Book review: Dove by Georgia Harper

I was a latecomer to Georgia Harper’s award-winning debut novel, What I Would Do To You, buying a copy after meeting her at the BAD Sydney Crime Writing festival a few years ago. I missed out on a review copy of her second book, Dove, but picked one up when I went to a (rare) local author event featuring Harper and Penguin stablemate Mercedes Mercier (whose book I also missed for review*). And I must confess, this book stayed with me after I turned the last page. In fact, the night I finished the book it somehow became muddled in a work-related dream I was having and I woke very discombobulated.

About this book

After a violent confrontation with the man next door, Dove paints a daring question on the front wall of her Sunshine Coast hinterland farm: ‘What would you do if you had a whole day on earth free of men?’

When tourists and local women answer by writing their pent-up frustrations, fears and confessions, it strikes a nerve with the local blokes. With nowhere to hide from exposed secrets and shameful legacies, tensions boil up, just as the town hits the headlines over a missing teen.

As media scrutiny grows and Dove faces anonymous threats, she fears her secret romance might harbour its own hidden dangers.

My thoughts

At the author event Harper talked about her inspiration for this book. It came from an online trend with women contemplating what the world would be like without men. Just briefly. Not forever. For a day. And the responses are confronting. And disturbing. And very very sad. They weren’t highly ambitious or outrageous… no one was talking about glass ceilings and female leaders. Rather they were thoughts like: I’d run or go for a walk at night. I’d get drunk and fall asleep on a park bench. Others pondered if violent crimes would still exist, and… if war would still be a thing?

Set in the 1990s, Dove, our lead character writes the question on her huge clay wall/fence after a violent neighbour threatens her. She hates that [his behavour] impacts her so much and there’s nothing she can do about it. I found the extent of that disempowerment really confronting, as it’s not something I’ve had to deal with. Amazingly the question (and the responses) bring a waft of change to the small village (Maplethorpe… presumably based on real Sunshine Coast hinterland town, Mapleton as I recognised elements of it).

Most responses are anonymous, written when no one else is around. It brings about a sense of empowerment and camaraderie among the local women. And understandably it’s confronting for the men of the town.

This is told through Dove, a woman slow to trust and heavily self-reliant; diary entries of teenaged Bella; and Bella’s father Noah. I loved the way Bella grows in confidence and fortitude thanks to the wall and Dove. I also particularly liked the way Harper nuances Noah. His relationship with his wife is non-existent and though he loves Bella, he regrets the teenage pregnancy that doomed him to the small town. He’s our hero here… until he isn’t.

It’s only when he thinks of his own daughter that he starts to reconsider some of his own behaviour and thoughts. He ponders how he would like Bella to be treated and how the actions of men could impact her. I liked his own honesty and the self-talk here, finally conscious of how he behaves with his wife as well as the fact he eventually shares that with his mates, giving them all pause to reflect on themselves.

The wall garners attention (and social commentary), and more-so when the bones of a teenaged girl (missing for 30 years) are found.

I really liked Dove and Bella. Noah’s story arc is quite different. He’s unlikeable initially. Snarky with his wife and disenchanted with his life. But a new love and his post-wall self-reflection change him. Until he morphs again into the bitter person we first meet. As for Dove, I loved that she seems to be falling in love for the first time, given her reluctance to let anyone in. All of which plays out against a backdrop of the neighbour’s threats and her simmering anger for a local doctor.

Which brings me to my only gripe about the book. We learn [the only doctor in town] is a creep and has a habit of judging women poorly. I get Dove’s anger at advice he provided years earlier and her animosity towards him but really didn’t understand why that impacted him so much… so many years later.

A huge strength of this novel, also reflected in my review of What I Would Do To You is the fact that Harper doesn’t shy away from delving into the deeper stuff. She does so here–obviously–and I appreciated it’s in a very measured way (which was also the case with her debut). There is a bittersweetness to this and I was actually quite horrified where Harper takes us. It’s kinda shocking and I guess one of the things that had me mulling over this amidst work dreams about boring prosaic stuff.

*And I may have (ahem) made that point to their publicist at the event!