This Tasmanian familial history impressed our group this month. Most everyone found the story and its writing well done and cleverly thought out. Often a book that continues to jump back and forth across a timeline can be distracting and lose its audience. Not so here. Koch, a proven skillful storyteller and writer, manages the task with great proficiency, weaving together a tale that is not only historically interesting but also compelling.

The attempt at a Utopia-style community in Nowhere Valley makes for interesting character growth and touches on all those fascinating social issues that are borne of communal living.
A few of us found the descriptive content a little too much, but the story was absorbing enough to keep them reading.
There was also some call for more detail concerning Hugh and his father’s relationship. Just enough to round out their connection, or lack of.
A worthy read for anyone loving history combined with a powerful ancestral account.

This Tasmanian familial history impressed our group this month. Most everyone found the story and its writing well done and cleverly thought out. Often a book that continues to jump back and forth across a timeline can be distracting and lose its audience. Not so here. Koch, a proven skillful storyteller and writer, manages the task with great proficiency, weaving together a tale that is not only historically interesting but also compelling.

The attempt at a Utopia-style community in Nowhere Valley makes for interesting character growth and touches on all those fascinating social issues that are borne of communal living.
A few of us found the descriptive content a little too much, but the story was absorbing enough to keep them reading.
There was also some call for more detail concerning Hugh and his father’s relationship. Just enough to round out their connection, or lack of.
A worthy read for anyone loving history combined with a powerful ancestral account.

This was not a book that I would have read but I had to read it for a book group. However I did enjoy it. The writing was very good and Koch was able to vividly create a sense of time and place. The characters were well drawn. The thing that threw me a little was that the first and third sections were set in the same time period and the story moved from one section to the other, while the mid section was set in the convict days in Tasmania. There was one character in common to all three sections and there were similar story lines for example father-son relationships but it seemed to me an unusual way to write a story. I have heard and read that some people really liked the second section but I was more engrossed in the first story and did not like having to change. I thought the depiction of the relationship between Hugh and his uncle Walter was very well done, as was the relationship between Hugh and his childhood friend Bob Wall. Hugh Dixon goes to meet his uncle Walter for the first time when his father gets into financial trouble and this is the start of their friendship. His uncle understands his dreams of wanting to become an artist whereas his father does not. In the second section set in convict times we learn of Walters father Martins friendship with Dalton and Wilson who have escaped from Port Arthur. After they raid Martin's fathers farm Martin joins them as they journey to Nowhere Valley where Wilson plans to set up his ideal community on the understanding that he will be able to write Wilson's story, but not reveal where he is. The third section focusses on the story of Hugh and his childhood friend Bob Wall. Bob finds himself in trouble and Walter is again called in to help. This is a well written book, well worth the read in spite of my reservations. ( )

This story of life in colonial Tasmania was thoroughly enjoyable and the writers descpription of the Tasmanian mountain landscape was magical.
Part 1 and 3 of the book tell the story of Hugh Dixon in the 1950's, an aspiring artist living in Hobart. Part 2 , set in the previous century,is the story of his great grandfather Martin Dixon and his encounter with some escaped convicts, turned bushrangers and their attempts to found a "Utopia" in the mountainous wilderness. This section was truly enjoyable. The characters really came to life for me. It is told to Hugh by his Uncle Walter, whom he did not meet until he was about nineteen, as his father had become estranged from his family.
Uncle Walter becomes a strong influence in Hugh's life and helps him to achieve his ambitions.
Part 3 disappointed a little. The story of his friend Bob Wall being charged with murder and his uncle successfully defending him in court, seemed a little corny" after the brilliance of Part 2.
However I think Christopher Koch is a beautiful writer and well deserving of his Miles Franklin award and Booker nomination. ( )