The winds of heaven by Judith Clarke
Allen and Unwin, 2009.
ISBN 9781741757316
(Ages 12+) I anticipate a powerful storyline with memorable
characters
when reading a new work of Judith Clarke's. The Winds of Heaven
has not
disappointed. Fan lives in rural New South Wales. She is wild and
beautiful, spontaneous and exuberant, but confined by small town gossip
and an abusive mother. Clementine lives in the city; just an
ordinary girl, rather naive and reserved, but encouraged by loving yet
cautious parents. The girls are cousins and, after an initial family
visit, their lives become intertwined. We meet the girls in 1952
when Clementine and her mother make the train journey to see Aunt Rene
and Fan. Though she struggles at school, Fan possesses a strong feeling
for the land - its smell, taste and movements - the country around her
offers escape and a sense of contentment. She has
befriended a 'fringe dweller' - an old aboriginal man - who has shared
his stories and language with her, and she confides this to her bemused
cousin.
Clementine returns home with mixed feelings. She is fascinated by Fan
and connects with her cousin in thought but the commitment to see her
is not there. Circumstances and apprehensions separate them. As
the years pass, Clementine allows too much precious time to escape and
Fan eventually goes away.
Clarke skilfully handles the time structure of the novel. It opens in
2009 with Clementine looking back over her life as she sits in the park
with a friend. The reader then meets the girls in the 50s and the 60s
before returning to the present.
The story is very readable, told with great insight and compassion.
Both girls have inner battles to fight and the odds are against them in
different ways. The prose has a poetic quality which keeps the reader
lingering on pages.
Clarke's picture of life in Australia at the time is authentic. So too
are the contrasts between city and country - in particular, the train
journeys linking the two, work very well.
Their lives told with tenderness and understanding, Fan and Clementine
will remain in my mind for a long time.
Julie Wells