Review of 'The Coast' by Eleanor Limprecht
New novel by Eleanor Limprecht due out May 31st, 2022
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
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REVIEW of THE COAST
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Eleanor Limprecht has delivered a powerful lyrical novel on a topic that shakes and bruises the heart. This deeply moving story focuses on the Coast Hospital lazaret at Little Bay, Sydney in the early 1900s. The wild and beautiful coastal setting is a sharp contrast to the harsh reality of a terrible era when leprosy victims were shunned and cut off from society. The fear of spreading the disease was so ramped up, the infirmed were promptly taken away from all they knew and loved.
The story is told from four viewpoints (one doctor and three patients) providing a clear cross-section of individuals who gave and faced the devastating diagnosis and how they each had to deal with it. Alice, Clea and Jack as patients, reveal how deeply painful and heartbreaking their dire situations were at a time brimming with mass ignorance and deficient medical assistance. Eleanor creates such a vivid picture of their world with her words, it is easy to crawl into the skin of the victims and experience their anguish.
The secluded lazaret location became like a prison for many. It not only housed those who manifest and suffered with the disease physically but it also nurtured negative emotions of fear, worthlessness, despair in those who carried it. For to be diagnosed as a positive casualty, meant you would quickly be carted away by the police and isolated. The presence of this disease and treatment also fostered distress in those outside the walls of the facility and created a ‘them’ and ‘us’ mindset. It separated families, tore apart lives and often led to a horrible lonely death for the victims. And upon their passing, they were placed once again out of sight in unmarked burial plots. (The key reason given was preventing contamination of others.) The few comforts provided in the quarantine facility of a piano, a library of books, a rowboat and access to a sandstone-edged beach for swimming, were scarcely a fair replacement for loss of freedom.
At the heart of this novel is a compassionate Dr. Will Stenger who harbours his own secrets but his care for these individuals is sincere and his motives pure. Always ready to help alleviate their suffering, he is the one ray of light in their dark existence. He, as others, witness the long term effects of isolation and the damaging effects of a stigmatised disease. He tries every way he can, to make a difference.
Besides leprosy, this novel explores other injustices of minorities and this carried some moving revelations. Everything Eleanor has touched on in her novel has been done with great respect and care. The message that radiates for me is that even through the terrible ills inflicted on many, the drive of the human spirit to endure and to rise above the challenges is inextinguishable. I see the tattered wings of a bird lifting from its shackles on a perch; holding on with courage to the desire of feeling the wind beneath its broken frame again, no matter how injured. This novel transcends the weariness caused by ills thrown at the heart. It is a testament of fortitude and how we need to encourage those who have been wronged to keep pressing forward. History, yes, has a way of repeating itself in many forms. But we can learn from the past. The Coast gives us that chance to remember and to seek change.
While writing this review, I found myself grasping for words. Being a poet the most natural way for me to express my thoughts, when hit deeply, is through a poem. I have never done a book review before where my response to a novel has tumbled out of my heart in this form. But the lyrical sadness of The Coast moved me to tears and caused this reaction. Before sharing the poem, I wish to say: The Coast accomplishes its mission. This novel has been powerfully delivered and should be read for it shines a bright light on a period of Australian history that many may not know about. It draws the whispers out of the shadows; giving us characters so real we know how they feel and are able to share in their suffering and triumphs. Without hesitation, I highly recommend The Coast. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ seem inadequate in measuring this finely executed story. And the cover? Is stunning.
Many thanks to Eleanor, her publicist and Allen & Unwin for a review copy.
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THE COAST
The Coast is shrouded in mist—
Grey and sombre in tone.
The pain and suffering make you squirm
For the weight of sadness is colossal.
The truth is burnt,
Like the rags of Lazarus—
While many still sit in sackcloth and ashes.
Heavy is the cross of remorse that presses down
On the psyche. We watch and turn our backs
As the righteousness of humanity flitters away.
This world, filled with dire misconceptions,
Separates souls like lambs to the slaughter.
Grief drips like a candle hot under the flame.
This novel bears it all, reveals it all—
The naked, the caged, the forgotten,
The scarred vision of culture
Which puts one person above another.
Fear divides everyone into classes—
When lack of knowledge
Leads common sense astray.
The violins are playing a lament,
The shore waters ruffle,
The leaves on the trees curl back
Waiting for the promise of rain—
While the desire for change smoulders.
Parched throats turn upwards like pitcher plants
Seeking water and sky,
Skewed eyes sunken and circled in black rings
Peer up through the dark crustiness of Leprosy.
Leprosy—a word that falls off the tongue
Into an abyss of fear as a whisper
Hits the air and shatters
Into confusion—
Then pounces in a roar.
This enemy comes in more than one form—
In the flesh, in the mind, in the storm.
Where are the angels of mercy?
To lift, cradle and free the wounded and suffering?
Amidst the gathering billows of storm clouds,
Little slivers of sunlight slip through
In acts of kindness.
Hands touch, lips meet,
Hearts dare to dance with hope.
Love draws, love heals and love delivers—
Rare moments come like this
When snowflakes kiss the sky.
By: Cindy L Spear
www.cindylspear.com
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