A Promise of Peaches

This is the author’s second book of poetry, and one in which she takes a bold step: into the demanding world of the verse novel. But readers of this interesting work, both the poetry faithful and otherwise, will not be disappointed with the result.

On a first, then second more critical reading, I found A Promise of Peaches worthy of joining such recognized Australian examples of this genre as Les Murray’s 1980 The Boys Who Stole The Funeral, John Tranter’s 1992 The Floor of Heaven, and Dorothy Porter’s 2007 El Dorado.

The verse novel or narrative has been with us since time immemorial, since the Anglo Saxon Beowulf, even Homer’s Iliad. But tradition is forever ready to be made new again, as is poetry, always that prime vehicle for a worthy tale, ancient or modern. Strangely, the verse novel went into decline in the 20th century’s heady decades of so-called literary Modernism, but by the 1970s it was staging a strong revival. Using Modernism’s own largely free verse, coupled with the mores of old such as the multiple narrative and well-formed plot, the genre came back, and all such positive attributes can be well seen in Peaches.

In setting, the book is the year 1951, with a preface 1940s and postscript 2009. In backdrop it is Melbourne, but I would offer any Australian city of that time of post-war European migrants and émigrés, as Adelaide very much was. And without committing the cardinal sin of revealing the story as such, in the book the reader finds Viktor and Irena, a Czech refugee couple who are taken in as boarders by Joe and Doss, the parents of Claire, then a young girl about to grow up. Initial hopes and anticipations on both sides of this equation face their inevitable challenges, those spawned by the contrasting cultural and social backgrounds. Accompanying this is also the portrayal of Claire’s own juxtaposed turmoil, that indeed of growing up into adolescence.

The author couples poetic spareness with a rich narrative, as should be the case with the genre. She does this with skill but not detachment, remaining fully in touch with both her characters and their trials. When one becomes familiar with Volk’s own background, this is not hard to understand. In her first book of poetry, In Due Season – poems of love and loss, Volk dealt finely and without self-sentiment with personal loss and tragedy, that of a life’s partner, her husband and father to their children. Lines that could be from either book:

 On the wall – up there –

 Look! Do you see them?

 Golden globules, like small suns,

 That moment when the sun has tipped the hills

 To chase the shadows of the night away.

Fine reading personally, and as a gift for the poetry lover in the family or circle of friends.

Reviewer: Coral Hartley, Editor

A Promise of Peaches

Genre: Novella in verse form

This remarkable verse novel has been assessed in glowing terms by luminaries such as Professor Thomas Shapcott and Geoff Page, et al. I can only add my impressions of a deftly composed work, vigorous and fearless in its incisive approach to an increasingly complex human situation.

The plot is unpredictable, introduced reminiscently with some bitter overtones by Claire, the chief protagonist, grown old and crotchety. This section, set in 2009, is particularly fine poetry, depicting harshly the resentment of the elderly towards those who condescend in their attitude as carers. Claire’s flashback to 1951 delivers its underlying message of cultural disaccord,with all the far-reaching complications that can arise from a simple neighbourly act of compassion. The influx of foreigners, displaced persons from unknown European backgrounds, lumped together as ‘reffos’ at the end of WWII, found Australia ill-equipped to cope with the buffeting forces of social change.

Volk’s characters are skillfully drawn in powerful contrast to one another. Each has the opportunity to speak his/her own thoughts, as a sequence of events brings tension into their lives. Point of view swings from one to another, in a style that offers continuing suspense and reader expectation. This is the vital yeast of story-telling. The economy of verse effects the rise of the interest factor compellingly, made all the more edifying by the flawless rhythms of polished poetry.

This is a short novel to be savoured in three or so hours of rare entertainment as you get to know Volk’s six interlocked, absorbing characters, discordant though they might be!

Coral Hartley, Editor