Blasts from the Past: Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany (2012)

This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy into as many hands as I could.

There are far fewer novels by Australian and New Zealand writers available in the UK than might be expected given our common language. I’ve often wondered why, perhaps something to do with rights. Carrie Tiffany’s Mateship with Birds is a memorable exception.

Set in a small Australian settlement in the 1950s, it’s the story of two lonely middle-aged people, quietly losing whatever physical charms they once possessed but still yearning for sexual love, so tenderly portrayed that you find yourself desperate for someone to make the first move. Harry, a dairy farmer, lives next door to Betty and her two children. Both lead mundane lives, conscientious in their work. Harry’s a birdwatcher who records his observations in a dairy account book; Betty brings up her children, quietly letting assumptions that her husband died in the war stand. That may sound a bit dull, but Tiffany’s novel is a complete delight: funny, beautifully expressed and written with huge affection for ordinary unglamorous people which means most of us. The last line made me laugh out loud from sheer joy.

What about you, any blasts from the past you’d like to share?

You can find more posts like this here.