In Tasmania [Import] [Paperback]

Nicholas Shakespeare (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 27, 2005

The author first went to Tasmania having heard of the island’s exceptional beauty, and because it was famously remote. He soon decided that it was where he wanted to live. Shakespeare explores the island’s colourful history, inhabitants and ancestors, among whom he discovers some of his own.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Tasmania is a byword for remoteness," renowned British author Shakespeare (The Dancer Upstairs) observes at the beginning of his meticulous, lyrical history of the island and his family's time on it. In 1999, Shakespeare moved with his wife to Tasmania, 140 miles off the Australian coast and "the most beautiful place I had seen on earth." A relative's subsequent discovery of a cache of old letters reveals that Shakespeare is descended from Anthony Fenn Kemp, an infamous Tasmanian pioneer. Shakespeare's work traces Kemp's history, turning up a slew of fascinating, often grim tales, including riffs on cannibalism, murder, lingering racism against Aborigines, and the early settlers' open disregard for anything but personal gain. For what amounts to the record of a family tree, Shakespeare's writing is transcendent-readers will gain a deep understanding not only of Tasmania's history, but of the forces that have shaped its isolated peoples' nature. Although Shakespeare loses his focus toward the end of the lengthy volume, his skill as a storyteller never wavers. 16 black and white illustrations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Seduced by the pristine air and innate beauty of the island, Shakespeare (The Dancer Upstairs, 1997) settled in Tasmania, halfway around the world from England, a place almost synonymous with remote. A chance discovery of a cache of letters unearthed from his paternal grandmother's basement revealed that an ancestor had settled there nearly 200 years earlier, and that man, Anthony Fenn Kemp, a ne'er-do-well but successful heir to a merchant in the drinks trade, was known as the Father of Tasmania. Later, Shakespeare's mother learned that some of her relatives had emigrated to Tasmania, impelling Shakespeare to seek out two spinster sisters, both in their 80s, who lived in the north-west of the island. Shakespeare, prompted by these fortuitous discoveries, has assembled a fascinating and expansive history of the island, from its penal-colony origins, when it was known as Van Diemen's Land, to its present-day status as an Australian state. In between, Shakespeare tells of Kemp; the convict Jorgen Jorgenson, who, briefly, was the king of Iceland; the assimilation of the island's aboriginal population; and the tragic story of Merle Oberon, who claimed to be from exotic Tasmania to hide the fact of her ignoble birth out of wedlock in Calcutta. Benjamin Segedin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Vintage Books (December 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0099466082
• ISBN-13: 978-0099466086
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.9 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,275,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful - Tasmania (and historical travel writing) at its best!, December 26, 2008

By 

Jason Nitz (Melbourne, Victoria) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Tasmania (Paperback)

Shakespeare weaves a wonderful, gripping story of Tasmania and its history using a mix of stories primarily centred around the authors' long-lost (and unknown) relatives who came to Tasmania (called Van Diemen's Land then) during the colonial era. The author's search for his family's history takes him around Tasmania where modern day people linked to the story slowly give up their family secrets to reveal a unique blend of history, intrigue and mystery. Interspersed in the main story is a chapter on Tasmania Aboriginals who all but disappeared during life of the main story which centres on Anthony Fenn Kemp. Also covered are chapters on the Tasmanian Tiger and whether it still lurks in the deep dark forests of Tasmania central region and west coast.

Highly readable, and as the praise on the front covers says, difficult to put down. My family and I have been to Tasmania several times, and like the author, we've realised its where we want to end up (a few more years and hopefully we'll disappear from the mainland completely). Time really does take on a different meaning in Tassie - it's slow pace, often ridiculed on the mainland, makes you realise that there is more to life than the rat race.

If you're into Australia's colonial history and enjoy stories that jump from the present to the past and include real locations, then this is the best you'll find on Tasmania. Whilst it's only a small microcosm of colonial life in Tasmania, it's well written and absorbing. If you don't know the places mentioned in the book, grab a map and follow the journey as Shakespeare takes you into heart of Tasmania's history. Best enjoyed on the veranda with a Casade beer, or my favourite, Boags Draught.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare Down Under, August 17, 2010

By 

Dave_42 "Dave_42" (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Tasmania (Hardcover)

"In Tasmania" by Nicholas Shakespeare is an enjoyable blend of remembrances, anecdotes, and history. The stories are split into four sections, each one tackling a different aspect of the history of Tasmania, and each with wonderful supporting personal stories which take us along on the journey of Nicholas Shakespeare discovering the history of his family as well as the history of Tasmania and the significant overlap between the two. The book could easily fit into the category of History or Memoir, and the writing in places is almost like that of a novel.

The first section is titled "Father of Tasmania" and focuses largely on Anthony Fenn Kemp, an unusual character who travelled to France during the revolution and then went to South Carolina and met George Washington before making his way to New South Wales. There he got involved in most everything, and not in a good way. Shakespeare alternates between detailing the colorful adventures of Anthony Kemp and his own discovery that he was related to this important, but not particularly well-remembered or well-liked figure. It would be impossible to cover Kemp's life in a review, and not surprisingly this is the largest section of the book.

The second section is called "Black Lines", and it deals with the aboriginal population and the interactions between the Europeans and the natives. This is a very poignant section, detailing the history right down to the death of the last full-blooded male (William Lanne) and female (Lalla Rookh, a.k.a. Truganina) Tasmanian aboriginals. Shakespeare discusses the scenes of both of their passings so well, that it cannot fail to touch the reader's heart. The horrors of the fight over Lanne's body, and the sorry of Truganini's last years after Lanne had passed leave an impact that one will remember long after completing the book.

The third section is called "Elysium", and in this section the author looks at how Tasmania went from being perceived as "hell on Earth" to a much more positive reputation. There is no single thread in this section, but his family history focuses on a favorite uncle of his father's whom Nicholas Shakespeare learns came to Tasmania and the relatives that he meets while learning about him. This is a more personal section than the previous ones, and more general in its approach to covering the history of Tasmania. Though called "Elysium", there is still a bit of "hell" included, especially in the detailed section on an 80-year old murder which took place near where his relatives lived.

The last section is titled "Oyster Bay", and this section itself is divided into four short chapters, each detailing one particular aspect of Tasmania. The first is "Daughter of Tasmania" and is about the actress Merle Oberon who claimed to be from Tasmania, but her history is not quite so clear. The second chapter is titled "Tigers and Devils" and discusses the history of the unique animals of Tasmania, and in particular the mysterious Tasmanian Tiger who some say still survives. The third chapter discusses Oyster Bay and the unusual events which have occurred at that location. The last chapter which closes the section and the book is titled "Doubles" in which Shakespeare discovers that the subject of his previous book also has numerous relatives in Tasmania. He goes on to bring together the two sets of relatives that he has there as well.

Those who have been there know that Tasmania is an unusual place, with its own feel and pace. "In Tasmania" does a beautiful job of capturing the feel of the place, from the scary and horrible past, to the beautiful natural environment, to the quaint English country town feel in some areas. For those who have been there, you will enjoy your own remembrances as you read this book, and for those who haven't, this book is the next best thing to visiting.