Coming home is never easy. Astrid left Tasmania when she was a young woman and now needs to adjust to her complex family. Her difficult mother Hyacinth is battling cancer. Her father Angus, former political leader, only speaks in Shakespeare quotes. Her twin brother JC is harbouring deep secrets, and her sister Max is opposition leader in the Coleman political dynasty. Family love and loyalty runs deep.When I first heard about Bruny I was really excited. Heather Rose's previous novel, the Stella Prize winning The Museum of Modern Love (2016) was brilliant and was my top pick for fiction in 2017. I knew this novel would be different as it was touted as a geopolitical thriller, and given my love of global politics I was keen to get my hands on this book.
For all the political intrigue of Bruny - foreign investment, secret deals, migrant workers, complex infrastructure projects, racism, being caught between China and America - there was something missing. The pacing of the novel was problematic - the first two-thirds of the book was so slow that I contemplated giving up. I persevered and became suddenly gripped in the last third when Bruny became a page-turner.
Heather Rose is a gifted writer and she creates a strong sense of place to the Tasmania she loves. Some of the prose in this novel I found clunky and cringey - such as when Rose would describe characters as looking like Gene Hackman, Chris Hemsworth or other celebrities. But her evocative descriptions of Tasmania - the flora, fauna and people - made me want to pack my bags and jump on the Bruny ferry. It was also refreshing to read a book where the protagonist is a fully formed woman nearing 60 years of age.