Immediately on finishing On A Bright Hillside in Paradise by Australian author Annette Higgs, I wanted to turn back to the first page and read this story again. Or, pass it on to Aunty G, who I think will enjoy and appreciate this book as much as I did!
The story is told in five parts by five narrators from the Hatton family, who in 1874 were living on their family farm in north-west Tasmania at the foot of a mountain in a place called Paradise. Life was hard for the Hatton family and their fellow convict descendants in the area, although not as hard as it was for the Aboriginal people of Tasmania following the euphemistically-named ‘collisions’ between them and the white settlers.
Each of the narrators told their own version of a similar period of time, when two Christian Brethren evangelists arrived in Paradise to bring religion to the community.
The first narrator was Eliza, who was an old lady spending her days sitting by the fire waiting for news when the story began. Eliza’s father had been a convict, and so had her violent, drunken husband. Her experience and bush remedies were useful when one of her grandchildren suffered a broken ankle, and she pragmatically accepted the deaths of babies, children, and adults, old and young as part of life in the bush. The arrival of the evangelist, the revivals and then the immersions (baptisms in the local river) were of great interest to Eliza, who took great pride in having been married to her husband inside of an Anglican church.
Other narrators included Jack, Echo and Eddie, Eliza’s grandchildren. In each of their sections they added more to the family story including their version of the death of a younger brother, how their sister’s ankle was broken and either their acceptance or rejection of the religion offered by the two new preachers. Their stories included their own romances and their reactions to the tragedies that were a constant in their everyday lives.
Eliza’s daughter Susannah also narrated a section of the story. Eliza couldn’t understand why Susannah cried so often, but as Susannah explained, it was a release for her. Susannah’s heartbreak at the early loss of a dearly-loved daughter and later, another small son, was tragic. Keeping the family fed and warm was a daily struggle for Susannah and her husband, Noah. The coming of the evangelists gave Susannah hope.
On A Bright Hillside in Paradise won the 2022 Penguin Literary Prize. The story was gently and beautifully told and I hope to read more by Annette Higgs in future.
My purchase of On A Bright Hillside in Paradise continues my New Year’s resolution for 2023 to buy a book by an Australian author during each month of this year (September). I purchased On A Bright Hillside in Paradise from Bellcourt Books in Hamilton.
Rose Reads Novels 
Comments on: "On A Bright Hillside in Paradise by Annette Higgs" (2)
I bet this is wonderful getting differing takes on a similar time. I sometimes feel like women were tougher back then. I guess they had to be.
I loved this novel, possibly because my great-great grand-mothers would have lived similar lives to the characters in the story. I liked that one of the characters cried for relief when things got too much for her, but mainly they were unbelievably stoic to modern eyes.