Steven Carroll, The Year of the Beast

- This is Carroll’s sixth and final novel in his multi award-winning Glenroy sequence. The novels span sixty tumultuous years of Australian history, from 1917 to 1977. The Year of the Beast focuses on 1917, during the First World War.


- It's the story of Maryanne, a strong, courageous, independent-minded woman standing against ugly social ignorance and cruel provincialism. She becomes pregnant and the miserable father is frightened off. Single mums weren’t a common thing 100 years ago. Most of the babies were put up for adoption under the auspices of an authoritarian Catholic Church. But she'll have none of it. Her spirit is indomitable. She's an inspiration. 

- The year is 1917 - ‘The Year of the Beast’. The absurd war is taking its enormous toll on Australia’s young men, the polarising second conscription referendum campaign is underway, there are ugly popular uprisings, the mobs are rampaging in the streets, anti-Hun hatred is dominant. The opportunist Prime Minister Billy Hughes is stirring it all up.


- Carroll is very good at person to person dynamics and relationships. He perfectly captures their emotional intensity. They are the heart of his novels, and yet the politics at the time is also central. The personal and political dramatically merge. It's why I find his novels so riveting and satisfying. 

- He has a very idiosyncratic writing style which some readers may find annoying. He repeats phrases and sentences as if on a loop. The effect is a constant pummelling rather than a one punch hit. The blurb correctly describes it as ‘rhythmic, insistent and pulsing’. I don't mind it. Its relentlessness fires up the intensity necessary for the unfolding drama.

- There are minor characters who flesh out the story in a very satisfactory way: 
  
 A young footballer, Milhaus, of German extraction, has become the city’s obsession because he refuses to enlist, works in the Swiss embassy and is accused of spying. The 'beast', the abhorrent, ugly, populist passion, springs into action. It's baying for blood;

An inspiring young woman, Vera, is a gifted and articulate peace activist. She’s a future leader. She gives needed hope.

- Carroll also allows the reader a glimpse into the future: we are transported to 1977 as Maryanne’s grandson Michael (the son of Vic, Maryanne’s child from Forever Young set in the 1970’s) arrives in Paris in 1977. Maryanne's spirit is present and physical despite being only vaguely remembered. 

- The Year of the Beast is a superb and deeply satisfying conclusion to the author's Glenroy series.