Reviewed by Wendy Lipke
On reading this latest novel by Léonie Kelsall, I was once again drawn back to the small country town called Settlers Bridge located in South Australia where I found characters I have met before. For those readers who are unfamiliar with this author’s work, all the information needed for this particular story is provided.
The author is well known for her stories of the country, her beautiful descriptions of the environment and of people who find love later in their lives. These are usually women who have had to weather circumstances early on which have diminished the fertile social contact required for finding a lasting loving relationship.
Natasha and her daughter Zehra have moved here where the mother will take up the position of teacher. She is the second new teacher to come to this location. Both of these women will no doubt play an important role in the future as this small country town sets out to reinvigorate itself and hopefully stop the flow of people away to Adelaide.
Natasha grew up in another small country town and from an early age had to take on responsibilities well beyond her years because of the deprivation she experienced. Providing for their child was low on her parents’ priorities well behind booze, cigarettes and gambling. She was determined to finish her schooling with sufficient credit to obtain a well-respected job to support herself. A hearing problem added to her differences, isolating her from others.
The storyline is broken into two timeframes, ‘Then’ and ‘Now’, which alternate throughout the novel. During Natasha’s last year of high school, a new student joins their class. He is a little older than the other students because his family has emigrated from Turkey. They become friends and he accepts her as she is, and at long last Natasha feels loved. Insecurity makes her feel unworthy of his attention. Self-doubt had stalked her throughout her childhood. Her life is shattered when he returns to Turkey.
Léonie Kelsall’s writing style, as well as being descriptive, manages to build anticipation about certain circumstances. The reader has to wait till later in the book to discover the true situation. One gets the impression that Natasha might have First Nations ancestry, yet it is not until near the end of the book that they are sure. ‘As Natasha left the footpath and wound through the coojong to wander beneath the eucalypts’ (353) that … ‘the wisdom of her ancestors flowed through the nurturing earth and into her bare feet, a living current, an essence that vibrated and hummed within her’ (354). When coming to Settlers Bridge, she had found her sense of belonging. She had dragged herself out of the gutter, broken the cycle of poverty and become a more positive person. The reader also has to be patient regarding the revelation of Zehra’s father.
This story contains the frailty of human nature and its inability to embrace those who are different or change from what has always been. Yet it also shows that there are those who are ready to embrace this same quality as they can see the richness it can bring to all lives. Léonie Kelsall is not afraid to address some of the darker aspects of life.
I thoroughly enjoy reading novels by this author because they describe people and behaviours which are currently found in modern society. The wisdom she gives her characters and the beautiful way she describes it are inspiring. Natasha comes to realise that history was cast in stone and earth and couldn’t be changed so it was no use to let her past dampen her future. The present and the future are described as rivers flowing contained within their banks but aways fluid and unpredictable.
Kelsall’s love of the surrounding flora is evident in the title of her books which include The Wattle Seed Inn, The Blue Gum Camp and The Homestead in the Eucalypts.
The Path Through the Coojong Trees
(2025)
by Léonie Kelsall
Allen&Unwin
ISBN:978-1-76147-092-9
$32.99;384pp