Listening to a book being read aloud was something I looked forward to every week when I was in Years 8 and 9 (or Forms 2 and 3 back in my day) at Sacred Heart College, now Notre Dame College, in Shepparton.
Our teacher would read a set number of chapters from the main book on the English literature syllabus, the most memorable being Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
It made the characters jump off the page and my imagination run wild.
Isn’t it weird how something like that can remain dormant for years, until reviewing The Seven Skins Of Esther Wilding by Holly Ringland brought it all back.
This book is a doozy. It’s long (530 or so pages), it’s complicated and it makes you, the reader, work.
It tells the story of Esther Wilding, her sister Aura and their parents, Jack and Freya, and their seemingly idyllic life on an island off Tasmania, and other places.
The main thread of the story revolves around Aura and how the family deals with firstly her sudden decision to fly to Denmark, to delve into their ancestral history and the folklore of the sea she loves so much.
Aura all but cuts off communication with them and then reappears three years later, a shell of her former self.
Despite everyone’s best efforts over the next few months to coax anything out of Aura, they have no idea what has happened.
Then tragedy strikes.
One day Aura takes off her shoes and her dress and walks into the sea, never to return.
A year on from her disappearance, her parents hold a memorial service. This throws the family into chaos, exposing their flaws and deepest differences.
Author Holly Ringland’s work is imaginative, skilful and different.
It’s magical and almost poetic, like those revered aforementioned authors I have loved all these years.
No wonder I instinctively wanted to hear it read out loud.
The Seven Skins Of Esther Wilding is published by Harper Collins.
Jan Deane is a Shepparton local and a journalist with more than 30 years’ experience. Each fortnight her column, Books and More, will appear in The News. Jan would love to hear from readers. Email her at: books.more@mmg.com.au