A History of Dreams

by Jane Rawson

In 1930s Adelaide, four women turn to witchcraft to undermine a new authoritarian government determined to enforce their marriage and virtual enslavement.

In the 1930s in Adelaide, sisters Margaret and Esther Beasley and their friend Phyllis O’Donnell are learning to be witches. Their guide is Audrey Macquarie, a glamorous, Communist schoolmate who was taught the art of changing dreams by her suffragette great-aunt. This subtle magic, known only to spinsters, has been passed from aunt to niece for generations. Now this group of young women is using it to power their own small revolution, undermining a system that wants them married, uneducated and at home.

As Europe begins falling to fascism, these women – the Semaphore Supper Club – stumble on a nest of Nazi sympathisers in the poetry salons of Adelaide. The poets’ political connections help them rise in power, until the Club finds they aren’t just fighting chauvinist writers but have taken on Australia’s new authoritarian government. As the government discovers it too can harness dreams, Margaret, Esther, Phyl and Audrey face an overwhelming force they cannot defeat. Each of them must decide whether – and how – to continue the struggle in the face of almost certain failure.

The History of Dreams explores female friendship, the power of finding a vocation, and the importance of joy in a time of political darkness. It asks what our responsibilities are when faced with an unjust government, particularly when we have the privilege to look the other way.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Australia, 21st Century

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 5, 2022

About the author

Jane grew up in Canberra and travelled via San Francisco and Melbourne to Tasmania, where she works as a writer for a conservation organisation. Her first novel, A Wrong turn at the Office of Unmade Lists, won the Small Press Network’s Most Underrated Book Award and her second novel, From the Wreck, won the Aurealis Award and was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. She is also the author of a non-fiction guide to surviving and living with climate change called The Handbook and a novella, Formaldehyde, which won the 2015 Seizure Viva La Novella Prize. You can read her essays in Living with the Anthropocene; Fire, Flood, Plague; and Reading like an Australian Writer.

Reviews

[Robert Lukins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Typical Rawson, in that it’s completely surprising and utterly brilliant.

[James Tierney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rawson’s brilliant, mischievous and open-eyed novel features an Adelaidean coven formed just as the path to WWII is opening up. These mid-20th century witches can conjure through dreams a change of mind and action but the consequences aren’t always as foreseen and a rising tide of dictatorial misogyny engulfs Australia’s women. Dystopias are a dime a dozen but ‘A History of Dreams’ resists the obvious and concentrates on the magic, and the responsibilities, of our ties to one another.

[Cathy]

I can’t remember how I came across this book but the blurb caught my attention - set in 1930s Adelaide but in an alternative history where fascist Nazi sympathisers come to power in Australia and start making laws to firmly keep women in their place (the home) and having babies. The four main characters, witches, attempt to take on this regime.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with that premise, and the witchcraft certainly wasn’t what I had thought, centring around creating dreams that can influence people’s actions. The story is far more about the central women, and the impact of the patriarchal dictatorship on them and other women around them, than the broader world events. Though there are passing references to the Second World War and some plot points driven by it, the action never really leaves Adelaide. The setting is not used to any great extent either, there are references to streets and other Adelaide locations, but there’s not a lot of descriptive use of the place in the narrative, perhaps the real world location references were intended as a tool to shortcut some of the otherwise necessary work of building a world.

While the premise of the book is intriguing, and the characters well developed, story imaginatively told, I kept waiting for something ‘more’ out of this story. I’m not sure what. It was definitely worth a read, if just for the ‘what if?’ factor.

[Imbi Neeme · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book, although it chilled me to my core at times with its blend of 'girls own adventure' and 'alternate history' and 'heyyyyyy, this alternate history feels a bit too close to the actual present.' It is 'Minority Report' meets 'Nancy Drew' meets the White Witch who once tried to sell me a candle in Fremantle.

[Kahlia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the characters, but damn this book just throws out that, in this world, Australia fights alongside Germany in World War II, and then proceeds to completely ignore the implications of that for the rest of the book.

[Kate Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a few months ago and have found my notes which I shall transcribe for my own amusement mainly:
Mallory Towers on Steroids! (Not even sure this is a criticism)
1st half : oh look we're giggling schoolgirls and isn't it ripping. Ginger beer and let's play dress-ups.
2nd half: Actually men are shite. In fact, they are the baddies. The obviousness of it was heavy-handed. But I think that being unsubtle is part of the 'fable' technique. The surreal quality is well-executed.
I love-hated it. BUT I didn't put it down.
Sentence level greatness.
All the girls irritated me and I was hooked by their transformations.
LOVE 'joyless dancing'.
Seamless morphing from a girl's own adventure into fantasy and the play/ambiguity of make-believe. Is Rawson commenting on the make-believe world men believe should inhabit or that would suit them? (oh yes!)
It's prescient with all the abortion and baby-factory stuff going on.
I like that dance = freedom. If a woman can dance she is an asset for a husband which makes dance joyless?
(As a bookseller, this is a hand sell)
There aren't many books like this out there, so yay for difference!
(Voilà my unadulterated transcription of notes taken months ago. I reckon I really loved it.)

[Lisa]

I've read and enjoyed Rawson's quirky fiction before and I'm ok with genre-bending so I read the first third of the book (up to page 101) but then gave up. I had other books that were calling me...

The novel has had glowing reviews including this one at the Conversation (see https://theconversation.com/witchcraf...) so don't take any notice of me.

I don't rate books I don't finish.

[James Whitmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Adelaide in 1937 four young women come together to fight patriarchy and fascism. Adelaide, Jane Rawson writes in one of many winking characterisations, a place where "nothing was happening, the same way that nothing ever happened. It was a peacefulness close to death". Yet the women find that their city has become home to a nest of Nazis determined to take advantage of what's happening overseas to seize government and turn their dreams for Australia into reality. Read more on my blog.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I had read this prior to the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the US, I might have thought it far-fetched. The alternate history of sleepy Adelaide becoming an ant-woman fascist state has unwelcome overtones of possibility. Our heroines are bright, ambitious young women with a world of possibilities closed to them, with only their dreams left as weapons. Women will enjoy this book - I did - but I suspect it will make men very uncomfortable. And that is devoutly to be wished.

[Tracy Meszaros · Rating 1 out of 5]

Many good ideas but few realised. Lack of world-building was the greatest drawback, as well as a simplistic style and that was not suited to the material. I kept wondering if this was a YA novel, but that does a disservice to YA novels.

Regarding interwar Australian fascism, D. H. Lawrence did it better in Kangaroo.

[Bazz Sherwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quirky, scary, and uplifting in a weird way.
Four young women in Adelaide come face to face with fascism as war breaks out in Europe. Women are ruthlessly put in their place by a right wing government in Australia. Although this was published in 2022 I read it after the Trump election of 2024, which is very scary indeed.

[Gavan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Maybe my expectations were too high (having loved the stunning "A Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists" and "Formaldehyde"), but this was just flat & unsubtle. The simple writing style felt true to the era & I love the concept of the witches coven, but the plot felt contrived & lacking impetus. And boring. The non-ending didn't impress me.

[Janine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the counterfactual of a Nazi-oriented Australia during WWII but I just didn't buy the witchcraft.
For my review, please visit
https://residentjudge.com/2023/06/24/...

[Jennie O'bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book! Quirky and insightful- lively style.

[Marlee Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delight, even while exploring some dark themes. Witches vs nazi's in 1930 Adelaide? I'm in.

[Kathy Schuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful yet also chilling book.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it. I wasn't expecting the dark turn it takes.

[Naunihal Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every woman is a revolution. Viva la resistance