Flames

*2.5 stars. Beautiful but just a bit too bizarre for me.

Author Robbie Arnott has received a fair bit of positivity on a few Australian Lit Blogs that I subscribe to. A week back my Spotify account recommended this one as an audiobook, so I thought why not considering those nice online reviews.

To say I have enjoyed this audio would be an understatement. Anyone that has read my scribbles over time would know I have never shied away from my admiration of Tasmanian literature. I am not going to shy away from this one, it joins all that grabs me and spits me out about the island's writing. Flames is Goth fantasy that from a curious start had me listening to the excellent telling of this terrific plot at every opportunity. My audio listening is for my walks or in the car, but I just sat in the comfy chair with the JBL's stuck on the head, I was that engrossed.

A family is enjoined with flame as part of their very existence. How so? That would be giving it away as to the tale told but let's just say that this is a curse on the physical life and psychology of the family involved, the father, the mother and their two children. Son Levi wants to have a coffin made for his sister Charlotte, for reasons that become obvious as time goes on. Charlotte wants none of this and escapes to the safety of an anonymous life in the south of the island. And from this wild beginning we meet an irate coffin maker, a very strange wombat farmer, an alcoholic private detective and a few more wild characters along the way. Add to that an animal god and what a yarn delivered.

This is a very good debut and is recommended to all us that know and enjoy Tassie Lit.