The Woman Booker Prize Club is a local Hobart book club. Here they share their thoughts on books by Tasmanian authors, set in Tasmania, or about Tassie topics. Over to the club!

This month we review two books that are neither set in or about Tasmania – one is by a Tasmanian; while the other, an Italian bestseller, is called Tasmania. Choose between grappling with the global and domestic issues of the present, or venture into the past and onto the high seas (or choose both)!

Tasmania by Paolo Giordano, translated by Antony Shugaar (Other Press, October 2024) Review by Megan Tighe

First published in 2022, this book is apparently a bestseller in its native Italy. Tasmania is a semi-autobiographical novel, following Paolo (a former physi­cist; science communicator and journalist) as he deals avoids dealing with his marital problems and dwindling chances of fatherhood.

He applies to cover the latest UN Climate Change Conference and starts writing a book about the atomic bomb. Along the way he becomes fixated on terrorism and beheadings; follows a student into an unhealthy obsession with invasive plants; gets involved in his friend Giulio’s custody battle in Paris; and begins a friendship with the highly opinionated Professor Novelli.

If it sounds bleak, it kind of is. It’s all very introspective and highbrow, with some uncomfortable misogyny scattered in too (I’m really selling it, I know). But, despite this it is surprisingly readable. I zipped through it and although I was occasionally almost entirely fed up with Paolo’s malingering, I always had enough fondness for the other characters to want to know what happened next!

It’s easy to connect with Paolo’s fasci­nated horror and concern about climate change and other issues, and the insights into his book on the atomic bomb are actually some of the most beautiful sections in Tasmania (even as he wonders if anything new can be said about it). In the end, this is also a cautiously hopeful book about fatherhood, keeping long-term relationships alive, and for the world we live in. I’d prescribe it as an appropriate tonic for our times.

Spoiler alert: if you’re wondering about the title, I certainly did for much of this book! It’s a good reminder that while Tasmania is the centre of our lives, for people on the other side of the world it can feel more like an abstract concept; a possible, almost mythical, safe haven. You’ll find the only mentions on pages 138-9 and 266.

Saltblood by Francesca De Tores (Bloomsbury, April 2024) Review by Melanie Ross

If you’ve never heard of Mary Read, an infamous lady pirate from the ‘Golden Age’ of piracy, don’t worry – your lack of prior knowledge is no impediment to your enjoyment of this novel. Told from the perspective of Read, and meticulously researched, it charts an adventurous, expansive and wholly unusual life.

You might assume that a book about a pirate would be full of swashbuckling and nefariousness, but Read’s narration is, for the most part, sombre and reflective. From humble (one might say depressing) beginnings being raised as a boy in her dead brother’s place, to ‘passing’ as a boy and then a man to join the navy and the army, Read finds her way to piracy mainly through a love of the sea. There are other love stories to be found here as well, and a great many interesting and morally grey characters, as well as some interesting meditations on gender.

De Tores has written several previous books – published under the name Francesca Haig – and is also a talented poet and a Doctor of Philosophy. She grew up in Tasmania and now lives in Melbourne; although there are zero mentions of Tasmania in this text, the action on the high seas of the Caribbean might make up for it.

Book Chatter: This month, the Tasmanian Literary Awards shortlists will be announced, and (very exciting) voting for the People’s Choice Award will open to the public. Be sure to visit www.arts.tas.gov.au/tasliteraryawards and have your say!

Keen to chat books with us? Find us on Instagram @thewomanbookerprizeclub or email thewbpc@gmail.com.