Our first book is Limberlost by Robbie Arnott, the eagerly awaited third novel by the award-winning Tasmanian writer of Flames and The Rain Heron, is an evocative tale of family, place, hope, and love.

We follow a young Tasmanian, Ned, during a long summer as he hunts rabbits in a river valley, hoping the pelts will earn him enough money to buy a small boat. His two brothers are away at war, their whereabouts unknown. His father and older sister struggle to hold things together on the family orchard, Limberlost. As his story unfolds over the following decades, we see how Ned’s choices that summer come to shape the course of his life, the fate of his family and the future of the valley.

The ambition of Limberlost and the complex questioning that underpins it are fascinating and lend the book a hauntedness that is deeply affecting. Ned’s sensitivity, his striving and his jumbled, tightly held emotions are always handled with great subtlety, and Arnott’s deep compassion for his characters and willingness to leave space for all that is unanswerable make Limberlost a striking book, with lingering resonance and great heart.
Saturday Paper

I’m honoured the festival has chosen Limberlost for the book club. What wonderful news.
Robbie Arnott

 

I wrote Limberlost because I wanted to create a portrait of a simple, honest and decent life – the kind of life that’s not flashy, but still profoundly meaningful. It’s deeply inspired by my grandfather, as well as the Tasmanian landscape, especially the Tamar Valley. The novel wouldn’t work if it was set anywhere else.