Orphan Rock

by Dominique Wilson

Orphan Rock is a complex and richly detailed story of secrets and heartbreak that will take you from the back streets of Sydney’s slums to the wide avenues of the City of Lights.

The late 1800s was a time when women were meant to know their place. But when Bessie starts to work for Louisa Lawson at The Dawn, she comes to realise there’s more to a woman’s place than servitude to a husband.

Years later her daughter Kathleen flees to Paris to escape a secret she cannot accept. But World War One intervenes, exposing her to both the best and the worst of humanity.

Masterful and epic, this book is both a splendid evocation of early Sydney, and a truly powerful story about how women and minorities fought against being silenced.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Australia

484 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2022

About the author

Dominique Wilson was born in Algiers to French parents. She grew up in a country torn by civil war, until she and her family fled to Australia. Her short stories have been published nationally and read on ABC Radio, and one of her short stories was made into a short film. She was founding Managing Editor of Wet Ink: the magazine of new writing, and Chair of the Adelaide branch of International PEN. She holds a Masters and a PhD in Creative Writing, for which she won the University Doctoral Research Medal.
http://dominiquewilson.com.au/
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Reviews

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The strength of this epic novel, which spans two generations and covers a broad expanse of important moments in world history, is the history itself. Wilson did her homework and went on to use her research in a way that never felt like an info dump. So often historical fiction authors feel a need to include too much of their research because they think it gives their novel credibility, or because they have put so much work into research that they hate to use a little and throw the rest away. I understand how painful it must be to do hours of research, if not days, and then use it to inform a single line or small paragraph. But its a pain that surely goes hand in hand with the craft of writing historical fiction. Wilson had the right formula of just enough and never too much.
For that, this is a four star book all day long. I learned things. I was often moved and excited and impressed by the history woven into the story. I was transported back in time, and why else do we read historical fiction but to have that experience?
As far as the story goes, it broke my heart a couple times. It also gave me joy and sadness. Sounds like a bad thing, but it's a good thing. You want an author to trick you into feeling something. For most of the novel, I kept turning the page and looked forward to getting back to it at night. However, (and I hate to undermine the positive things I've said with a negative), there were some things I didn't like about the way it was written. Sometimes it was written in what I suppose you would call, omniscient (aka head hopping). I didn't feel like this was necessary. It nearly made me give the novel three stars. But, thankfully, the author's excellent use of historical fact saved the day. I'm a history lover at heart, and she fulfilled my requirements for history brought to life.

[Jo | Booklover Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had the great pleasure of reading all of Dominique Wilson’s novels to date. Of her moving debut offering The Yellow Papers, I said “there is an observant eye and clear talent with language just waiting to shine bright”. Then she delivered on that in her powerfully compelling second novel That Devil’s Madness. So I dove into Orphan Rock already knowing it would dig deeper than many titles in the historical fiction genre.

I always come away from Wilson’s novels feeling I have learned something; with greater breadth and depth of knowledge of the society and time-period in focus. Her passion for research, eye for historical detail and skill at translating and depicting the impact of historical events on the lives of everyday people shines bright in Orphan Rock. Continue reading: https://www.bookloverbookreviews.com/...

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orphan Rock is a multi-generational historical novel spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and, as with Dominique Wilson's previous fiction, it explores Australia's social history, its multicultural identity and the roles of women.

It is the story of Bessie, a child dumped in an orphanage by her mother, the ironically named Mercy, for reasons that become guessable later in the novel.  Bessie, however, is eventually rescued from this harsh existence and a likely future in domestic service by her mother's new husband Cornelius. So Bessie gets a middle-class life and an education, but Mercy is clearly a troubled woman.  She is impulsive, erratic, and consistent only in her failure to love her daughter and to reveal her reasons for abandoning her.

So Bessie grows up knowing only the love of Lottie, a fellow orphan left behind at the Protestant Orphan School, and her stepfather.  But an attempt to make Cornelius aware of Mercy's cruelties tests his affection too far, and in a fatal breach of the relationship, Bessie leaves. She takes up employment as a lady's companion with the dowager Abigail Washington, and this gives her the opportunity for cultural education through her friendship with Josette, a companion to the visiting Frenchwoman Veronique Petillier.

The Dawn (1st issue) 1888 (Wikipedia*)

However, the bad luck which is destined to follow Bessie throughout her life is the catalyst for her to make an imprudent marriage, a choice made by so many women of the era, when faced with destitution as the only alternative.  And Bertram Griggs, who starts out with good intentions, soon succumbs to the kind of masculinity which was common.  The tragedy which befalls Bessie is bleak but historically authentic.

