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Treading Air
In 1920s Brisbane, Lizzie O’Dea wants to get away from her dad and the memories of her mum that haunt her. At the races, she meets attractive, war-scarred Joe. When he says that he wants to marry her and take her away to far-flung Townsville, Lizzie sees her chance to escape.
But Lizzie soon falls through what she’d thought was a safety net. On the fringes of society, she discovers a new sense of independence and sexuality, love and friendship. It’s a precarious life, though. Always on the edge of collapse, eventually it spins out of control.
Two decades later, Lizzie is sick and worn out. Lying in a Brisbane lock hospital, she thinks about Joe, who’s been lost to her for twenty years. But she’s a survivor. There’s hope yet.
Treading Air is the remarkably vivid tale of a young Australian working-class rebel who clashed with the expectations of her world, and a powerful debut from award-winning Queensland author Ariella Van Luyn.
But Lizzie soon falls through what she’d thought was a safety net. On the fringes of society, she discovers a new sense of independence and sexuality, love and friendship. It’s a precarious life, though. Always on the edge of collapse, eventually it spins out of control.
Two decades later, Lizzie is sick and worn out. Lying in a Brisbane lock hospital, she thinks about Joe, who’s been lost to her for twenty years. But she’s a survivor. There’s hope yet.
Treading Air is the remarkably vivid tale of a young Australian working-class rebel who clashed with the expectations of her world, and a powerful debut from award-winning Queensland author Ariella Van Luyn.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
320 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 7, 2016
There is a certain sense of glee to be had when you read a novel set in a familiar location. That moment when you recognise a street or the author accurately describes a location; that feeling is comforting and is what drove me through Ariella van Luyn’s debut novel Treading Air. The story takes place in two locations, in Townsville and Brisbane during the 1920s and 1940s, following the life of Lizze O’Dea. From an attraction and eventual marriage to battle scared Joe, to the new life in an unfamiliar town, Treading Air is a cinematic portrayal of independence, love and sex.
I often felt like there was something very familiar with the plot of Treading Air; a sense that I have read this novel before. Which I had, it was from French author Joseph Kessel, and the novel that was turned into the surrealist classic film of the same name, Belle de Jour. I could not unsee the similarities, a lonely housewife discovering her sexuality as a sex worker. There are more similarities to be explored but I do not want to give away anything.
Once I discovered this connection, I had a hard time really enjoying Treading Air, to the point where I considered abandoning the book once or twice. I merely kept going due to the fact that this was the selection for book club and I wanted to give it as much attention as possible. Treading Air is based on a real woman, the author found some information about her while looking through historical archives and thought that the story was too good not to write. They say truth is stranger than fiction, yet it was fiction where I found this story previously.
In the end I ended with two major issues with this novel. Firstly I think there could have been some interesting insights into the motivation and mindset of a sex worker that could have been explored. I feel that because the novel was written in third person we were never really in the mind of Lizzie and there could have been value to be had there. Secondly one piece of advice I hear about writing it ‘show don’t tell’ which is not always true (there are some great authors that tell rather than show) but in the case of this debut by Ariella van Luyn, it would have made for a better novel.
Do not get me wrong, this is not a bad book and I am curious to see what Ariella van Luyn does next. I personally felt it lacked some of the key components that I am interested in, especially in a novel about sex workers. Rather than pick Treading Air apart any further, I would simply say I was disappointed. I know others have enjoyed this novel but it just was not for me. If the synopsis does interest you, do not be afraid to give it a go.
This review originally appeared on my blog; http://www.knowledgelost.org/book-rev...
I often felt like there was something very familiar with the plot of Treading Air; a sense that I have read this novel before. Which I had, it was from French author Joseph Kessel, and the novel that was turned into the surrealist classic film of the same name, Belle de Jour. I could not unsee the similarities, a lonely housewife discovering her sexuality as a sex worker. There are more similarities to be explored but I do not want to give away anything.
