Lost in shared delusions
A backpacker comes under the spell of a cult in a cracker page-turning novel.
The title of adopted Kiwi author Charity Norman’s cracker fifth novel, SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER
(Allen & Unwin, $32.99), comes from 21-year-old Cassy’s last words to her parents as she leaves England for a short trip around New Zealand with her boyfriend. When they break up on the road, Cassy agrees to spend a few days on what appears to be a local collective farm. Days become years. Cassy’s parents’ best efforts to retrieve her are no match for the cult’s charismatic leader, Justin, who binds all to his beliefs, even if it means they’ll have to make the supreme sacrifice. The pace and tension make it a proper page-turner, but the real achievement is in the characterisation. There are no stereotypes here, no stock Jim Jonesian villains, only ordinary, well-meaning people who help us see that we, too, could be caught up in a shared delusion if it felt enough like paradise. Recommended.
HALF WILD (Allen & Unwin, $32.99),
the debut novel by Pip Smith, is a fictional account of the true story of Eugenia “Nina”
Falleni, who, in the early 20th century, emigrated from New Zealand to Australia, where she lived as a man named Harry Crawford and even married twice – the women apparently did not twig to the deception. Her real identity was only uncovered when Crawford was accused, possibly wrongfully, of the murder of wife No 1. The opening section of the novel is wonderful, with young Nina front and centre in all her stroppy,
Cynics might call it emotional manipulation; less misanthropic readers should enjoy it, though.
determined and imaginative glory. But for the bulk of the rest of it, we see Nina/ Crawford through others’ eyes, and so we lose that energising force of character that drives the narrative. The stylistic devices can come across as too clever by half, as if Smith felt she needed tricks to keep us interested. But the story is fascinating and its telling well overdue.
Rachel Joyce had a smash hit with The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, and THE MUSIC
SHOP (Doubleday, $37)
is in much the same style, which cynics might call flagrant emotional manipulation but less misanthropic readers should enjoy. In the 1980s, London’s Unity St is home to a collection of struggling retailers, all being pressured by developers to sell up. Frank owns the music shop and insists on stocking only vinyl, because that’s how real music should sound. He also has a gift for recommending exactly the albums his customers need to hear in order to transform their lives. When he accepts a request from mysterious German woman Ilse to help her understand music, Frank is forced to confront long-suppressed traumas. But will Ilse prove his saving grace or his undoing? Reading this book is like bingeing on chocolate biscuits: the experience is pleasurable, but you finish slightly nauseated and regretting your weak will.