Volcano Street (David Rain, Atlantic)

Arguably, Volcano Street is the sort of Australian novel that’s no longer fashionable to write, with its heavy focus on rural life and use of vernacular dialogue and bawdy bushman’s humour. To be fair, David Rain’s second novel isn’t set in the present day, but during the tail-end of the Vietnam War in the fictional South Australian town of Crater Lakes. This largely comedic tale focuses on two teenage sisters from Adelaide who are sent to live with their matronly aunt after their mother has a breakdown. The girls are slow to adapt to Crater Lakes’ lifestyle, and have to fight the conservative views of its townspeople in order to gain independence. As a coping mechanism, the girls adopt the mantra: ‘What would Germaine do?’ It’s a reference to the leading feminist of the time, Germaine Greer, and it doesn’t sit convincingly within the plot. Greer’s politics are barely explored, and the broader concept of women’s agency in country Australia is only lightly sketched by Rain, who seems more interested in creating larger-than-life caricatures of larrikin Aussies—something which will make readers either laugh or cringe.

Emily Laidlaw is a freelance writer and editor

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Category: Reviews