Once I discovered this connection, I had a hard time really enjoying Treading Air, to the point where I considered abandoning the book once or twice. I merely kept going due to the fact that this was the selection for book club and I wanted to give it as much attention as possible. Treading Air is based on a real woman, the author found some information about her while looking through historical archives and thought that the story was too good not to write. They say truth is stranger than fiction, yet it was fiction where I found this story previously.
In the end I ended with two major issues with this novel. Firstly I think there could have been some interesting insights into the motivation and mindset of a sex worker that could have been explored. I feel that because the novel was written in third person we were never really in the mind of Lizzie and there could have been value to be had there. Secondly one piece of advice I hear about writing it ‘show don’t tell’ which is not always true (there are some great authors that tell rather than show) but in the case of this debut by Ariella van Luyn, it would have made for a better novel.
Do not get me wrong, this is not a bad book and I am curious to see what Ariella van Luyn does next. I personally felt it lacked some of the key components that I am interested in, especially in a novel about sex workers. Rather than pick Treading Air apart any further, I would simply say I was disappointed. I know others have enjoyed this novel but it just was not for me. If the synopsis does interest you, do not be afraid to give it a go.
This review originally appeared on my blog; http://www.knowledgelost.org/book-rev...
September 10, 2016
Treading Air, by Ariella van Luyn, is the story of Lizzie O'Dea, a sex worker in Townsville in the 1920s. The narrative is set both in Townsville in the 1920s, and 20 years later, when Lizzie is in a Brisbane lock hospital, where sex workers were confined for treatment of STIs. The shifting perspective, between 1920s and 1940s Lizzie, show how Lizzie's experiences have shaped her.
van Luyn evocatively captures the feeling of Townsville in her novel. The oppressive heat and the way it saps your energy when you first arrive here, the roughness around the edges, the different tone of masculinity up north, the racism that was part of life.
Her novel is a careful exploration of sex work, and more broadly of the choices available to women. For Lizzie, sex work is a choice. But it is not a choice which is made freely. Financial hardship, lack of education and training, and limits to what women could do in the 1920s meant that Lizzie's other options were not so appealing. Importantly, Treading Air also includes Lizzie's own sexuality as part of her reasoning for choosing, and sticking with, sex work. Lizzie's experience of sex work is complex - it is sometimes arousing, sometimes violent, sometimes empowering and sometimes exploitative. Always, the novel makes clear, it is part of a patriarchal and capitalist system. Lizzie is empowered within that system - she becomes more sure of herself around men, learns how to make herself attractive to them. None of this is explicit - van Luyn does not lecture through her text, nor do any of the characters have a well-developed political consciousness. But as a sociologist who studied sex work as a student, these are the really interesting aspects of the novel for me.
Based on a real woman who appears sporadically in the historical archives, Treading Air imaginatively fills in the blanks to paint the picture of life on the margins.
In the interests of disclosure, Ariella van Luyn is a close friend and this review is based on an advanced draft that I read.
van Luyn evocatively captures the feeling of Townsville in her novel. The oppressive heat and the way it saps your energy when you first arrive here, the roughness around the edges, the different tone of masculinity up north, the racism that was part of life.
Her novel is a careful exploration of sex work, and more broadly of the choices available to women. For Lizzie, sex work is a choice. But it is not a choice which is made freely. Financial hardship, lack of education and training, and limits to what women could do in the 1920s meant that Lizzie's other options were not so appealing. Importantly, Treading Air also includes Lizzie's own sexuality as part of her reasoning for choosing, and sticking with, sex work. Lizzie's experience of sex work is complex - it is sometimes arousing, sometimes violent, sometimes empowering and sometimes exploitative. Always, the novel makes clear, it is part of a patriarchal and capitalist system. Lizzie is empowered within that system - she becomes more sure of herself around men, learns how to make herself attractive to them. None of this is explicit - van Luyn does not lecture through her text, nor do any of the characters have a well-developed political consciousness. But as a sociologist who studied sex work as a student, these are the really interesting aspects of the novel for me.
