Rifling Paradise [Hardcover]

Jem Poster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2008

A gripping thriller set in the wilds of nineteenth-century Australia by the critically acclaimed author of Courting Shadows.

When past indiscretions catch up with Charles Redbourne, a minor English landowner, he is propelled from England to Australia, where he plans to make his mark as a naturalist. There, his life begins to change dramatically, not least when he meets his host's wayward, artistic daughter. But it is on an expedition in search of scientific specimens in the Blue Mountains that events take a terrifying turn. Vividly conveying the unspoken codes of Victorian society, this is a gripping tale of emotional and psychological reckoning that offers an inspired meditation on the relationship between humankind and the natural world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Destitution and scandal drive 19th-century British gentleman Charles Redbourne on a voyage to Australia in Poster's atmospheric second novel. Charles hopes to collect specimens of rare wildlife, but his trip soon goes literally and figuratively offtrack. His stay with a family friend is unsettled by his host's daughter, a volatile artist with a troubled past. Bullen, his expedition manager, clashes violently with their porter, Billy Preece, deriding the servant's guidance, even though Billy's Aboriginal heritage provides their only authentic connection to the untamed land they traverse. As the journey devolves toward danger and even death, Poster (Courting Shadows) evokes complex Victorian attitudes toward nature, culture, progress and science. Charles is a compelling portrait of a man moving uneasily among conflicting possibilities of his time, but his personal story never truly gels, while the book's suspense and romantic elements jostle uneasily against its ruminative philosophic themes. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

Blamed by villagers for the suicide of the young male assistant he had loved, and finding his predilection for teenage youths becoming public knowledge, Charles Redbourne feels forced to leave his home to pursue a longtime interest in naturalism. Barely hanging onto his family estate, with his inheritance depleted, he turns to the uncle he has long ignored, who funds travel to Australia and suggests an acquaintance, Edward Vale, as a contact. Redbourne joins the household, which includes Vale’s 20-year-old daughter, Eleanor, an artist who suffered the early loss of her mother, and is stunned by the wild beauty he sees. But his expedition to gather specimens of local fauna, with an experienced but brutish guide, turns treacherous when Aboriginal beliefs are ignored, and Redbourne comes to regret what he has taken from the land. Poster (Courting Shadows, 2008) starts this story in Victorian England, but it is his vivid portrayal of the outback and the psychological tension of Redbourne’s exploits there that are most memorable. A skillfully wrought, disquieting novel. --Michele Leber

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover (February 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590200489
• ISBN-13: 978-1590200483
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,544,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "It's the bane of our age. Sentimentalism.", March 14, 2009

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rifling Paradise (Hardcover)

Charles Redbourne is a middle-aged gentleman of substance who finds himself under attack one night after a local youth commits suicide. The village locals converge on Redbourne's home, the anger of the mob threatening to spill into action. Burning all evidence of his proclivity towards inappropriate relationships with young men, Charles flees to the London residence of his Uncle Joshua. All but estranged over the years, Joshua is reluctant to help his nephew but begrudgingly provides the resources for Charles to sail to Australia, there to pursue his scientific interests. Hoping to add to the data on species of birds, Redbourne flees the past with a revived sense of purpose.

Staying at the estate of Edward Vane and his daughter Eleanor, Charles is struck by the charged rancor between father and daughter, the girl's indomitable spirit capturing Charles' imagination. Less appealing is the gruff, unmannered Bullen, who is to serve as Redbourne's guide to Australia's interior to collect specimens. The hard-bitten Bullen is not an easy man to like, Charles used to the more genteel refinements of his class. Couched in the Victorian mores of his education, Redbourne must at all times maintain a gentlemanly facade and a gracious attitude towards his host. When the day of the trek to the interior arrives, Charles leaves Eleanor reluctantly, the young woman constantly in his thoughts in a confused mix of damsel-in-distress and emotional attraction.

Traveling with Bullen is a constant strain, the crude, bullying hunter careless of local tradition and superstition, abusing Billy, their guide, and ignoring the boy's words of caution when disturbing ancestors. The trip becomes a crucible where reason is abandoned, illness infusing both men with terror and a manic energy that confuses the real with the imagined. Barely surviving, Redbourne learns that past demons have returned, his fears mutating into the present. Clinging desperately to what appears real, Charles leaps from confusion to action, compounding the mistakes of a compromised existence. There is never a moment's peace in Charles' journey, emotional or physical, only the continuing rationalization of decisions, revealing the protagonist as a morally bankrupt fool. Luan Gaines/2009.