Tiburon

by Kylie Tennant

Tiburon is an Australian classic, published in 1935, about life in a small country town in NSW during the Depression. It was a book bought by my Grandfather and with a dedication to my Great-Grandfather for Christmas 1935. I acquired it after my uncle died a couple of years ago and we were clearing out. I also read Tennant’s autobiography last year, so knew of her interest in social disadvantage and the efforts she went to in researching her books. She travelled and lived in country areas during the Depression as the itinerants did, and even spent some time in gaol for research. Her writing in this novel is very evocative of the lives of families and the ways they are affected by not only their poverty, and often the alcoholism of the father figure, but also their social position. Tiburon was Kylie Tennant’s first published novel, and is well worth reading, as are her later works.

I read this book as the 10th in my Classic Club Challenge, but also for the Goodreads Around the Year Challenge (#28 – book by an Australian, Canadian or NZ author), and the Goodreads Classics Challenge (#9 – written by a woman).