Based on a real woman who appears sporadically in the historical archives, Treading Air imaginatively fills in the blanks to paint the picture of life on the margins.
In the interests of disclosure, Ariella van Luyn is a close friend and this review is based on an advanced draft that I read.
December 24, 2016
*** I voluntarily reviewed this book via Netgalley, I gained no monetary incentives nor was I specifically requested to review the book, these are my honest ramblings and I hope you enjoy reading them - kat***
I have started to read more historical fiction, a genre I haven't read in 15 years or so, and I had started to add one or two to my reading list. But unfortunately this was one of those that missed the mark for me.
The book alternates between two time periods in Lizzie's life, 1940 when Lizzie is in a Lock hospital, a type of hospital type prison for prostitutes suffering from sexually transmitted diseases, and Lizzie's the early life in 20's Brisbane, when our main character Lizzie is living with her father, betting and booze are the main priorities of her dad, and while at the track she meets Joe, who while being handsome, his time in the war means that he has a few flaws. When he asks her to marry her and move to Townsville, Lizzie sees her chance to escape, love can be blind, and when life gets tough, sometimes love isn't enough.
Townsville is not Brisbane, its rough, arid and the poverty is rampant. The pair fall on hard times and when Lizzie is about to be on the streets she decides that working in a brothel is easier than scrubbing floors.
The book is based on fact, but loosely based, and told in a third person POV, and it tells the story - quite abruptly in some instances, and whether this was the reason I found it hard to connect with Lizzie, or because this is a debut novel, I am not sure.
The book gives the reader a look at the struggles women were faced when poverty and the lack of education that leaves little options for earning a wage, society may shun prostitution its been around for centuries, it was interesting to see how these women were treated.
I will say that I think the author could do better with guidance from her editorial team. Some paragraphs held promise, and then it would go back to the abrupt way of describing what was happening - it was as if two people were writing the book.
An example of what I liked: When she brings in a torch, she finds the whole back wall alive with orchids. They seem to lift their faces to the luminescence. Somehow, even after the florist abandoned them, they've kept alive. - this simple description gave my imagination a very good visual image of the abandoned building that Lizzie aquires at the end of the story.
But there was too much of this type of storytelling: At the district court, she's sentenced to a year at the Stewart's Creek Gaol. Thelma gets off because she's deemed too drunk; O'Sullivan found her passed out on Heurand Street. 'On the ground,' the newspaper says.
there was no emotion in the writing and consequently, I had no emotional response to any of the characters, and there were far too many sentences that started with 'She' and 'Her' over 500 in the book!
I stuck at the book because I wanted to know what happened to her, and in the final pages of the book I thought Lizzie was finally going in the right direction, but in the end, it did not give the answers I was hoping for, we do not get an ending, it finishes rather abruptly leaving the reader to interpret their own conclusion. In-fact the end was so abrupt I swiped my kindle screen a few times, then realised that there were no more pages! I do not like this style of ending, to me, it seems a cop-out.
I have thought long and hard about what star rating I would give the book, and I know some people would be perfectly happy with the style of writing, but this is my opinion so I will stick with my gut and give it a low rating.
I have started to read more historical fiction, a genre I haven't read in 15 years or so, and I had started to add one or two to my reading list. But unfortunately this was one of those that missed the mark for me.
The book alternates between two time periods in Lizzie's life, 1940 when Lizzie is in a Lock hospital, a type of hospital type prison for prostitutes suffering from sexually transmitted diseases, and Lizzie's the early life in 20's Brisbane, when our main character Lizzie is living with her father, betting and booze are the main priorities of her dad, and while at the track she meets Joe, who while being handsome, his time in the war means that he has a few flaws. When he asks her to marry her and move to Townsville, Lizzie sees her chance to escape, love can be blind, and when life gets tough, sometimes love isn't enough.
