Fiction review: The Unexpected Education of Emily Dean

The Unexpected Education of Emily Dean

Mira Robertson, Black Inc., $29.99

Screenwriter Mira Robertson (co-writer of Only the Brave and Head On) has produced a charming debut novel set in rural Australia during World War II. Emily Dean is a 15-year-old girl carted off to live with country relatives when her mother suffers a breakdown. She finds a strange new world, and has trouble adjusting to it. Looming over the country estate is Emily's grandmother and her astringent mate Eunice, while Emily's young and aloof aunt Lydia presents a mystery, and eventually an opportunity to bond over a secret shared. Indeed, adolescence attracts the clandestine and it abounds in this generous, vibrantly characterised Bildungsroman, which skirts everything from wartime xenophobia and the treatment of POWs to the delicate bloom of literary aspiration. Funny and poignant and wise, it's a tale of self-discovery and emotional intricacy, full of brilliantly written, complex women.