NATIVE COMPANIONS
The history of the early Australian Aborigines is given life through a fictional narrative which takes bits and pieces of authoritative historical records and blends them into an extraordinary tale of aboriginal life as it might have been. Replete with magical elements and fantastic imagery, the story is couched in a unique setting as ancient tribal history is narrated by an elderly tree, Gran Yaraan, in a grove of native hardwood gum trees where the young saplings pepper her with questions about their ancestors. The description of the opening setting is breathtaking in its beauty while the tribal life described presents a community of general harmony and order. The rules and customs of the tribe are portrayed with keen detail including their firm adherence to a higher power who continually hovers over and influences every aspect of tribal life. It is obvious that the author has done impressive research and has incredibly managed to bring these ancient peoples to life with realistic authenticity.
The organization of the story is presented in six parts with each part and chapter containing a glossary of names and explanatory material to help the reader keep logically connected with various events as they transpire. The entire novel is full of the twists and turns of daily and yearly struggles with the vagaries of weather and natural elements of fire and water as they impact the necessities of human survival. Psychological elements are depicted as keeping pace with the growth in mastery over natural elements and in learning to handle battles with negative adversaries. In general, the major strengths in this novel are the extraordinary descriptions which are found throughout.
A remarkable achievement, this novel can take a well-respected place in the genre of historical fiction.
Reviewed by Dr. Marian, firstediting.com 4/21/2017