Townsville is not Brisbane, its rough, arid and the poverty is rampant. The pair fall on hard times and when Lizzie is about to be on the streets she decides that working in a brothel is easier than scrubbing floors.
The book is based on fact, but loosely based, and told in a third person POV, and it tells the story - quite abruptly in some instances, and whether this was the reason I found it hard to connect with Lizzie, or because this is a debut novel, I am not sure.
The book gives the reader a look at the struggles women were faced when poverty and the lack of education that leaves little options for earning a wage, society may shun prostitution its been around for centuries, it was interesting to see how these women were treated.
I will say that I think the author could do better with guidance from her editorial team. Some paragraphs held promise, and then it would go back to the abrupt way of describing what was happening - it was as if two people were writing the book.
An example of what I liked: When she brings in a torch, she finds the whole back wall alive with orchids. They seem to lift their faces to the luminescence. Somehow, even after the florist abandoned them, they've kept alive. - this simple description gave my imagination a very good visual image of the abandoned building that Lizzie aquires at the end of the story.
But there was too much of this type of storytelling: At the district court, she's sentenced to a year at the Stewart's Creek Gaol. Thelma gets off because she's deemed too drunk; O'Sullivan found her passed out on Heurand Street. 'On the ground,' the newspaper says.
there was no emotion in the writing and consequently, I had no emotional response to any of the characters, and there were far too many sentences that started with 'She' and 'Her' over 500 in the book!
I stuck at the book because I wanted to know what happened to her, and in the final pages of the book I thought Lizzie was finally going in the right direction, but in the end, it did not give the answers I was hoping for, we do not get an ending, it finishes rather abruptly leaving the reader to interpret their own conclusion. In-fact the end was so abrupt I swiped my kindle screen a few times, then realised that there were no more pages! I do not like this style of ending, to me, it seems a cop-out.
I have thought long and hard about what star rating I would give the book, and I know some people would be perfectly happy with the style of writing, but this is my opinion so I will stick with my gut and give it a low rating.
September 5, 2019
Prostitutes with venereal disease were incarcerated in the Brisbane Lock Hospital up until the end of World War II, though in later years these efforts were more concerned with controlling the prostitution trade than with public health. Treading Air opens with the main character, Lizzie O’Dea, on the ward of the Brisbane Lock Hospital in 1945, though it isn’t clear if she is incarcerated for being contagious or on account of her profession. It doesn't matter.
It is Lizzie’s second time in the lock hospital and she is a much hardened woman than when she began her prostitution career in Townsville in 1923. The reader learns in the opening scene that Lizzie’s husband Joe is about to get out of gaol after twenty years and that she is expected to be reunited with him. This narrative frames the story that begins in 1922 of when she first met Joe, their move to Townsville and the circumstances under which she first enters prostitution. By her own admission, Lizzie is “not usually the kind of girl nice things happen to.” There were few roles for women in the 1920s, often polarised into nice girls and bad. Similarly, there were few occupations a woman could aspire to. Joe loses his job after a workplace accident and Lizzie needs to earn income. Given the choice of domestic drudgery for a couple of pounds a week or one night of work selling her body to earn the same amount, Lizzie opts for the latter. Finding the work enjoyable, she is determined to be a ‘queen’ earning enough money to buy their own house.
Read more here: https://kalinapier.wordpress.com/2016...
My copy courtesy of netgalley
It is Lizzie’s second time in the lock hospital and she is a much hardened woman than when she began her prostitution career in Townsville in 1923. The reader learns in the opening scene that Lizzie’s husband Joe is about to get out of gaol after twenty years and that she is expected to be reunited with him. This narrative frames the story that begins in 1922 of when she first met Joe, their move to Townsville and the circumstances under which she first enters prostitution. By her own admission, Lizzie is “not usually the kind of girl nice things happen to.” There were few roles for women in the 1920s, often polarised into nice girls and bad. Similarly, there were few occupations a woman could aspire to. Joe loses his job after a workplace accident and Lizzie needs to earn income. Given the choice of domestic drudgery for a couple of pounds a week or one night of work selling her body to earn the same amount, Lizzie opts for the latter. Finding the work enjoyable, she is determined to be a ‘queen’ earning enough money to buy their own house.
