Reviews

Four adult siblings return to the family farm for their fathers funeral, and are required to build a coffin in order to receive their inheritance.

While initially resistant to the task, one by one they are faced with personal challenges, disappointments, fears and realisations which ultimately bring them closer together while learning much needed lessons about life, themselves and their father.

And easy read with super short chapters, great characters and a lighter exploration of loss and grief - really enjoyed it; finished in a couple of days.

a_b_hall's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

sammy_3004's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

jennifer_c_s's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Now that’s the way to bury your old man.’

Set in regional Australia, farmer Tom Edwards knows he is dying. He has accepted the inevitability of death, but while watching television one day, he wonders about his four children. Where are they, and how will they observe his death? And what about his ten-thousand-acre property?

Tom has an idea, and with the help of a local solicitor makes a new will. After Tom’s death, the will is read. Tom’s will leaves equal shares to his four children Jenny, David, Christine and Sophie IF they work together to him a coffin in four days. Jenny listens carefully while the will is read, Christine is furious, David is shocked, and Sophie is distracted.

Four very different people, four very different reactions. Christine wants to contest the will; David is overwhelmed: his construction business is failing, and he was counting on inheriting and then selling the property (Ellersley had always been left to the oldest son); Sophie, who has her eye on the solicitor’s receptionist, doesn’t seem to appreciate what it means, while Jenny examines possibilities. Can the four of them work together long enough to make a coffin to meet Tom’s specifications?

As the story unfolds, we learn more about Jenny, David, Christine and Sophie, about their parents Tom and Helena, and the past. Each of the four siblings is distracted, but Jenny and David identify some timber and make a tentative start. Meanwhile, Christine faces some personal issues enhanced (or not) by naïve experimentation with drugs, Sophie focusses on the solicitor’s receptionist, David drinks too much and Jenny faces some difficult memories.

As the story unfolds through multiple narratives, the siblings learn more about each other, the past and their future aspirations. And the ending is perfect.

Brava, Ms Begbie. What a terrific debut novel!

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

More...