A remarkable little fable, a truly worthy novel. ( )

I went into this not knowing what to expect. In fact, I'm not even sure how I became aware of this novel but I'm so grateful that I did.

Told in four parts, The Rain Heron introduces us to three seemingly disparate stories and then unites them seamlessly later on. Set in a country torn apart by the climate crisis and political turmoil, the novel focuses on several different characters.

Ren is a woman who has turned her back on what's left of civilization and retreated to a solitary life on a mountaintop. Her only interaction is to trade occasionally with a man and his son. A young soldier and her small troop come to her and insist on her help in finding the mythological rain heron.

A young girl living in a peaceful coastal town, Zoe lives an idyllic life helping her aunt collect ink from squid in a traditional and secretive way. But that all changes when the Northerner and the storms come to town.

A tender hearted medic forced into taking a military role walks a thin line and finds it difficult to separate his morals, his loyalty, and his duties.

Written in both third and first person, the characters are awash in depth and complexity. Even the landscapes are imbued with emotion from verdant mountaintops, to deep dark seas, to dried up plains, the locales serve to create an almost hypnotic atmosphere.

The Rain Heron was utterly captivating. Mixing fable with dystopian eco-thriller, Arnott has woven a spellbinding tale filled with greed and generosity, danger and comfort, love and brutality, horrifying ugliness and breathtaking beauty all in equal measure. ( )

A somewhat moving, though disjointed, fable/fantasy that features some beautiful writing and well-constructed characters. ( )

Poignantly, beautifully written. ( )

Tasmanian author Robbie Arnott has a new book (Limberlost) due out soon, so it was time to read his novel which I'd bought as soon as it was released in 2020. The Rain Heron (2020), won the Age Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for a swag of other awards: the Miles Franklin Literary, the ALS Gold Medal, the Voss Literary Prize and an Adelaide Festival Award for Literature. But it is not for the faint-hearted: both humans and animals are horribly violent in a novel that features domestic violence, psychological and physical torture, two murders by drowning, savage animal attacks and the shooting of an unarmed victim. Trust me, this is a book that shocks the reader when characters meet their doom.

How does all this cruel mayhem come about? There has been a coup, and although Ren has been living peacefully alone in a remote mountain cave, her refuge is soon discovered when soldiers come to the nearby small town in search of the fabled rain heron. It is an easy matter for Harker to track the people with whom Ren barters her produce, and when she arrives at Ren's cave it is clear not only that Harker will do 'whatever it takes' but that she seems to be missing the humanity gene...

Part 2 explains how this happened. Zoe was a kid living with her grandmother, making a living through the sale of a fabled squid ink. A 'northerner' turns up wanting to 'modernise' i.e. industrialise what is really a sustainable cottage industry, and he too is indefatigable. Patient and determined, and greedy. Zoe does not emerge from tragedy unscathed.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/01/30/the-rain-heron-by-robbie-arnott/ ( )