Author(s): Emily Brugman

Aust Fiction

A moving and original debut novel. Observant, warm and extraordinary.

'There is an other-worldly quality about the Abrolhos which is beyond the reach of ordinary storytelling. Emily Brugman has captured them, staked them to the page in all their isolation and aridity and scoured indifference, because her storytelling is extraordinary.' Jock Serong, bestselling author of Preservation

'Strongly felt, deeply felt, original.' Tegan Bennett Daylight

There are few places wilder than Little Rat, a small island in an archipelago off the coast of Western Australia. Beautiful, harsh and lonely, the landscape is still haunted by the many ships that have wrecked on its reefs across the centuries. Yet it is here that the Saari family try to build their future, thousands of miles from the cold lowlands of Finland.

A crayfishing family, Onni and his wife Alva work hard. Against this spectacular and brutal backdrop, small tragedies and immense joys are shared by the fishing families of Little Rat: Alva makes a perilous journey across rough seas with a tiny newborn baby, where, against all odds, she feels safe; their young daughter Hilda watches as a small boy tumbles from a jetty and very nearly drowns; an old story of shipwreck and mutiny intrigues two adolescent boys; a mysterious and tortured fisherman rows into the eye of a storm; and Hilda, on the brink of womanhood, comes to know the cruelty and the ecstasy of desire, while distances expand between her and her migrant parents.

A stunning, insightful story of a search for home.

Matilda Bookshop Review

The Islands follows four generations of a Finnish family working in harsh conditions on the Albrolhos Islands, off Western Australia, during the 60s and beyond. While the islands provide food and income the family find themselves at odds with social expectations and, at times, nature itself. Brugman explores ideas of culture, home, loss, and the ties that bind us. The writing is deliciously sharp and sometimes sentimental in its unsentimentality. I loved this rich and contemplative family saga! Marina.