The Ghost’s Child by Sonya Hartnett

Most of you are already aware that I am now an evangelical Sonya Hartnett fanatic.
The Ghost’s Child does nothing to change that!

I do wonder, though, if I would have enjoyed her books as a teen.

I tended to prefer girlish series and romances back then. Occasionally a librarian or teacher would challenge me with something like Animal Farm or To Kill a Mockingbird or A Merchant of Venice & I would get a taste of the big, wide wonderful world of adult literature ahead of me. It’s just that I wasn’t in any rush to get there.

I’m not sure if Hartnett’s beautiful fable about love & loss, beauty, happiness & honesty would have caught my eye.

Which is a shame, because The Ghost’s Child has so much to say about life & death & the journey of growing up that happens in between.

Hartnett uses the usual magical elements associated with fairy tales to describe the unusual childhood & life of Matilda. Her use of language is simply glorious; lusher than Steven Herrick’s (see review below) but equally as complex & nuanced.

This is a slim book with a lot to say about feminine power, freedom & truth.

I’ll leave you with a few quotes…if I can decide, that is, which few to pull out!

(NB: The Den of Nargun is found on Woolshed Creek in the Mitchell River National Park, Gippsland region, Victoria. Legend has it that the nargun was a fierce half-human, half-stone creature. It had the ability to deflect back to the thrower any weapon used against it. This story was used as a cautionary tale by local tribes to stop children from wandering too far away from the camp. 
The Den of Nargun was actually a sacred site for women’s initiation and learning ceremonies. Hence Hartnett’s use of the nargun legend in this story.)