Sarah Drummond

This is part of Australia's history that isn't taught in schools, well it wasn't while I was at school. The story is shockingly violent at times. These violent passages are described in rather a blunt, concise style that is over quickly, but always managed to catch me unawares and made me grimace. Notwithstanding the violence, I enjoyed reading of our early, sea trading history. The 1820s was a time of plundering, dishonesty and every man for himself. The story isn't always pretty, but I can well image that it is an accurate retelling. Set in and around the waters off Tasmania and Western Australia where life was tough and death was either a constant fear or a constant companion.… (mer)

his novel has received very favourable reviews in the Australian press (see http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/...) so I don't feel too guilty about abandoning it.
I liked Sarah Drummond's previous book Salt Story, but after reading up to page 53 I decided to let this one go. It's a revenge story, a young man's quest for vengeance in the colonial era when there was no justice for indigenous people like him, and so from the beginning I knew there was violence ahead. But there was also ruthlessness in the way the men trade in the Indigenous women of Van Diemen's Land and its offshore islands, and there is brutality in the way that their rape is so commonplace as not to be worthy of comment. There were also vivid descriptions of sealing which are unpleasant to read.
This is obviously historically accurate, but it doesn't make me want to read about it.
I haven't rated it because I don't rate books I haven't finished.… (mer)

I'm not a fishing person so why did I read a book about fishing? Having read Sarah Drummond's second book, The Sound, I wanted to read more. Salt Story is beautifully written in the easy conversational style that I love. Each chapter is a short vignette into the daily life of the estuarine and inshore fishing community in and around the southern tip of Western Australia. Sarah Drummond worked as a deckie for Salt and came to love the fisher lifestyle of early mornings, rough weather and baggy, wet weather clothing. The plain-spoken, eccentric mix of men and women who make up this band of solitary fishers, have, for the most part, been part of this seasonal way of life since they were kids themselves. With names as original as their personalities Salt, Unruly, Ms Mer, Gawain, Grievous, Nails and Turk are perhaps part of a dying breed but they won't go down without a fight. Sarah Drummond has given us a wonderful look at a way of life and an industry that few of us know anything about. I loved reading her beautiful descriptions, laughed at her sense of humour and the affection she has for these men and women, the fishers of southern WA is tangible. I eagerly await her next book.… (mer)