and almost grooming the kids for something, but nothing ever eventuated and besides from the drugs, they were pretty normal. And why couldn't Suzanne just get some closure? Suzanne's entire storyline with all other characters was pointless and added nothing, and there was no explanation for why Katherine was spotted in Hokitika - it seemed like the only reason for it was to give another hint for Suzanne to go off.
I felt as if the book was over before it even started. You could see how everything was going to pan out and it all moved very slowly, it could have ended 100 pages earlier it was that unpredictable. The only slight plot twist was that Kate and Tommy survived, despite the fact that initially its only revealed that Maurice's remains were found. Until Peters came along, I assumed the others must somehow die in the bush while Maurice survives his broken leg. It also made me sad that Katherine turned into a West Coast bogan.
I felt as if the book was over before it even started. You could see how everything was going to pan out and it all moved very slowly, it could have ended 100 pages earlier it was that unpredictable. The only slight plot twist was that Kate and Tommy survived, despite the fact that initially its only revealed that Maurice's remains were found. Until Peters came along, I assumed the others must somehow die in the bush while Maurice survives his broken leg. It also made me sad that Katherine turned into a West Coast bogan.
September 28, 2020
This was a gift, and an actual book rather than an e-book, for a change. I read it in one afternoon, watching the intermittent snow outside, in NZ’s late spring. The pace of the book, the believable characters, and the wildness of our West Coast (which was the perfect setting) kept me going. This is the story of a family who move to NZ to start a new life and a job in Wellington, but decide to go for a road trip around the South Island first. Clearly they didn’t spot the road signs that tell us “NZ roads are different. Take extra care.” And the accident that leads to the end of their family as they know it starts a chain reaction of consequences that no-one could have predicted.
October 29, 2021
I has very different expectations from The Tally Stick. I was hoping more for a police case & suspense type of book but this was a very different book. The book is quite atmospheric & the story telling was very good. However this is not a suspense or thriller although it has a few elements of the same. 25% in & I kept getting Where the crawdads sing vibes off this book. But they were only vibes. This book is unique & different with a haunting(not in a paranormal way) story. The prose right from the start to the end was flawless & ot almost transported me to NZ to where it is set. There were so many mixed emotions invoked during the reading of this book. But the most dominant was the feeling of frustration for the main characters and of the story. I could feel them getting close to something & then it would just turn out to be nothing. I enjoyed reading the book despite this feeling of frustration. It felt true - not all stories have happy endings in the real world. My only gripe was that I was thoroughly confused about how certain things could have worked out 'biologically'. I still don't understand it! I would highly recommend the book - just don't ho in expecting your general twisty suspense
Thank you, NetGalley, world editions & Carl Nixon for an arc!
Thank you, NetGalley, world editions & Carl Nixon for an arc!
January 13, 2025
3,5*. Ein Roman, den man aushalten wollen muss.
August 23, 2021
3.75 rounded up, but it really could have gone either way. I'm going to offer a disclaimer that may or may not say something useful about my reaction to the book.
Very soon after starting "The Tally Stick" I came down with some nasty bug (not Covid) that knocked me flat: high fever, no energy at all, headaches, myalgia... In short, not the best of circumstances for reading a serious (as in 'thoughtfully written') book. And I was certainly not capable of giving it the attention it deserved.
But here's the thing that made me uncertain about whether to rate up or down: in those moments when found myself able to, I immediately picked up the book. Eagerly. I wanted to return to that rough patch of New Zealand with its dangerous rivers and unseen dangers, to see what will happen. Child survivors of a horrible car crash in which their parents were killed, strangers to the rough land in which they find themselves, seriously injured, "rescued" by... well, let's just say it's a good plot. I had to wonder what would happen next to the children, whether the adults in the book are what they appear to be, how things will play out. These are interesting characters Nixon has created, all of them. Because they're kids, with all the familial tensions, impulses, and imperfect knowledge of the world they bring to their ideal, it's impossible how they're going to react to the challenges that they face, to one another.
Had I been well, I would have read more carefully and marked passages to share here. But I wasn't. There were times when 20 minutes were all I could do. Not fair to the author, I know. For me, though, in the end the most telling thing was that I felt compelled to return to the story despite being really sick. If I could manage 20 minutes, it was 20 minutes well spent. There certainly weren't any moments when I thought the story lagged; I don't recall any missteps. "The Tally Stick" is a smart, well-written, wonderfully paced book filled with suspense and conflict. I absolutely recommend it. It will appeal both to people who like "literary" fiction and those who just enjoy a bracing story well-told.
There are some splendid reviews elsewhere on GR. Check them out. And make a note to read the book when it comes out.
