This is a great example of what I love about first novels. An effortless yet powerful, completely original, risky yet beautifully engaging, and shining with poetic descriptions. There is nothing quite like this story.
The Burial by Courtney Collins, Or The Untold, as it is known as in the USA, is the story of a young woman with many feathers in her Akubra hat – mother, lover, cattle thief, prisoner, murderer, outlaw and heroine. Two men hunt for her in a wild west Australian mountainous landscape in 1921. The different narrative strands lead to an ending that is completely unexpected and satisfying. Loved every word – was sad when I finished reading as I had nothing to look forward to at bedtime! Don’t be put off by the narrator being a dead baby – it gives a subtle yet interesting perspective. I’ll look forward to what Courtney Collins writes next.
