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Beneath the Bloodwood Tree
Publisher: Allen & Unwin, 2008
A tightly-woven tale of ghosts, death, love, and dislocation.
Set against the backdrop of one of Australia's most remote mining towns and and the extraordinary Pilbara landscape, Beneath the Bloodwood Tree is part love story, part murder mystery. Pia, a young dentist struggling to set up her first practice falls in love with Joachim, a Dutch palliative-care nurse, but their relationship is complicated by their engagement with the Barnes family and the unearthing of uncomfortable truths linked to a ghastly act of violence just beyond the edge of town.
Reviews
"A beautiful novel... a fine writer... She's one to watch."
– Gail Pittaway, Radio New Zealand.
"This extraordinary novel stands apart from so much current writing for its unsentimental representation of contemporary Australian life... Both literary and accessible in the best senses of each term."
– Tracy Ryan, poet.
"Van Loon's novel is faithful to the essential spirit of Australia - to its abiding nihilism. The carking call of a crow ends Xavier Herbert's Capricornia (1938). On its much smaller scale, van Loon's book is a vibrant, telling echo."
– Peter Pierce, Australian Book Review