A literary novel of Australia , climate change and how people cope. 28/9/25
Widower Dominic Salt has lived off the coast of Antarctica on the remote island of Shearwater with his three children — Raff 18, Fen 17 daughter, and Orly 9 — for eight years, serving as caretaker for a small climate/wildlife research station and an old lighthouse. Shearwater also houses the U. N Global Seed Vault.
An injured woman named Rowan arrives, and is pulled out of the sea by Fen. In the 1800s, oilers slaughtered entire seal population and most of its penguins. An island between New Zealand and Antarctica. Climate fiction Fen choosing to stay alone in a boathouse as she doesn't get along with his father. Rowen becomes a mother figure to the children.
Rowen came to the island to look for Hank her ex husband, a botanist who was one of the researchers on the island. He had to decide on what species to save of 30 million, how to let biodiversity die in favor of what humans can eat. All of us humans, decided what to save, and that is ourselves.”
Rowan arrives on the island on a small boat that crashes on the rocks and she survives because Fen is there and saves her, this was the worst stormed they have endured since living on the island . They can't figure out why she came here. Dominic is the father of the family and considers that Rowan is a strong woman to have survived this wild ocean. He doesn't know why she came but doesn't trust her. She is cold and wounded they warm her up with their bodies heat under blankets, and the treat her wounds and stitch her up.
Dominic brought his kids to the island 8 yeas ago and the lighthouse is their home. Dominic as well as the children are still grieving for Clare. The refuse of the sealers and whalers still remains rusted. The huddle around the heater reading books to each other. They have downloaded movies and school work and music training via distant school in Australia.. This is not a tourist island but ships bring supplies for the scientist. The storm has broken the wind turbines and solar cells are scratched, A few batteries are still working and they still have some diesel. There are 17 little building build over the decades for the scientists. It is a 1km hike to the Seed Vault , which is owned by the United Nations. The management is under the Tasmanian Wild Life Service and Shearwater Island belongs to Australia Dom came and he needed a job far from where he lived after his wife died. They will finally leave the island in 2 month time. The island is starting to disappear. Keeping the seeds safe is more important than keeping ourselves safe.
Fen the daughter is very strong swimmer, and swims in a full wet suit with the seals and penguins she knows the habit of every clan of these animals, the last colony of surviving royal penguins in the world is here. Later we discover why she prefers being in the boathouse than in the Lighthouse home. We learn a lot about nature dandelions have spread to almost every part of the planet. The island has no shade or trees. There is no modern tech like TV or computers or sound system or phones. 8 years on the island is a very different form of childhood.
Orly spent a lot of time with Hank who taught him all sorts of things about Botany, Dominic felt he should not have let him be with this adult so much.
Rowen tells us that her mother discovered she was dying and travelled all over the world and then Rowan watched every TV show with her till she died, then Rowan gave away the TV as she had seen enough for a lifetime. Rowan had been terrified of the sea long before she came on the boat that crashed. They visit the science lab and already their feet are covered with water.
Dominic only discovered that the communication to the outside world was cut when the last ship left. He can't fix it. Hank was taxonomic botanist the Team leader of the research crew and Rowans husband. Hank had always been a talker and Rowen now can't get used to Dominic who is quiet. Rowen did not want children as she said thing of the carbon footprint. Hank did and this led to a conflict till he went off to the island. Bringing children into an apocalypse is unethical. He felt he was not needed at home if there were not children. Once she lost everything he left her.
Rowan owned a piece of land and build a house on it. Hank Jones was researching the threated species of snow gums, in the Snowy Mountains. He had been a professor of biology at NHY studying how plant adapt to climate change or drought stress and fire. It is not a good idea to fall in love not with people not with places." One day everything is going to burn down or starve" Hanks life was rich but my life was the opposite. She was a skilled carpenter and describes how she put everything into the house including fire sprinklers, fire retardant materials huge tank of water storage but the trees for shade were too close.
They have 3 inflatable motor boats. Fen and Rowen attempt to get the radio from the crashed ship but can't get it.
Alex had come to study the seal population and how the population had recovered from almost extinction. His older brother Tom was a meteorologist. Alex hung himself and Dom and Raff took him down after that Raff never felt safe.
We had Raff and Fen when we were quite young as we didn't want to waist time
Raff gets rid of his frustration by hitting a punching bag Dom had been a professional boxer till he met Clare he has no temper at all. They have an extensive set of every tool and equipment as they have to be self reliant in isolation. Stilbocarpe polaris a megaherb used by sailors against scurvy. They put on fridge suits to go into the seed room , their is a pump pumping the water that seeps in but hardly helps.
The room that Hank worked in stinks of bleach. The Shearwater Carver?
Fresnet lenses these are pieces of glass used to magnify light to give a lighthouse its beam. The old lighthouse keepers had to keep feeding the flame continuously, no matter the weather, with different work shifts and ship's safety was in their hands. The old chimney is opened up to burn sea weed because of lack of electricity.
If Hank had left why were his belonging and passport there. Dominic is a handyman while Rowen is a crafts women.
Raff records whales and the follow them to observe their feeding. The whale shot out of the water and fell on Raff and sprained his arm now he can't play the violin.
Rowen was one of 4 children raised in a houseboat and neglected. She looked after her baby brother and in a moment of distraction her brother River drowned and she feels responsible. Why have kids if you can't keep them safe.
Fen takes all her mother things and burns them to get her father to move on and forget their mother Claire. Rowan says I know a thing about burning.
The UN to cut costs only want to save food seeds it is only Orly who understands which seed are important from Hank. They have to move them to the house freezer before they are flooded. Wollemi pines are an example of trees from the times of dinosaurs and they only have 11 seed of it. The baksia plant the seed only germinate when the thick shell is broken by fire, so from beneath the carpet of ash that caused death bursts life. Wombats survive in the underground burrows through fire, the block the burrow with their bums and get burned or die but save the colony.
Hank was going crazy and he raped Fen but after a month she found she was not pregnant. Hank also tried to hold her head under water but as a good swimmer she managed to deal with this. Hank is put in the hospital where Naija treats him. This is when the connection is cut off. "Where men go there is harm".
Crazy Hank was kept locked in the vault. Claire's favorite book was Jane Eyre.
The book ends with the icebreaker coming to collect 8 people but Dominic and his 3 children are alive. They take lots of tools and equipment as well as the seeds that are in packets. Just before that island is completely flooded over.
-------------------------
Macquarie Island research center. In 1997 was declared a world heritage site. It was established as a radio relay station in 1911. Located halfway between Australia and Antarctica. Between 1810 and 1919 seals and penguins were hunted to almost extinction. The boiling pots to get the oil lie rusting there.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the Spitzbergen.(Norway and funded by its government. Started in Longyearbyen in 1984 in an abandoned coal mine, this is in permafrost and many gene banks deposit their seeds here. In 2025 there are 1,378,238 seed types saved of 6,521 species.
No comments:
Post a Comment