Though the novel wears its research lightly, details of the plot and characterisation bring in aspects of the historical record: the diseases common but not confined to poverty; the White Australia policy as it impacts on Bessie's Chinese friends Bao and Quong Tart (based on a real person); and the campaign for female suffrage and the role of Louisa Lawson, Bessie's eventual employer at a journal for women called 'The Dawn' and also the real-life mother of Henry Lawson. Wilson also makes reference to newspaper reports about emerging policies which gave rise to the Stolen Generations, and the novel is enlivened by all sorts of details of cultural events and technological innovations as the years pass.

Through the help of a re-established friendship with Lottie, Bessie gets back on her feet...

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/02/20/o...

[Lyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful historical novel. It follows two women from their beginnings in a orphanage through their adulthood and a daughters story. It shows how hard life was for people in Sydney from the mid 1880s to World War Two and how easily it was to go from being comfortable to very poor. Well researched and populated with realistic and believable characters, this book also confronts some big issues like gender politics, same sex love, marriage and divorce and poverty. This is the first book I have read by Dominique Wilson and I hope to read more.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, really enjoyed this book. There's so much to it - Sydney and Paris in the late 1800s early 1900s, what life was like for women then and how they coped, and how the laws affected the average population. The characters are really well developed - you almost feel like they're real people that you know personally, and you really feel for them. It's a big book, but I finished it quickly because it was so interesting.

[Sue Rawlins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book!! If I could give it more stars I would! It's set in Sydney Australia, about Bessie and her daughter Kathleen. It's about how women had to fight for their rights, and how they coped during the depression and during wars. It's so beautifully written, and full of information about the history of those times but you never feel like you're reading history. My favourite book so far!

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good family saga. I liked the setting in Australia in the 1800's. Fascinating to realise how small our major cities were back then.
The fight for women's rights and equality was well woven through this book.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got halfway through this but couldnt read anymore. Chunks of historical research thrown in which threw the storyline off.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this type of historical fiction, when the author weaves historical facts into an interesting story, so that you not only get to enjoy a great story, but end up learning something as well. This is what Dominique Wilson has done with this book, very lightly and giving just enough historical facts so that the reader understands what's happening around the characters and why they act the way they do, but never so much as for it to feel like a history lesson. This is a long book, but it doesn't feel that way because the story is so interesting and different from a lot of that genre. It'll break your heart in places, and you'll get to love the characters - even minor characters are full of personality. I would love to see this book made into a movie, or a series!

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got a bit fed up with this book. It seemed the author wanted to show she’d done some historical research, so threw in random events or characters which didn’t contribute to the storyline. Plus it was pretty predictable, to the point of being annoying.

[Tien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orphan Rock is an epic story of women over 2 generations. While readers follow their journeys through life, we also follow on a tumultuous time of history (of Australia & the world). These women lived through women suffrage, wars, the Great Depression,  influenza pandemic (this sort of hit rather close to home!), the Razor gang and many other significant historical events. They are ordinary women from the outlook and yet, at the end, you will see that even so, they are extraordinary for they came out the other end of sufferings, stronger and brighter.

I really wasn't expecting the book to be quite so big (almost 500 pages) and it took me quite a long time to read because I can only read a little bit of suffering at time before I need something lighter to lift my mood. I totally agree with Brian Castro (see his blurb in above book description) especially in the phrase, 'the realism unforgiving'. Gosh, yes, things just kept happening to these women and felt like they almost never caught a break! I think they did have a break but those chapters in their lives just didn't make it into this book because it'll be somewhat boring reading someone else cruising through life.

I'd recommend this book if you enjoy your Australian history; being immersed in last century's Sydney and it really felt like a historical tour via the eyes of ordinary people who lived it then.

My thanks to Transit Lounge Publishing for this paperback copy of book in exchange of my honest thoughts

[Susanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plentiful research used to paint a detailed picture of each time and place setting. The novel spans two generations. Bessie was left at an orphanage as a very young child by a mother incapable of caring for her. Bessie's daughter, Kathleen, grows up knowing the love of two parents, but mother and daughter's lives share key elements.
Historical figures such as Louisa Lawson and her newspaper, 'The Dawn', add much to the interest level, as do details of the cost of living in Sydney in the 1930s.
While there is much that I enjoyed in this story, in particular, the research, including the Kurnell caves as homes, I was annoyed by the omniscient author voice and overuse of internal thoughts that lost the character's voice and took me out of the story. There are also numerous errors that suggest proof reading is not high on the publisher's agenda.
Without giving away details, I found the ending frustrating. It ends suddenly, and leaves the reader hanging.

[Bree T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this.

It’s a clever, detailed story spanning a large number of years, beginning with Bessie as just a child in an orphanage. When a man comes to claim her, to say he’s taking her back to her mother (he’s married to her mother but is not her father), Bessie dreams of a better life. And although the man is kind and Bessie now has things that she could never imagined, such as a governess and clothes, her relationship with her mother does not go as planned. Her mother shows little interest in her and behaves in a manner that Bessie finds odd. And when her mother feels threatened, she drives a wedge between Bessie and her stepfather and Bessie is forced out of the home and to fend on her own.