Read more here: https://kalinapier.wordpress.com/2016...
My copy courtesy of netgalley
March 16, 2021
It did take me a little while to get into this debut novel by Ariella Van Luyn. Despite the subjects covered - sex work, drug use, gambling and violence in 1920s Queensland- it is a gentle book, yet its power simmers below the surface and before long, it hooked me in.
Van Luyn has chosen to focus her well-researched historical novel on a part of life either ignored or sensationalised: that of an ordinary young woman who chooses to be a sex worker. The life of Lizzie O'Dea is a difficult one. She loses her mother at a young age, she then marries young, and she and her new husband face financial troubles, at one point almost starving. But it's not a story told with an eye on pitying Lizzie, neither does it romanticise her life.
Treading Air follows the hardships and joys of Lizzie's life without judgment, and this is one of the novel's key strengths. It gives a voice to women who have been silenced and brushed aside by history. The more I read the more I grew to understand Lizzie and empathise with her situation, and the choices - good and bad - that she makes.
The writing is crisp yet gently draws the reader into the story. It does not set out to shock or embellish, and this makes it compelling reading. A fine first novel, highly recommended to those who have an interest in women's lives and the choices their gender forces upon them.
Van Luyn has chosen to focus her well-researched historical novel on a part of life either ignored or sensationalised: that of an ordinary young woman who chooses to be a sex worker. The life of Lizzie O'Dea is a difficult one. She loses her mother at a young age, she then marries young, and she and her new husband face financial troubles, at one point almost starving. But it's not a story told with an eye on pitying Lizzie, neither does it romanticise her life.
Treading Air follows the hardships and joys of Lizzie's life without judgment, and this is one of the novel's key strengths. It gives a voice to women who have been silenced and brushed aside by history. The more I read the more I grew to understand Lizzie and empathise with her situation, and the choices - good and bad - that she makes.
The writing is crisp yet gently draws the reader into the story. It does not set out to shock or embellish, and this makes it compelling reading. A fine first novel, highly recommended to those who have an interest in women's lives and the choices their gender forces upon them.
July 14, 2016
Treading Air
This is an unusual novel which clearly portrays life in the hot and humid climate of Australian north in Queensland, Brisbane and further north, Townsville and also moves between the 1920s when Lizzie and Joe first meet and where both end up 25 years later in 1945.
I found the language suburb; the lower class Australian but also Queensland accent and turn of phrase was reflected in all the characters speech and interactions.
This is a sad story of the trial and tribulations of the fate of a young girl, Lizzie, who facing untenable circumstances becomes a prostitute. The dilemmas she faces and decisions she makes seem to determine where her life heads. Her relationship with her husband Joe has a sad and almost predicable conclusion.
This historical novel through the all the characters, successfully portrays the struggle of men and women who are in the lower socio-economic class in early 20th century Australian society.
Thank you to Netgalley and publisher Affirm Press for an ebook copy to read and review.
This is an unusual novel which clearly portrays life in the hot and humid climate of Australian north in Queensland, Brisbane and further north, Townsville and also moves between the 1920s when Lizzie and Joe first meet and where both end up 25 years later in 1945.
I found the language suburb; the lower class Australian but also Queensland accent and turn of phrase was reflected in all the characters speech and interactions.
This is a sad story of the trial and tribulations of the fate of a young girl, Lizzie, who facing untenable circumstances becomes a prostitute. The dilemmas she faces and decisions she makes seem to determine where her life heads. Her relationship with her husband Joe has a sad and almost predicable conclusion.
