The Dark Mountain (Catherine Jinks, A&U, $32.95 tpb, ISBN 9781741149951, June) ****

A great big hulk of a book that, given its definite pageturner status, nonetheless goes by very quickly. I have to admit that I would probably never think to pick up this book based on the market its cover suggests, but the blurb on the back of the proof was enough to suck me in, there was no cover to put me off, and I was far from disappointed at what was inside. Jinks has found a story from Australia’s history that includes our first serial killer, two of Australia’s pioneering women writers, madness, mystery and bushrangers. It’s a dramatic mix, but Jinx’s concentration on characterisation and the inner world of her heroine Charlotte (as well as the fact it’s a based on a true story) keeps it on the right side of melodrama. The story itself is of the Atkinson family whose peaceful lives are overshadowed with violence when their mother—for reasons known only to herself—marries the alcoholic, violent and eventually insane George Barton. The first half of this book is a slow-building study in domestic violence, circa the early 1800s, but ‘interludes’ set later in the century keep us reading, eager as Charlotte herself is for explanations. Ultimately I was disappointed at what seemed an abrupt and not quite satisfying denouement, but not enough to stop me recommending it. An engrossing read.

Matthia Dempsey is editor of Bookseller+Publisher

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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