There’s a lot of suffering in this novel and I feel like it showcases so well the discrepancy between those who are wealthy and those who are not. Bessie has few options available to her when forced to leave the house but is fortunate to get a position as a companion to an older lady. When that lady dies, she again is left somewhat powerless, accepting an offer of marriage from a man she does not love but hopes to make a life with. It’s not a happy marriage – her husband is a man with delusions of grandeur without the ability to pull his grand schemes off and Bessie comes to know grief, pain and suffering on huge, huge levels over the next few years.

The author paints a wonderful (not rosy, but vivid and real) picture of Sydney during this time, including a typhoid outbreak that led to people being quarantined and also the terrible racism and prejudice against both native Australians, the indigenous population and also the Chinese immigrants who arrived during the goldrush and eventually moved into other lifestyles. They are marginalised and outcast, forced into communities and eventually outright banned from coming into the country, boats containing Chinese settlers (some of which already had papers and were returning to Australia) forbidden from stepping foot on land. It’s a shameful part of the construction of this colony and these policies would continue for many years. Bessie herself, is victim to thoughts of prejudice and unkindness towards the Chinese because it is what she has been taught. She is shown the error of her ways when they accept her into their community via a friend of hers and despite her attitudes, one of them cares for her when she is unwell, forcing her to reassess everything she has been taught/is ingrained in her.

This book is also a testament to lasting friendship and the family you create yourself, as opposed to the one you are born with. Bessie experiences nothing but disappointment from the person that should’ve cared and protected her the most in her life, finding herself in an orphanage, only to be rescued, only to have that new mostly-comfortable life snatched away from her. Despite this upheaval, and the terrible grief and loss that she experiences, Bessie perseveres. She gets a job working on a new feminist newspaper, she makes friends, she continues to nurture friendships from the years prior to her marriage. She reconstructs her life more than once.

The second part of the novel focuses on Bessie’s daughter Kathleen, who leaves Australia for Paris and ends up there during the outbreak of the First World War. We get to experience her seeing Paris and then being swept up in the war as it escalates. Although given the opportunity to leave beforehand, Kathleen chooses not to and doesn’t leave until her circumstances really force her back home to Australia. Like her mother before her, Kathleen will also know pain and suffering and also learn to really lean on that created family, who show her that they will always be there for her throughout everything, even as she makes choices that for her time, are progressive and would lead to judgement and ostracism, should people know the truth.

This is a very solid story, coming in at a very chunky almost 500 pages. But it never really felt like that when I was reading it. Good historical fiction takes you out of the present and deposits you in its time and place and I feel like this book definitely did that to me. I was engrossed in the story almost from the very beginning, swept up in Bessie’s desire to be accepted and loved by her mother and her struggles to find herself and her place in life. Her strength is enormous at times, as she faces so much turmoil and loss in her early years and still keeps finding ways to pick herself up and carry on. There’s definitely a lot in here – plenty of history and information for the time period, the plight of women and how they were beholden to men (probably first their fathers and then later on, their husbands) and how there were movements to bring about some change, the campaigns to allow women the right to vote and have more freedom and agency, despite pushback from (mostly) men. There’s hints of romance and as I mentioned, friendship is something that features heavily throughout as well as the “creation of your own village” type of thing and then in the latter parts, we get to experience Paris as well as what it would’ve been like to take a ship halfway around the world during a tumultuous time including having to be under escort. The book also explores mental health but within the constraints of the time frame, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions. And all of it is done very well, combining together in an intriguing story that gives you a rollercoaster of emotions and keeps you invested the whole way.

***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review***

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really great book! I got so involved with the characters. I am so glad I stumbled on it on my library's homepage. Right from the start of the book I was hooked and read the first 32 pages in one sitting. I felt a real affinity with the characters and the historical events were so interesting. I learned things about my country (Australia) that I didn't know. My only issue is the ending.....I hope Ms Wilson is planning a sequel!

**an update on this review. I contacted Dominique Wilson and she told me she is not planning a sequel. I can't say much more without spoiling the book.

[Lyn Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This historical novel was such a beautiful story and a joy to read. Starting in early Sydney, moving to the beautiful Paris and in the time of WW1 and then back to Sydney ending in the time of WW11, characters of several generations each with their own story, make this a hard to put down book. I shed both tears of joy and sadness.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spanning from the late 19th century to WWII this lengthy novel has lots of historical background which sometimes overwhelms the story. It seemed that every event the author researched had to impact her character's lives. Despite this the story was easy to read. Hate the way it ends.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I did not want it to end…

[Jillian Liddicoat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read this one- much history, local and other cultures. What it was like for women and the impact of poverty. Worth a read