''Salt Rain'' is a 2004 novel by
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n novelist
Sarah Armstrong
Sarah Armstrong (born 1968) is an Australian journalist and novelist. Over an eight-year period she worked for the ABC on radio programs including AM, PM and The World Today where she won a Walkley Award
The annual Walkley Awards are pres ...
.
Plot summary
After the disappearance of her mother Mae, fourteen-year-old Allie Curran goes to live with her aunt Julia in the small dairy farm where Mae grew up. Allie slowly comes to learn about her heritage, her family, and her mother's story. A reversal of the classic Australian theme of a child lost in the bush.
Notes
* Dedication: For Joel
Reviews
A reviewer for ''Publishers Weekly'' noted: "The novel's setting, a rainy farming valley in northern Australia, makes for effective atmosphere, but the backward-looking narrative moves slowly, mired in Allie's memories of Mae."
In ''Kirkus Reviews'' the writer agreed with that asessment: "Armstrong is talented, but her emotional delicacy is in danger of drowning in the portentous atmospherics."
Awards and nominations
* 2005 shortlisted
Miles Franklin Literary Award
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–195 ...
* 2005 shortlisted
Queensland Premier's Literary Awards
The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were an Australian suite of literary awards inaugurated in 1999 and disestablished in 2012. It was one of the most generous suites of literary awards within Australia, with $225,000 in prize money across ...
— Best Fiction Book
See also
*
2004 in Australian literature
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 2004.
Events
*John Hay, Peter Porter, Elizabeth Webby, W. H. Wilde, and Barbara Ker Wilson are all recognised in the 2004 Australia Day Honour ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salt Rain
2004 Australian novels