(Rachel Matthews, Transit Lounge Publishing, $29.95 tpb, ISBN 9780975022894, November) ***

Vinyl Inside, Rachel Matthews’ debut novel, is the honest and quietly assertive story of Elsie, a middle-aged woman living a simple life with her long-time partner Sterling (a stud in Speedos), in Splashes, a typically Australian caravan park. Their life rolls along like the dusty highway until one day the daughter Elsie gave away in her teens—a daughter Sterling knew nothing about—tracks her down. What follows is an amusing and idiosyncratic look into relationships and their evolution in the face of Elsie’s haunting and hurtful past. This tale is readable and enjoyable, but there is a slight sense of awkwardness preventing you from totally believing the story. There is also an overabundance of sidelining subjects that we only skim the surface of. However, some truly touching moments maintain the tale’s appeal. Matthews delicately explores the idea of what a mother is and should be, and plays with themes of loss, regret and abandonment in an authentic and graceful way. The segments describing Elsie’s youth are particularly beautiful as they capture and convey the intensity and fragility of young womanhood. Women readers and fans of unique Australian fiction, and of authors like Rebecca Sparrow, will enjoy this story. Vinyl Inside’s whimsical feel and the warm, likeable characters are what will keep readers interested until the surprising and cleverly gentle ending.

Lucy Meredith is a bookseller for Angus and Robertson Brookside, and has a degree in creative writing

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2007, Thorpe-Bowker