Book Reviews

This is a book that will be in the history books.

THE BURROW follows a family unit of three, formerly four, their newly adopted bunny, and their mother/grandmother/mother-in-law. Each short chapter shifts perspectives and takes you through their lives through the lens of their relationships.It’s set in the tail-end of the Melbourne lockdowns (those bleak days of lockdown technically lifting but the world seeming sort of half-vacant and inherently infectious), which sets up the narrative’s sense of isolation even further. Instead of claustrophobic though, it feels cosy, in a (bear with me) weighted blanket sort of way where yes, it’s technically a bit oppressive, but once you sink in to the feeling it provides a lot of comfort.It’s a beautifully self-contained story that zeroes in on the daily processes of coming together after a loss, the way that that grief impacts each person differently (and how it also then affects the others, too). It’s much more slice-of-life, but reminded me of what I loved in Weike Wang’s Joan is Okay with its economy of word choice (it never feels sparse, but it’s very precise), and although a wildly different book, the exploration of grief and family that I loved from Saraid de Silva’s Amma.

Translations is a powerful, character-driven debut novel by Jumaana Abdu. It follows young mother Aliyah and her daughter, Sakina, who leave Sydney for a property in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales in the wake of a personal tragedy. Set almost entirely on this rural property, the novel is a microcosm of Aliyah’s life with her daughter, reflecting the ups and downs of their experiences with the people Aliyah allows into their lives. Although they are building a new community for themselves, Aliyah, fiercely independent and reluctant to depend on others, often retreats. Among their new acquaintances are Shep, an imām and now farmhand; Billie, a Kamilaroi woman and colleague at the hospital; and Hana, a beloved childhood friend with a complicated history. Much of the novel explores these relationships and the entwinement of these characters with Aliyah, dissecting how the parallel but conflicting worldviews of the people around her contribute to how Aliyah finds her footing in a new life and self. Abdu’s writing is tender and deliberate, conveying the most through what is left unsaid and the emotions experienced in each moment. The novel explores grief, religion, dispossession, Palestinian–First Nations solidarity, and the many shapes of the quiet but enduring strength required to live and continue through it all. With an intimate plot and rich in nuanced dialogue, Translations is literary fiction for fans of Etaf Rum and Yumna Kassab. This review was first published in Books+Publishing in June 2024.