What Book to Read?

Wendy Scarfe is an Australian writer and biographer. In this short book she is writing about the loss of innocence of a small boy in Adelaide during the First World War. It seems that she has brought together a number of her passions in this story, including that for heroes of the Left, the Australian bush, and the sad realities of growing up.

Matthew lives with his mother and Irish grandmother; his father is dying of TB and is only a shadowy and terrifying presence. They live near where an unnamed river makes its way through sandy channels to the sea, and Matthew spends a lot of time on the river banks, on the beach and in the sand hills. The family, according to his silly butterfly of a mother, Margaret, have come down in the world because of her husband’s illness. She yearns for respectability and likes nothing better than flirting with any man who comes within her orbit – including her mother’s young friend Edward, who is a member of the anarchist International Workers of the World. Her mother, Sarah, also has left wing political views. These sit uncomfortably not only with her daughter’s aspirations, but also with those of respectable society at large, for this is the period when Empire loyalists clashed with opponents of conscription, led by trade unionists including members of the IWW. We know from the title that Edward dies, and from the prologue that this is a major factor in Matthew’s loss of innocence. The rest of the story leads up to this point.

Matthew’s hopes and fears, his need for love and his child’s view of the adult world of nearly a hundred years ago seem to me on the whole convincing. This is a considerable feat on Scarfe’s part, both psychologically and historically. The descriptions of nature as seen through Matthew’s eyes are also realistic and even lyrical. The adult characters, however, seem more the actors in a morality play than genuinely rounded individuals. Margaret is too silly, Sarah and Edward too noble, and Matthew’s German head master, Mr Werther, is present largely as a symbol demonstrating the existence of prejudice. Sarah in particular makes long and impassioned political speeches which no young child could possibly understand. To be fair, Scarfe shows that much of it does go over Matthew’s head, but why is it there, unless to carry a political message? I don’t mind there being a message – it’s just that it’s not very subtle.

Aside from the river, the sea and the dunes, the backdrop of Adelaide in the 1910s is only lightly sketched in, though as an Adelaidean I couldn’t help trying to locate the action. The history of the period, though crucial to the outcome, is also not spelt out in detail, the main focus being on Matthew’s thoughts, feelings and actions. It’s therefore probably a bit unfair of me to suggest that the history is essentially an extension of the morality play; it is lacking in dimension, like the adult characters. It’s true that Empire loyalty was strong, but it’s worth remembering that two referenda on introducing conscription were defeated, and it wasn’t only radical organisations like the IWW that opposed them. It’s also true there was much anti-German feeling; my problem here is that I doubt if Mr Wether would in reality have kept his job, if indeed he could have won it in the first place. But I guess I’m just being picky.

I was interested to note that Wendy Scarfe and her husband Allen are editors of a book about Percy Brookfield, one of the very few members of an Australia parliament to have been killed while a serving member. Like Edward, he was to the left of the Australian Labor Party, (though originally elected as an ALP member) and I wondered if he were the inspiration for this character. Edward of course is not an MP, and Brookfield’s death – he was shot by a crazed Russian – was not overtly political. But knowing about her interest in Brookfield adds some depth for me.

You can find out more about Wendy Scarfe’s work here