Melanie Cheng, The Burrow

 

- Melanie Cheng has written a sensitive drama of death, pain, sadness and profound regret. 

- In an unnamed city in Australia a baby named Ruby drowns in a bathtub. Her grandmother, who was bathing her at the time, had suffered a minor stroke. This beautiful novel digs deep into the emotional repercussions of this tragedy on the baby's family over the years to come.

- A feature of the novel is the pace of the unfolding of the full story. Cheng is in full control. The details emerge slowly and surely. Each short chapter is narrated in turn by the family members - the father Jin, the mother Amy and the older daughter Lucie. Lucie was six at the time of Ruby's death and is ten now. The other narrator is the grandmother Pauline. 

- The family live in a gentrified inner-city neighbourhood. They are renovating their house which is a bit of a shambolic construction site with the facade covered in blue tarp. The grandmother has broken her wrist and is staying with them for a few weeks. There is tension. She is not liked by Jin and barely tolerated by her daughter Amy. But she does get on well with Lucie and her new pet rabbit. 

- Covid restrictions still in place. Home schooling, social distancing, and mask wearing are all mandatory, and travelling beyond a limited area is severely restricted. This greatly adds to the pressures on this family. 

- Cheng introduces other elements into the story that add to the drama very effectively. The strenuous relationships between the adults are compounded by various events. 

- This is a short novel (184 pages), but it's very emotionally powerful, and enriched in the end by compassion and generosity. 

- I loved it.