The Year of the Beast
Steven Carroll
The Year of the Beast
Steven Carroll
One of Australia’s finest and most critically acclaimed writers returns with a powerful novel that goes back to the very beginning of the story, to bring his sweeping Glenroy series to a magnificent close.
Melbourne, 1917: the times are tumultuous, the city is in the grip of a kind of madness. The Great War is raging, and it is the time of the hotly contested second conscription referendum. Fights are raging on the streets, rallies for ‘YES’ and ‘NO’ facing off against each other on opposing corners. Men, women and children, jostling, brawling, fighting and spitting.
Through these streets walks Maryanne, forty years old, unmarried and seven months pregnant. These are uncertain, dangerous times for a woman in her position. And she is facing a difficult choice - a choice which gets more urgent by the day - whether to give her child up for adoption as the Church insists she does, or to keep her child and face an uncertain future.
An extraordinary powerful novel of a time, a city and a woman, The Year of the Beast is Steven Carroll at his best. A rhythmic, insistent and pulsing novel that tells a compelling story of mothers, families, and what it means to be an individual, standing against the surge of the crowd.
Review
Chris Gordon
We have certain expectations of a novel, don’t we? We read to take a journey that we cannot influence. We want to be swept along and if, by the means of our reading, we learn more about our humanity then that is an added bonus. A fresh perspective is the gift that a novelist can offer us.
In this regard, Steven Carroll is a generous and convivial author. His Glenroy series has spanned one hundred years of Melbourne life and his latest novel, The Year of the Beast, is the sixth and final volume. It centres on pregnant Maryanne, who is living in our great city as World War I rips open everything. Told as if we are all observers looking at Maryanne from afar and from within, Carroll writes of her despair at the war, the Church and the law. He records the momentum of the war festering as if it were a separate entity in the city. It becomes a beast, a force that cannot be stopped despite the cries from the Women’s Peace Army, the newspapers and Maryanne.
The Year of the Beast is written with a perfect poetic pace that gives us a chance to view and feel both the minute and the expanse of the times in which it is set. The historical, linear narrative presents an opportunity for us all to ponder how and when personal action determines what happens – on a given day, in a particular life, for that person, for others, and on other days, in other lives, for us and for others. Melbourne is Carroll’s city and it is through this new novel, this seamless, delicious read, that he presents a story of our home to us, and for us. A rare gift indeed.
Christine Gordon is the events manager for Readings.
This item is not currently in-stock. It can be ordered online and is expected to ship in 10-14 days
Our stock data is updated periodically, and availability may change throughout the day for in-demand items. Please call the relevant shop for the most current stock information. Prices are subject to change without notice.
Sign in or become a Readings Member to add this title to a wishlist.
