Blue Hour (Sarah Schmidt, Hachette)

Sarah Schmidt’s second novel, following her award-winning debut See What I Have Done, is an intensely absorbing emotional journey through motherhood and trauma set against the turbulent 20th century. In the 1930s, Kitty escapes her mother’s dictatorial voice by becoming a nurse in a country hospital for returned soldiers. Finally independent, she meets George just as he is leaving for World War II. When he returns, he is changed, but Kitty keeps her vow to marry him. Already self-absorbed and struggling with impulse control, her capacity for love deteriorates when an agonising tragedy befalls the couple. Into this tumultuous emotional terrain, Eleanor is born to her war-affected father and grief-addled mother. In the 1970s, she has a baby girl with a violent man who goes to Vietnam, but when he returns with sinister secrets everything falls apart. Blue Hour is a powerful, character-driven examination of the intergenerational impact of war on families and how secrets and unresolved grief and trauma lead to profound anguish and pain. Reflecting the human condition, each character’s suffering manifests differently. The novel meditates on what it means to have children—highlighting their innocence—and the difficulty of parenting while battling demons. Schmidt deftly handles the non-linear narrative, and many signs, not least the superb characterisation and heart-rending plot, indicate that we are in the hands of a master storyteller. At times uncomfortable and terribly sad, this gripping read magnifies the horrible things people do to those they love while offering glimpses of the joy that can exist between humans and in nature. The many elements of Blue Hour should appeal to a broad audience, from those interested in historical fiction to readers of contemporary literature.

Joanne Shiells is a high school English teacher, an editor and a former retail book buyer.

Category: Friday Unlocked reviews Reviews