''The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow'' (1996) is Thea Astley's second to last novel. It won

The Age Book of the Year ''The Age'' Book of the Year Awards were annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's ''The Age'' newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. After 1998, they were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Initially, two awar ...

in 1996, and was shortlisted for the 1997

Miles Franklin 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 ...

Plot summary

The novel is based on a violent event that took place on

Palm Island, Queensland Palm Island is a locality consisting of an island group of 16 islands, split between the Shire of Hinchinbrook and the Aboriginal Shire of Palm Island, in Queensland, Australia. The locality coincides with the geographical entity known as the P ...

(called Doebin in the novel) in 1930, in which the white Superintendent of the settlement, Robert Curry (Brodie in the novel), ran amok, setting fire to buildings and killing his own children in the process. He was eventually shot dead by one of the indigenous inhabitants, Peter Prior (Manny Cooktown in the novel), under orders from the white deputy Superintendent. Astley focuses most of the novel on various white characters who were present on the Island at the time, but intersperses their experiences with briefer passages spoken by the Aboriginal man, Manny Cooktown. The novel spans a long time period, from 1918 when the settlement was established to 1957 when Aboriginal workers went on a strike, but most of the action takes place after 1930.

Themes

Sheridan writes that "the novel underlines the grim repetitions of colonial oppression but also the endurance and resilience of the Aboriginal characters".Sheridan, Sue "Thea Astley’s ''The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow'' (1996)" in ''Australian Literary Compendium''
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Style

It is a multiple point of view novel, with some voices being first person and the rest third person. It's important to note that most of the characters are invented, and all of the names have been changed. The prime narrator is Manny Cooktown: he starts the novel and appears between the various voices providing a commentary on what is happening on the Island as the novel progresses, but he does not conclude the novel. The final voice is authorial.

Awards and nominations

*1996:

References

*Dale, Leigh (1999, May) "Colonial History and Post-Colonial Fiction: The Writing of Thea Astley" in ''Australian Literary Studies''

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Multiple Effects Of Rainshadow, The 1996 Australian novels Novels by Thea Astley Novels set in Queensland Fiction set in 1930 Viking Press books Novels set on islands Palm Island, Queensland