This historical novel through the all the characters, successfully portrays the struggle of men and women who are in the lower socio-economic class in early 20th century Australian society.
Thank you to Netgalley and publisher Affirm Press for an ebook copy to read and review.
July 25, 2016
I found this a compelling read (got through it in one weekend) and loved all the historical detail about 1920s Townsville. I've read some of Van Luyn's short stories in the past and here she continues to provide the reader with a multi-sensory perspective on her characters' lived experience. We get to see what Lizzie sees and thinks, but also what she feels, smells and tastes - something that feels doubly important given a large portion of the story is set in the tropics. I also loved the shifts in narrative between the 1920s and the 1940s, and even though at times I could tell where the story was going I was still spurred on to see if there was a way out or if circumstances could be changed. The inclusion of actual news stories written about the real Lizzie O'Dea were also fascinating and drew attention to how much women were sensationalised whilst also being silenced in the press of the day.
May 22, 2017
It seems to me that there are two kinds of historical fiction…
Firstly, there is the genuinely escapist read in the Jean Plaidy tradition, i.e. aristocrats and the serving class in a long-ago world, with the star-crossed lovers and political intrigues that belong there. The egalitarian nature of Australian society makes this a tricky genre for Australian authors, because they have to draw on hierarchical societies remote from our own, but Elisabeth Storrs has done so successfully with her Tales of Ancient Rome trilogy.
Though I enjoy escapist reading occasionally, more interesting to me is the historical novel which aims to shine a light on some aspect of past life, (including a sub-genre based on a real life which I’ve tagged Rescue A Woman from Oblivion). Australian examples of these from my recent reading include The Birdman’s Wife by Melissa Ashley about the forgotten wife of John Gould (see my review); Jill Blee’s novels about the Irish in Australia; Crimes of the Father by Tom Keneally which explores clerical child abuse (see my review); and Long Bay by Eleanor Limprech based on the true story of a woman gaoled for performing abortions in the Federation era. (See my review).
The injustice of a past era is a common theme in these novels, and Treading Air, the debut novel of Ariella Van Luyn, tackles it through her character Lizzie O’Dea who becomes a prostitute in Townville during the 1920s.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/05/22/t...
Firstly, there is the genuinely escapist read in the Jean Plaidy tradition, i.e. aristocrats and the serving class in a long-ago world, with the star-crossed lovers and political intrigues that belong there. The egalitarian nature of Australian society makes this a tricky genre for Australian authors, because they have to draw on hierarchical societies remote from our own, but Elisabeth Storrs has done so successfully with her Tales of Ancient Rome trilogy.
Though I enjoy escapist reading occasionally, more interesting to me is the historical novel which aims to shine a light on some aspect of past life, (including a sub-genre based on a real life which I’ve tagged Rescue A Woman from Oblivion). Australian examples of these from my recent reading include The Birdman’s Wife by Melissa Ashley about the forgotten wife of John Gould (see my review); Jill Blee’s novels about the Irish in Australia; Crimes of the Father by Tom Keneally which explores clerical child abuse (see my review); and Long Bay by Eleanor Limprech based on the true story of a woman gaoled for performing abortions in the Federation era. (See my review).
The injustice of a past era is a common theme in these novels, and Treading Air, the debut novel of Ariella Van Luyn, tackles it through her character Lizzie O’Dea who becomes a prostitute in Townville during the 1920s.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/05/22/t...
