About the Book:
It's Sydney in the early 2000s, and Grub is spending the summer with her universally adored older brother, Elijah, and his magnetic but troubled best friend, Zed. Their days are filled with surfing, swimming and hanging out; life couldn't be better.
But years later, Elijah disappears and Grub's family unravels. At first, Grub blames Zed: he was the one who derailed Elijah from a bright future in the arts. But as Grub looks back at those dreamy summer days, the sanctuary of her certainty crumbles. Was Zed really responsible for her brother's disappearance? Was anyone?
Tidelines is a tender coming-of-age novel about growing up in the face of unimaginable loss. It examines the stories we subconsciously write for ourselves, and what remains later, when we have the courage to tear them apart.
Published by Affirm Press
Released 30 January 2024
My Thoughts:
This was quite an emotional read, but such an insightful and deeply meaningful one as well. I found it quite unsettling in parts as it gave me pause to examine the lives of my own now adult children, one in particular who was like Elijah in more ways than one. Given what transpires within this novel, needless to say, it left me once again somewhat fearful, a stage I move in and out of with regularity regarding this particular child of mine. I'm being a little vague, because it's personal and also to do with someone else, but I'm bringing it up in this vague way because sometimes that's what a book does to you - it grabs a hold of you in ways that are deeply personal, which is what happened with here with Tidelines.
In terms of literary merit though, this is an excellent debut novel. The narrative is crisp and goodness, there are some absolutely gorgeous lines and passages. The pace is swift, but not too much so, and the character development was precise. I found it an immersive and compulsive read, but one also that I took my time over, as the writing begged rereading in some sections, it was just that pointed and meaningful.
The sense of place within each setting was strong, you really felt where each character was in the story, and not just in each location, but also within a building or even just a room. There's this really emotional scene where Grub is walking through her childhood home after it's been remodelled for sale and she hears some contractors talking about these divots in the floorboards that even the sanding and polishing didn't take out. These were from the stand from her brother's cello, made through the carpet over the years and years of him practising. And of course, that evokes so many memories for her, those little divots in the floor. As a person who is very attached to place, I could feel this so keenly, and it left me weeping.
Tidelines is a sensational debut that I recommend widely. Gold star Australian fiction.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
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