Interesting structure; snippets from historical records, interviews, letters mixed with narration in the past and present - became just plain confusing. ( )

Come Inside is only a slender novel of 170 pages but I lingered over it because it’s so intriguing. I now know why it’s been shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year and for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book.

It has a compelling beginning. The story of a woman who survives an 1887 shipwreck with no memory of anything except her name begins with a series of reports that gradually reveal themselves to be the contents of a contemporary maritime museum: a newspaper report, records of interviews, customs reports, museum exhibit cards and so on. It may sound like a muddle, but it builds a coherent picture that catapults the reader back into the past while at the same time depicting how the characters looked back on the event 60 years later.
To read the rest of this review please visit
http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/come-inside-by-glenys-osborne/ ( )