HUSH, LITTLE BIRD
Nicole Trope
Allen & Unwin, $29.99
By chance, middle-aged and well-to-do Rose and young single mother Felicity are in the same low-security women's prison on Sydney's outskirts. Rose, a North Shore mother of two adult daughters, is awaiting an appeal after being convicted of a killing, while Felicity, now nicknamed Birdy because she looks after the prison's aviary, is finishing a sentence for viciously assaulting her mother.
Rose and Birdy have a past together from when Birdy as a young girl lived with her family next to Rose's. The connection severed when Birdy's father walked out, resulting in Birdy's family leaving for humbler circumstances.
Rose has largely forgotten the connection and fails to recognise the now overweight and psychologically damaged Birdy, who has not. She has harboured thoughts of retribution against Rose for years; now, she thinks, is her chance.
As Nicole Trope's disturbing novel unfolds, the cause of Birdy's anger against Rose emerges and it is ugly: she was serially sexually molested during her family's time next to Rose's. But why Rose? And just what has Rose done to be in such dire straits now?
The narrative is told alternately by Birdy then Rose throughout, their tales dealing with the present and the past. Crucially with the latter, we learn just what happened and how to Birdy that has left her so scarred. As well, her reason for having Rose in her sights.
This aspect of the story graphically illustrates how a paedophile can operate in what is effectively - in this case - plain sight. It reminds us paedophilia can happen anywhere in society: not just at institutions like those now being investigated throughout Australia.
Through Rose, the reader witnesses her gradual and much-too-late realisation about a shocking truth, and how the basis for it emerges into the public domain.
Through Birdy, how a child can be so awfully affected by paedophilia, particularly when no one realises there may be a problem and the child is unable to communicate its plight. And how such trauma can dog a child into adulthood, where for Birdy the consequences of her internal pain have ultimately led to her present plight.
Through both, an insight into how the ramifications of this insidious practice can draw the families of victim and predator into its maelstrom.
Trope presents both women's lives and crises with skill and compassion, while creating a humane and hopeful ending. Her impressive working of a difficult subject has resulted in a most socially relevant book.
