Honeyeater

Charlie Wren has spent his life in Bellworth, where he lives in the shadow of his well-known family name, his older sister’s success and the unsolved disappearances of several friends and acquaintances. Now that his Aunt Ida has passed away, Charlie is determined to leave the small town – for good. He’ll help his sister pack up Ida’s old house and then escape from the suspicious gaze of the police.

But it seems that something within Bellworth has other plans – a mysterious woman appears in the backyard, covered in creek mud and with flowers growing under her skin. She has no memories, but she knows she’s looking for the Wrens.

Charlie’s plan to leave is derailed as he’s drawn into the mystery of who this woman is, what she has to do with his family, and whether she can survive the flowers choking her from the inside. As the creek water rises and old powers shift beneath the town, what other mysteries might find their way out of the mud?

This is an atmospheric and perfectly tense novel that will have you questioning what’s real and what’s metaphor, until the shocking truth comes crashing down in the grand finale. Honeyeater is true Australian gothic, exploring the secrets buried in the oldest houses built during colonisation, with vivid imagery that’s beautiful yet unsettling. The interstitial passages, sharing urban legends told from neighbour to neighbour, are particularly effective at reinforcing the chilling atmosphere and leaving the reader trying to discern (fantastical) fact from fiction.

It should be no surprise that Kathleen Jennings has made such an accomplished contribution to the canon of Australian Gothic, given she has a master’s degree on that very topic, but it is exciting to see an emerging author already so skilled at her craft – employing the conventions of genre with a deft hand, and to such original effect. I’ll be keeping a keen eye out for her next book!