Musk and Byrne (Fiona Capp, A&U, $24.95 pb, ISBN 9781741753936, May) ****

In the goldmining town of Wombat Hills in the late 1800s, Jemma Musk is working at establishing herself as an artist. Upon witnessing a young girl’s brush with death, instead of saving her, Jemma sketches her, and is marked for gossip and scandal by the town. It is a mark that doesn’t leave her despite marriage and motherhood, and when tragedy strikes Jemma finds herself on the run from the law. Thus the legend of the beautiful outlaw, Musk and her accomplice Byrne, is born. With Musk and Byrne, Fiona Capp has brought to life a wonderful Australian legend that never was but very possibly could have been. Not unlike the French Impressionist paintings favoured by this tale’s heroine, Capp’s narrative unfolds at a languid pace, only gradually revealing its many layers. While there is plenty of drama in Musk and Byrne, Capp’s assured crafting of this novel never allows it to descend into melodrama. Her characters are compelling, her prose at times lyrical, and her skill with language and plotting precise. Likened on the book’s cover to My Brilliant Career, Fiona Capp’s Musk and Byrne will appeal to readers of well-written historical fiction, with an Australian focus.

Deborah Crabtree is a Melbourne-based fiction writer and bookseller

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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