Favel Parrett (2012) Past the Shallows. London, John Murray. 978-1-84854-750-6

 

This story is less about the domestic abuse between a husband and wife – although the fact that this had happened is suspected from the outset – but the story focusses on the abuse of three sons by their father, now a widower.
 
[Trigger Warning: Domestic Violence]
[Spoiler alert].
 
This story is set in a fishing community in Tasmania, and the book was initially published in Australia and New Zealand. The story is of three brothers, Joe, Miles and Harry and their relationship with their father who runs a fishing boat, diving for abalone. The reckless way he behaves at sea is reflective of the abusive and risky relationship he has with his sons. Joe has left home after a breakdown in his relationship with his father so Miles is now forced to go out to sea with his father and his working partner and frequently blamed whenever things go wrong for them. Harry, the youngest, is often left to fend for himself with neighbours caring for him. Joe and Miles surf together whenever they are able and the times spent on the water are the only times of joy in the life of the middle son, Miles, despite his anger at Joe for leaving him and Harry with their father.
 
Underlying it all is a question about what happened to the boys’ mother. This thrums in the background with increasing tension. It is clear she is dead but it gradually emerges she died in a car accident with the boys in back of the car. Later on, as Harry begins to recover memories of that day, more is revealed until the end where we find out that their father drove into the car head-on to prevent his wife leaving with his business partner. Both were killed in the crash, but the father took the body of the man – who it is suggested might be Harry’s father – out of the car and buried it elsewhere to avoid knowledge of their relationship.

 

Although the majority of the book doesn’t directly include the abuse the mother suffered at the hands of her husband, it is hinted at, and finally revealed along with the ultimate act of her murder at his hands. 

 

The author is a keen surfer and that is obvious from the way the sections where the two older boys go surfing is beautifully and poetically described. She has also drawn on her experiences of living in Hobart for seven years as a child.

Favel Parrett’s has said that the closeness of the boys’ relationship was reflective of her own relationship with her brother, a closeness which developed as a result of family breakdown. She has said “The way I feel about my brother is all in my writing. One of the worst things that could have happened to me when I was a child would have been losing my brother. Often siblings from broken families have to rely on each other because that’s all you’ve got. And it’s not like we didn’t fight but just not as much as other siblings. We always thought we’d be OK, no matter what happened in our family, because we had each other.”

    Awards:
·        Dobbie Literary Prize 2012
·        Australian Book Industry Awards for Newcomer of the Year 2012
 
And shortlisted for:
·        Miles Franklin Literary Award 2012
·        Australian Book Industry Awards for Book of the Year 2012
·        Australian Book Industry Awards for Literary Book of the Year 2012
·        The Indie Awards for Debut Fiction 2012
·        ABA’s Bookseller’s Choice Award 2012

Paula Sharp (1997) Crows Over a Wheatfield. London, Bloomsbury. 978-0-7475-3112-9

 

Crows Over a Wheatfield covers the story of two families affected by domestic abuse and examines the treatment of domestic abuse victims in court, but is a redemptive tale as women from both families use the experiences to make their lives, and the lives of other victims, better.

[Trigger Warning: Domestic Violence]
[Spoiler alert].
 
The initial story is one of a family with a brilliant and well known lawyer who, at home, is abusive, falling into violent and unpredictable rages. After the death of the protagonist’s, Melanie, mother, he brings home and marries a girl with whom he has been having an affair and their illegitimate child, Matt. The two children and his new wife suffer from his abuse with a final act causing a mental breakdown for Matt and the boy’s mother finally leaving the marriage.
 
Melanie seeks revenge in succeeding in her own law career, while finding the rest of her life hollow and empty. One summer she goes to stay with her stepmother who lives close to her brother and meets the people who have befriended them. Melanie becomes friends with Mildred, a close friend of her brother and the daughter of a Minister who runs the half-way house where Matt lives.
 
Mildred is married to a charismatic character, Daniel, by whom she has a son, Ben. Daniel, behind his charming façade, is a deeply controlling and physically abusive man, both to his wife and child who is terrified of him. The courts, however, refuse to recognise the abuse and put Mildred in a positive where she feels she has to flee with her child and go into hiding.
 
In the ten years she is away she opens the route of escape to other victims of abuse, and sets in train a “railroad” in the manner of Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad for black slaves. In supporting another case, she comes out of hiding once her son reaches eighteen, and the families are reunited. Melanie decides to resign her position and follow her heart.
 
This has probably been the most difficult book for me to read to date. I found the scenes set in court where lies were told and actions carried out in contravention of the safety of the children involved, resonated with my own experiences and triggered my post-traumatic stress disorder. Having said that, there is something healing about reading that you are not the only person with these experiences of the western legal system.
 
I also liked the fact that the book included a victim of abuse, Mildred, who didn’t conform to the stereotypes I had come across in other fiction. However, the father figure being a high-ranking lawyer did!
 
The author has drawn from her own experiences of being a defence attorney and has said that her exposure to the drama in court influenced her writing.

Awards:
Editor’s Choice for the Chicago Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle.
A notable book in the New York Times Book Review

Coleen Hoover (2016) It Ends With Us. London, Simon and Schuster. 978-1-4711-5626-7

 

Colleen Hoover’s book tells the story of a young woman concerned she may be repeating the cycle of being abused from one generation to her own.
 
[Trigger Warning: Domestic Violence]
[Spoiler alert].
 
Lily was brought up with an outwardly successful father who controlled and physically abused her mother. While Lily is at home she secretly befriends and supports a boy, Atlas, who is squatting in an abandoned house and as he discovers what is happening in her home, he supports her and a relationship develops.
 
Eventually Lily moves away for college and stays in Boston, working successfully in marketing. Her father has recently died of cancer and her mother moves to be closer to her. She decides to use the freedom provided by her father’s death to leave her marketing role and fulfil a Long-held ambition to open her own floristry business.
 
Around the same time she meets the wealthy neurosurgeon brother of her old flatmate and the attraction between them is instant. They are a good match and friends and family are pleased. Until Ryle hits her. The relationship goes through the typical abusive cycles of violence, regret and apologies on Ryle’s part.  Lily loves Ryle but knows that apologies and regret will not be enough to stop the relationship remaining abusive, and to stop the cycle of domestic abuse she painfully calls an end to it. Having met up with an older Atlas, who she is able to trust, he helps her move on.
 
This was a hard read for me as my daughter bought me the book, having read it herself. Also being the daughter of a controlling and abusive (although thankfully not physically violent) father, she found the book particularly moving and rang me to thank me for leaving when we did.

It has been suggested that the story is drawn from the author’s own experiences.

Awards:

Goodreads Choice, Best Romance Novel 2016
The Rights to the film have been optioned by Wayfarer Entertainment (2019)