Karen Wyld's Where the Fruit Falls came my way via a session called ‘The View from Country’ at the Margaret River Writers Festival. The theme of the session was that storytelling is a strong cultural tradition in the Indigenous community, a way of teaching knowledge, honouring Country, and reinforcing community bonds, and also been a powerful tool for sharing testimonies that have been historically silenced.

Taking the form of a family saga, Where the Fruit Falls tells the story of four generations, beginning with an Irishwoman's migration to Australia. Maeve Cliona Devlin has four grandchildren: three blue-eyed, freckled, light-haired grandsons from her daughter Margaret's marriage to Frank Browne, and her dark-skinned granddaughter Brigid from Margaret's earlier liaison with an Indigenous man called Edward who died during the war. When the story begins Maeve is an old woman, and it is Brigid who is caring for her in her dying days.

Symbols are used throughout the narrative to amplify the multi-facetted ways that skin-colour is used to define and divide. The trees of the title refer to the apple tree seeds that Brigid's Irish grandmother brought to Australia; and the bush apple (Bloodwood) birthing tree to which Brigid is guided by her Aboriginal grandmother. Both grandmothers love and accept their granddaughter's mixed-race identity, but Maeve tries to comfort Brigid when she is teased at school by telling Brigid that she was like a little potato; her skin might be brown like the earth, but inside she was just like everyone else. (p.12)

Birds signal coming events. According to Maeve, who knew the secret language of birds, there were two types:

...those that led you to good fortune, and those that led to no good. It was almost impossible to tell the two apart, usually not until it was too late. (p.16)

The third of a conspiracy of ravens are a premonition of death; but the Willy Wag-tail demands Brigid's attention and is the catalyst for her epic journey to find a place to belong.

Days of walking follow, which reminded me of the epic journey depicted in Philip Noyce's 2002 film Rabbit-Proof Fence, except that those girls knew they were walking home. Brigid doesn't know where she's going, or even if there is a home for her anywhere. However, she meets a young man called Danny, and is barely eighteen when she gives birth to twins — light-skinned Maggie and dark-skinned Victoria (Tori). Brigid, Maggie, and Victoria are all outsiders, and all experience racism in different ways: in this way the author shows that Aboriginality is not about skin colour. Brigid is judged for associating with Aboriginal people although she does not know (or accept) their ways. Maggie identifies as Aboriginal but her light skin means that she is judged by others to be white. She is deeply hurt when dark-skinned Victoria says she does not understand the daily impact of racism in the way that she does, but she knows it's true.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/07/11/where-the-fruit-falls-by-karen-wyld/ ( )