My thanks to World Editions for providing an advance reading copy in return for an honest review.
Very soon after starting "The Tally Stick" I came down with some nasty bug (not Covid) that knocked me flat: high fever, no energy at all, headaches, myalgia... In short, not the best of circumstances for reading a serious (as in 'thoughtfully written') book. And I was certainly not capable of giving it the attention it deserved.
But here's the thing that made me uncertain about whether to rate up or down: in those moments when found myself able to, I immediately picked up the book. Eagerly. I wanted to return to that rough patch of New Zealand with its dangerous rivers and unseen dangers, to see what will happen. Child survivors of a horrible car crash in which their parents were killed, strangers to the rough land in which they find themselves, seriously injured, "rescued" by... well, let's just say it's a good plot. I had to wonder what would happen next to the children, whether the adults in the book are what they appear to be, how things will play out. These are interesting characters Nixon has created, all of them. Because they're kids, with all the familial tensions, impulses, and imperfect knowledge of the world they bring to their ideal, it's impossible how they're going to react to the challenges that they face, to one another.
Had I been well, I would have read more carefully and marked passages to share here. But I wasn't. There were times when 20 minutes were all I could do. Not fair to the author, I know. For me, though, in the end the most telling thing was that I felt compelled to return to the story despite being really sick. If I could manage 20 minutes, it was 20 minutes well spent. There certainly weren't any moments when I thought the story lagged; I don't recall any missteps. "The Tally Stick" is a smart, well-written, wonderfully paced book filled with suspense and conflict. I absolutely recommend it. It will appeal both to people who like "literary" fiction and those who just enjoy a bracing story well-told.
There are some splendid reviews elsewhere on GR. Check them out. And make a note to read the book when it comes out.
My thanks to World Editions for providing an advance reading copy in return for an honest review.
May 7, 2021
I heard Carl Nixon being interviewed and bought this book on the strength of the interview. The mystery of the body of a lost child being discovered, but four years older than when he disappeared was intriguing. This central paradox kept me gripped to the book, wondering how Maurice survived, then died without being reunited with his family.
What I loved about this book, and that includes the marvellous front cover which is unmistakeably New Zealand - is its descriptions of New Zealand bush - so real to anyone who has been there. Carl Nixon's writing is a great combination of evocative, urgent and readable. There's a wonderful simile early on, describing how the car, crashing off the road through trees 'slipped between the trunks like a blade'.
The end of the book is inevitable, since we know early on that the children's existence has not been rediscovered by 2010, and yet, you keep reading to find out how, and why. Even so questions remain, which I will not go into here to avoid spoilers. Suffice to say, this is not a neat, cookie-cutter book, and the slow partial reveal is a key part of the enjoyment. To reveal too much would be to spoil the quality of the story. It's instead a cleverly written book which explores how different people react to the same circumstances. Impressive read.
What I loved about this book, and that includes the marvellous front cover which is unmistakeably New Zealand - is its descriptions of New Zealand bush - so real to anyone who has been there. Carl Nixon's writing is a great combination of evocative, urgent and readable. There's a wonderful simile early on, describing how the car, crashing off the road through trees 'slipped between the trunks like a blade'.
The end of the book is inevitable, since we know early on that the children's existence has not been rediscovered by 2010, and yet, you keep reading to find out how, and why. Even so questions remain, which I will not go into here to avoid spoilers. Suffice to say, this is not a neat, cookie-cutter book, and the slow partial reveal is a key part of the enjoyment. To reveal too much would be to spoil the quality of the story. It's instead a cleverly written book which explores how different people react to the same circumstances. Impressive read.
December 20, 2021
This was a very tense read from start to finish. A family of two parents and four children disappear into thin air....nearly literally. The search for them does not begin until the father fails to show up for his first day at his new job two weeks later. Then it is discovered that the family never moved into their new home. The mother, Julia's sister, Suzanne refuses to give up the search for years. Until she finally has to come to the conclusion that she has done all she could do by herself. Then years later, the remains of her one of her missing nephews are found and he died when he was obviously several years older than he was when he first disappeared. This story is very well crafted, switching back to various times as we follow the surviving children on their bizarre journey. To say anymore would spoil the surprises for anyone before they begin to read this for themselves.
Thank you to Netgalley and World Editions for the e-ARC of this suspenseful mystery.
Thank you to Netgalley and World Editions for the e-ARC of this suspenseful mystery.
August 11, 2024
This was quite a fast read, as Nixon really knows how to write. There's some beautiful prose, too, but there are also several things I really didn't like regarding the plot. Spoilers:
2.5-3 stars
2.5-3 stars
Displaying 1 - 30 of 220 reviews