By Christine Yunn-Yu Sun
Upwey author Lia Hills’ The Desert Knows Her Name was recently launched at the Belgrave Library.
An interview with the award-winning poet and novelist was provided by Star Mail journalist Gabriella Vukman on May 25.
“I always hold a product launch here in the mountains to celebrate with the local community, who are very supportive,” Hills was quoted as saying.
“I often write on my back porch, surrounded by giant roommates, and am very immersed in nature.”
The author’s third novel is extraordinarily lyrical and reads like a description of nature.
Set in the fictional town of Gatyekarr in Wimmera, the desert-like region of western Victoria, the story begins with a girl emerging barefoot from the desert and finding refuge with Beth, a regenerative farmer and seed collector.
Since the girl cannot or will not speak, Beth asks the local bar owner Nate for help to decipher the secrets surrounding her arrival. But the appearance of the “desert girl” worries the
community, on the eve of a festival celebrating the city’s 150-year history.
Old tensions erupt and bring dark secrets to light.
Through the eyes of Beth and Nate, we see the town struggle to remember and come to terms with its violent past.
In the meantime, there is gossip, speculation and wild rumors, not to mention outsiders hoping to take advantage of the situation.
Nevertheless, this is not an ordinary novel based on the cliché of the “small town with a dark secret”.
Instead of experiencing the thrill of an action-packed investigation and the ultimate reveal, readers are invited to engage with the characters and observe their connection to the land where all the answers are hidden.
The third and omnipresent narrator of the story could actually be the land itself, which retraces the journey of the girl from the desert in reverse chronology. His voice blends with the
Fascinating sounds and movements of the local flora and fauna, the land gently and persistently asks us to listen:
“The wind calms down and the land speaks. What came before. What will follow. Listen carefully, deeper and deeper. You will remember how and why.”
These sentences at the end of the story recall the words of the poet John Shaw Neilson, quoted on the first page of the book: “The dumb shall speak, and the ears of the deaf shall be shaken at the sound.”
Not only Neilson, but also the animals and plants native to the Wimmera region are carefully researched and vividly portrayed in the story, especially in Beth’s narrative.
The character’s dedication to reviving the farm has helped to develop a sense of responsibility and urgency to protect the nameless and silent girl – a symbol of the land.
But whether the girl is identified or not does not matter, because the focus of the story is on how the people around her react to her presence.
Hills explains: “What story would they project onto them and how does that relate to their relationship to the land?”
Highly recommended.
