In Ghost River, Tony Birch returns to his childhood stamping ground of Collingwood in the early '60s, around the time that the developers were moving in and changing his world irrevocably.

Sonny and Ren are tearaway teenagers who like nothing better than heading down to the river for an illicit swim. There they encounter the river men, a group of elderly indigenous men fallen on hard times, who have gravitated towards the river to live out their lives.

When the boys find out that the government plans to destroy their neck of the river to build a freeway, Sonny resolves to stop them any way he can. He tries something that brings him to the notice of local gangsters and a corrupt cop, and things go haywire for the boys from there.

Mixed into all this is Ren's new neighbour Della, the daughter of a cultist preacher who appears to be up to some very weird goings-on.

This book felt a little bit unrealistic and disjointed to me. It's a bit Tom Sawyer and Boys' Own Adventure in style; it's pretty difficult to swallow some of the plot. The sub-plot around Della seems to go nowhere and could probably have been dispensed with. This is a disappointing outing from Birch after the superb Shadowboxing which covered much of the same territory in far more cogent fashion. ( )

Sonny and Ren's friendship is the tie that binds this story and it is what makes this a very endearing read. Both characters will be remembered. ( )

“Some people believe in religion. Well, I believe in stories.” So says Ren to his friend Sonny late in Tony Birch’s third novel Ghost River. Ren and Sonny are two young adolescent boys who live in Melbourne’s old inner-city suburb of Collingwood. It is the late 1960s, when Collingwood was a largely blue-collar neighbourhood. Ghost River is a novel about the power of stories – it’s also about the power of friendship, and the importance of community.

For my full review, please see my blog: https://whisperinggums.com/2016/03/12/tony-birch-ghost-river-review/ ( )