Orphan Rock

Domique Wilson in Orphan Rock has written a family saga set primarily in Sydney and France. The novel encompasses the period from the latter part of the 1800s until the beginning of the Second World War - a broad sweep of Australian and World history.

We first meet Bessie in a children's home where her mother left her years earlier. One day she is called to the office where she meets her step-father who has come to take her home. Bessie leaves the children's home without the opportunity of saying good-bye to her best friend, Lottie, and it is many years before they meet again.

In her new home Bessie has a good relationship with Cornelius, her step-father, but it is obvious that her mother is not pleased that Bessie has returned. The plot follows the ups and downs of Bessie's life  as she struggles to work out who she really is and how she really wants to live her life. The second part of the book deals with the life choices of Bessie's daughter, Kathleen, as she also struggles to adapt to changing environments and attitudes.

It is the history that forms the background to this family saga that I found really interesting. Bessie lives in changing and challenging times. It is a world where men make the decisions and once a woman is married she is expected to conform with his beliefs, opinions and do as he asks. However times are changing and some women seek the right to make their own decisions at home and politically. When Bessie starts working with Louisa Lawson she encounters the movement for female suffrage and begins to realise that attiudes can change. But in some cases the situation becomes worse as attitudes of distrust towards people from other countries and cultures increases when the colonies move towards Federation and the introduction of the White Australia Policy. This is a major theme of the novel. 

The author is particularly interested in the events occurring in Australia that affected the lives of ordinary people, particularly those with little money struggling to keep a roof over their heads. The financial crisis of the 1890s, including bank closures, and the 1930s Depression are two such events. During the timespan of the novel there were also major outbreaks of illness affecting the community including smallpox, consumption and the Spanish Flu. The practice of sending people to asylums for no real reason is also an issue in the novel. Two major world wide events, of course, affecting the lives of Australians at the time were the First and Second World Wars.

It is against this background of world and local events and attitudes that we follow the lives of Bessie, Lottie and Kathleen as they struggle to survive.