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Ghost River Paperback – 23 September 2015

by Tony Birch (Author)

149

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The river is a place of history and secrets. For Ren and Sonny, two unlikely friends, it's a place of freedom and adventure. For a group of storytelling vagrants, it's a refuge. And for the isolated daughter of a cult reverend, it's an escape.

'You find yourself down at the bottom of the river, for some it's time to give into her. But other times, young fellas like you two, you got to fight your way back. Show the river you got courage and is ready to live.'

The river is a place of history and secrets. For Ren and Sonny, two unlikely friends, it's a place of freedom and adventure. For a group of storytelling vagrants, it's a refuge. And for the isolated daughter of a cult reverend, it's an escape.

Each time they visit, another secret slips into its ancient waters. But change and trouble are coming - to the river and to the lives of those who love it. Who will have the courage to fight and survive and what will be the cost?

Praise for Tony Birch

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Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Queensland Press
Publication date

23 September 2015
Dimensions

15.24 x 2.29 x 22.86 cm
ISBN-10

0702253774
ISBN-13

978-0702253775
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Tony Birch
1,146
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Tony Birch
165
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Product description

Book Description

The river is a place of history and secrets. For Ren and Sonny, two unlikely friends, it's a place of freedom and adventure. For a group of storytelling vagrants, it's a refuge. And for the isolated daughter of a cult reverend, it's an escape.

About the Author

Tony Birch is the author of Ghost River, which won the 2016 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing and Blood, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. He is also the author of Shadowboxing, and two short story collections, Father's Day and The Promise. Tony is a frequent contributor to ABC local and national radio and a regular guest at writers' festivals. He lives in Melbourne and is a Senior Research Fellow at Victoria University.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Queensland Press; 1st edition (23 September 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0702253774
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0702253775
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 2.29 x 22.86 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 237,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 1,805 in Ghost Stories
- 6,637 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books)
- 16,851 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction

Customer Reviews:
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Jim KABLE

The river of life

Reviewed in Australia on 4 December 2015

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This story reminds me of my childhood - half-a-century and more ago - of adventures, part-time jobs - and (for me) Goonoo Goonoo Creek - my Yarra. It's about friendship, kindness, figuring things out and growing up - and finding one's own courage against the vested interests - of "progress" and development, of gambling, of the law, of the "Church" - and the undercurrent always there of a fundamental Indigenous presence. It's a rich and lively tale - not a digital device in sight!

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jill dixon

A Powerful 1960's snapshot on growing up on Melbourne's Yarra before the Freeway

Reviewed in Australia on 5 February 2016

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This was a nostalgic read for me, having also grown 'with' the Yarra River, but a little further afield than inner Melbourne. But i think it could potentially be so for others as well because it tells the story of the unlikely friendship between two very different young working class males brought together by their street address. They form a deep, often unspoken loyalty, as they move through the idyllic escapism of play on their beloved Yarra, to the realization that not all is well in the changing world and it is not easy if you want to 'swim against the current'. It speaks of the emerging social and environmental issues of dislocating people and place for progress and it will resonate powerfully for anyone in Melbourne who knows the Eastern freeway corridor that was the focus of this change, given its major important fifty years later.

The writing style is easy and direct and the characters are well formed, all helping to make this a good read!

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Snodge

Enjoyable read with engaging characters

Reviewed in Australia on 2 January 2016

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Ghost River tells the story of two young boys and the depth of their connection with each other, their (contaminated) river, the "river men" who live in a humpy under the bridge and also their families. You could describe them as "free range" kids and accordingly they get themselves into or are dragged into some pretty dangerous situations.
Perhaps the most striking thing about the story is the lack of judgement from the narration. I like that. It was recommended as Indigenous and while some key characters are Aboriginal the two main characters and their families were just people and to my mind could be black or white it doesn't matter. I found the story and characters very engaging.

Reviewed in Australia on 10 January 2017

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Story of enduring relationships contrasted with broken an dysfunctional relationships. The power of friendship over contrived liaisons makes for engaging reading

Reviewed in Australia on 29 July 2016

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The 2 boys were typical teenagers of the era in which the story was written. Landmarks on that part of the Yarra, although not specifically named were clearly identifiable, as places we had visited around the City environs. Local Melbournians would definitely identify with these places.

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irene

Brilliant story. Reading a story that pays homage to ...

Reviewed in Australia on 10 November 2015

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Brilliant story. Reading a story that pays homage to the inevitable power of the natural world always satisfies my sense of how the world should be.

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MisterHobgoblin

Collingwood Childhood

Reviewed in Australia on 29 October 2015

Ghost River is a story of one summer in the life of a young boy, Ren, growing up in Melbourne’s inner-East in the 1960s. The catalyst for the story is the arrival next door of another young boy, Sonny, with whom Ren strikes up a friendship.

Over the course of the summer, the boys fall in love with the river. It offers recreation (swimming, diving, bird-watching); it offers mystery in the form of an itinerant group of alcoholics with their bohemian lifestyle and story-telling; and it offers beauty in the form of waterfalls, cliffs, bridges and abandoned buildings. It also offers a taste of forbidden fruit, as the boys have been warned to stay well away for fear that they might join the bodies of the various suicides, accidents and assaults that end up snared in underwater branches or floating out into the bay.

As Ren and Sonny goad each other on, they become more daring and outlandish as they wag school, dive from ever higher bridges, spy on their freakishly religious neighbours and look for ways to make a dollar.

Ren and Sonny are charming boys. Sonny, in particular, is a lovable rogue who is misunderstood by the adults in his life. However, he is loyal, surprisingly hard-working and smarter than anyone imagines. Ren is often impressionable and tends to follow wherever Sonny leads, but is compassionate and courteous even if he isn’t very streetwise.

But more than being a story of Ren and Sonny, this is a love story about the river (specifically the Yarra Bend Park) and the streets of Abbotsford and Collingwood. The novel is full of straddling edges and boundaries; there’s the boundary between urban and rural as the river offers an oasis of bushland in the heart of the city. There’s the boundary between adulthood and childhood that Ren and Sonny are crossing. There’s the river as a physical boundary between the poorer inner-urban neighbourhoods and the more affluent outer suburbs of Kew and Hawthorn. Then there’s a subtle boundary between the past and the present. The 1960s represent a time when the inner-city poverty was tackled, slums cleared or improved, road networks were built, new development took place in the outer East, and the itinerant workers and street urchins vanished forever. And there are boundaries (not necessarily co-terminous) between lawful and unlawful; right and wrong.

Ghost River shows us a moment in time, but there is a wider sense of history. The homeless men by the river represent a dispossessed people; their stories represent a connection to a long ago age. The boys’ innocence lets them become part of that world, but their circumstances pull them also into the modern world of school, work and gangs. You can still go down to the Yarra; see Dights Falls, see the bridges and cliffs. It’s a world that is real, and you can know that across Melbourne, there are sixty year old Rens and Sonnys who remember this bygone age.

This is a book of great beauty and sensitivity. It is not judgemental and simply shows people accepting their place in the food chain, trying to bite those just ahead of them whilst avoiding being bitten from below. Meanwhile, the Yarra just keeps on flowing as it ever did, claiming those it wants and spitting out those it doesn’t.

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