Reviewed by Rod McLary
In her latest book, Maryrose Cuskelly takes a critical look at how a comfortable self-regarding middle-class community responds to the intrusion into their domain by a group of rough sleepers. In The Campers, the author explores the impact of homelessness and the presence of rough sleepers on a community and, however well-meaning they may be in the abstract, how it struggles with the reality ‘in their own backyard’. Through the literary device of disparate individuals living within a contained space, the novel examines the individual responses to the rough sleepers and how those responses fracture the once close-knit community.
‘The drovers’ – as the community names itself – live in a cul-de-sac which backs onto a nature reserve and a creek. It is a beautiful location and the ‘drovers’ consider themselves very fortunate to live there. The drovers comprise a range of types – a gay couple, an older retired couple, two women sharing a house, an Indian couple with their two teenage sons, a share house with three university students, and at the heart of the narrative Leah and Moses with their two young children. There is a strong sense of cohesion in the group which is reinforced by a chatroom where the drovers share their activities and sustain their view of the world.
Then suddenly, there is a message that a tent has been seen in the reserve. And this is the beginning of a series of events which will have drastic consequences for the drovers and particularly for Leah and Moses. Soon the sole tent turns into a group of rough sleepers – led by their charismatic ‘leader’ Sholto – which very quickly becomes [or at least is perceived to be] a threat to the drovers’ complacency and comfort.
There is an inevitability to the events which follow but that does not distract from the gradual increasing tension as the drovers through their chatroom posts argue about a resolution to the presence of the rough sleepers – and the views of the individual drovers are very different from each other. Into this mix comes Miguel – Leah’s seventeen-year-old stepson – who is idealistic and perceptive and whose acceptance of the rough sleepers challenges Leah’s complacency.
Twice in the course of the narrative, the author describes two severe storms which strike the community – the first of which causes considerable damage and precipitates a crisis among the drovers. The storm can perhaps be seen as a metaphor for what is happening between the drovers and the rough sleepers. The second storm towards the end of the novel is of a different kind – perhaps more like ‘sound and fury signifying nothing’. And it heralds a sense of relief as it passes over the drovers.
Maryrose Cuskelly has crafted a narrative which will provoke thought and perhaps a re-consideration of the plight of rough sleepers and of homelessness in general. The author has won an award for her writing on public issues and her knowledge about homelessness informs the content of The Campers. But here these serious issues are contained within an engrossing and psychologically-sound narrative with characters who will immediately engage the reader – even with their blind spots and, on occasion, somewhat dubious behaviours.
A well-recommended read.
The Campers
[2025]
by Maryrose Cuskelly
Allen and Unwin
ISBN 978 176147 126 1
$32.99; 326pp
QRC has interviewed Maryrose Cuskelly. Click here to read the interview.