Echo in the memory by Cameron Nunn

Opening with a TS Elliot quote, ‘Footfalls echo in the memory down the passage which we did not take towards the door we never opened’ prepares the reader for a protagonist who channels the memories of a 15yr old convict boy who worked as a shepherd on his Grandparents’ sheep property. The convict Will, writes his memoir in the first person but Will’s story is told in the 3rd person.

Cameron Nunn, like Jackie French before him in The White Ship, gradually weaves two stories separated by 200 years in time. Events don’t begin in the outback. Will Richard’s mother takes her own life and his father shunts him and his sister to the countryside to live with his parents. Whereas, convict William Richards, is deported to Sydney for stealing a sheet of roofing lead before being indentured to McNeil’s sheep property. Modern-day Will’s grandfather is also named William Richards and Pa has also lived with the confusion and stigma of unlived memories that connect him to the long dead convict boy.

Historically accurate, given the author’s academic interests, the reader will feel the neglect, powerlessness, social injustices and the moral struggle of a thinking person coming of age in a harsh 18th century colony inhabited by brigands. William’s scholarly ambitions are balanced with his love interest in Sarah, the pastoralist’s daughter. His empathy for the treatment of indigenous people are truly before his time, or perhaps time is not linear? Similarly, today’s Will doesn’t dismiss his grandfather as mentally ill, like the rest of the family. Will keeps an open mind and methodically resolves what he cannot instantly understand.

Echo in the memory makes a good stimulus for discussing the lesser known history of our First Nations people who became refugees in their own land when the English colonized Australia. The superb characterization will make classroom discussion of Nunn’s specialty, Convict Children, both engaging and heartfelt.  The novel is supported by Book Club notes and teacher's notes.

Themes: Bildungsroman, Australian History, Convicts, Paranormal, Family.

Deborah Robins