Book Reviews – The Earth Cries Out

The Earth Cries Out
by Bonnie Etherington

Also longlisted for the 2018 Ockham Acorn Fiction Prize is this debut novel from Bonnie Etherington. After the accidental death of Ruth’s five-year-old sister, their father decides that atonement and healing are in order, and taking on aid work in a mountain village in Irian Jaya is the way to find it. It is the late 1990s, a time of civil unrest and suppression in the Indonesian province, now known as West Papua. The family drops into what seems the middle of nowhere, where they experience a vibrant landscape, an ever-changing and disorientating world, and – for Ruth – new voices. While her parents find it a struggle to save themselves, let alone anyone else, Ruth seeks redemption in bearing witness to and passing on the stories of those who have been silenced – even as she is haunted by questions about what it means to witness and who gets to survive. The Earth Cries Out is a masterful blend of history and fiction, focusing on a family trying to move on with their guilt and grief in such a foreign environment – fresh, different and beautifully written.

Matakana Village Books
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