Angel Day, Phantom’s wife of many years and many children, deserts him for the Eastside and the bed of alluring Mozzie Fishman, who leads years-long caravans along the land’s original tracks. His parade of vehicles traces paths of the Dreaming, a time before time:
- Bearers of the feared secret Law ceremony, these one hundred men were holy pilgrims of the Aboriginal world. Their convoy continued an ancient religious crusade along the spiritual travelling road of the great ancestor, whose journey continues to span the entire continent and is older than time itself.
In a Romeo and Juliet touch, the second generation also joins together the bickering tribes when Norm and Angel’s son, Will, comes to love Hope, the daughter of Joseph Midnight. Will also escapes danger by joining one of Fishman’s trips, and Norm knows of the desertion. However, Will and Midnight’s offspring plot to destroy the conglomerate mining operation that left both tribes bereft of their indigenous lands. As a result, in a neat circularity, the results unite Norm with his grandson, the child of Hope and Will.
Multiple threads of stories weave in and out of the overarching themes of betrayal and belonging. Readers must hold onto the strands of one story, while following others through 528 pages, a challenging but ultimately rewarding endeavor. Carpentaria will not satisfy those who do not want to read about indigenous peoples or ways of thinking that differ from traditional Western linear ratiocination. For readers who can appreciate convoluted, self-referential tales and tolerate some incomplete resolutions, this book will deliver a great measure of enjoyment.
This edition of Carpentaria, published by Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, is available in April 2009. The book was originally published in Australia in 2006 by Giramondo. In 2007, it won Australia’s most prestigious prize, the Miles Franklin Literary Award. The author has also received several other prizes for it, including the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal. It has been an international best seller even before release in the United States.
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