Friday, March 26, 2021

Welcome to Nowhere River

'We're all misfits, aren't we really,' said Josie. 'I mean, here we are, living so close together, in the same landscape, by the same river, seeing different things.' (page 314)

Nowhere River is a small fictional community in the central highlands north of Hobart. The community is situated within the bend of a river which heads back in the direction from which it has come. Like many rural communities the population of Nowhere River is shrinking and aging and risks disappearing from the map, helped considerably by a long drought.

Meg Bicknell in Welcome to Nowhere River has written a novel about the plan designed to encourage community members to develop projects to rejuvenate the town and encourage people to visit and even stay. However will the plan unite or further divide the community? In the book the reader meets a range of sometimes eccentric characters who all have their own ideas as to how they would like life in Nowhere River to evolve. 

The story also revolves around the lives of the Finlay and Bradshaw families. Carra Finlay has moved to Nowhere River after marrying Duncan, the local doctor. After their twins, Daisy and Ben, arrive on the scene Carra encounters difficulties establishing and recognising her own identity and deciding what she really wants from life. Thirty years earlier, Duncan's five year old sister disappeared and the family, especially Lucie, has never fully come to terms with the loss. Carra has also lost contact with her friend, Josie Bradshaw, who later in the story has her own challenges.

This is a story of friendship as well as about deciding what one really wants in life. It is also a humourous account of people with their own agendas attempting to revive a community.

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