Customer Reviews

In Tasmania: A House at the End of the World

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Part family memoir, part history and part travelogue, In Tasmania is a sweeping portrait of a little-visited part of Australia with a surprisingly rich and, at times, brutal backstory.

Shakespeare moves to Tasmania with his wife for a bit of peace and quiet after writing a lengthy and critically acclaimed biog of Bruce Chatwin, but the writer in him can't stop digging around for interesting stories and soon he's uncovered two different strands of his family that chose to emigrate to the island. One of them, Anthony Fenn Kemp, was a 'founding father' of sorts who had dreams of being an antipodean George Washington - not that he ever came close.

And Shakespeare doesn't stop there - he details the devastating destruction of Tasmania's native inhabitants - both human and animal - and travels to the four corners of the island to tell its story and that of its first European settlers.

I found this book an interesting and enlightening read and even if you've read books before about the founding of Australia you will find plenty here that is new. The rich portraits of inhabitants alive and dead, the tabloid scandals of yesteryear, the birds, the animals and the rich soil of Tasmania all have their fascinating stories told here.