March 10, 2018
I feel like I should begin by saying that I suspected almost from the start that this wasn’t going to be a book that I would really enjoy. The blurb didn’t particularly grab me and the only interest it really held was the location in which the story was set. An acquaintance recommended that I read this last year and I honestly can’t recall why other than the setting of Townsville. Sadly even the faint spark that came from recognising the occasional mentions of streets and suburbs around my hometown wasn’t enough to make this book something I wanted to read. If I could choose only one word to describe it, that word would be bleak. There is no happiness or joy to be had here, even the moments you feel should be light seem to have the positivity sucked right out of them. Perhaps it was just that it was not my style of book or narrative, but I found myself asking what the point was more than once. I found none of the characters particularly likeable or even remotely interesting, and the story itself was just kind of monotonous. I guess though I did manage to finish it, so there must have been something in there that encouraged me not to give up, but I have no idea what it was. I do feel quite badly for saying all this, and again I will say that perhaps this simply isn’t the kind of story that I personally find appealing but that others might. If I stumble across something else of the author’s in the future, I’d certainly be willing to give it a try and see if it was just this book or subject matter. All in all, I’ll give it a two out of five.
November 30, 2017
This could have been such a great book. But this was clumsily written and offered no real insights into why Lizzie became the woman she did. Ultimately very disappointing.
August 21, 2019
Unfortunately this book wasn't for me.
It's not often that I don't finish a book. But the characters annoyed me, I didn't like the writing style, and I couldn't get invested.
It's not often that I don't finish a book. But the characters annoyed me, I didn't like the writing style, and I couldn't get invested.
March 4, 2017
A good read. Townsville prostitution in the 1920's. Brisbane in the 1940's. A hard life for a woman.
The emotion was very flat. The heat sounded accurate.
The emotion was very flat. The heat sounded accurate.
March 20, 2016
I was really excited to read this book. I'm a big fan of historical fiction set in Qld and love the work of Estelle Pinney. Sadly this was very poorly researched. There are two time lines to the story one set in the 1920's, the other in 1945. The Waltons department store did not acquire the Overalls building until 1956 so I don't believe the characters would be standing under the "Waltons awning" in the 1920's. It's also hard to believe prostitutes working the corner of Harcourt St New Farm in 1945 as this area became a well known redlight district in the 70's. The parts of the book set in Townsville seem to flow a lot better. It felt like the author was more comfortable due to familiarity perhaps. I found the constant use of starting every few sentences with "She" very annoying due to the entire book told to us in third person. I found the sex scenes awkward and the language jarring- a real lack of sensuality and eroticism, which is not good for a book about a prostitute! The book has a lovely cover with great commercial appeal and I'm happy to point it out to our general women's fiction customers. Overall a disappointing read. The author really needs a lesson in "show don't tell" and perhaps a better editor. I do believe the author can build on these skills and I look forward to reading more work from this writer in the future.
June 25, 2016
"Treading Air" is a gritty read following the life of Lizzie O'Dea, a woman who falls for a caring stranger she meets one day at the Brisbane horse races. Jimmy is keen to marry her and they start a new life together in Townsville, far away from Lizzie's troubled upbringing. Lizzie is thrilled to be away from her drop-kick father, although she finds the days intolerably long as a young housewife in a new town. When Jimmy's short temper leaves him both jobless and unable to work, Lizzie makes a tough choice and turns to prostitution to earn money. She quickly comes to appreciate the independence and monetary rewards this lifestyle affords her, in a time when few options are available to women. Life takes a rapid turn down-hill when Lizzie succumbs to the attraction she feels for Jimmy's friend and business partner, McWilliams, and before she knows it she has lost everything. It takes many attempts and twenty years before Lizzie finds the opportunity to rebuild her life, the result of an unexpected encounter with an old enemy.
This is not a book for the faint-hearted but makes a compelling read with a satisfying ending.
This is not a book for the faint-hearted but makes a compelling read with a satisfying ending.
October 11, 2016
Interesting depiction of gangland/underworld Brisbane & Townsville of the early C20th but I would have liked to see more psychological insight into Lizzie/Betty or even her husband. We're told their marriage. The narrative is a little lacking in describing the pattern of thought or even just giving a better sense of place. We're told things but not really shown them. Lizzie does this, Lizzie does that, she wants this, she wants that. So it's quite a haunting book but a bit vague too. For fictionalised biography I think a lot could have been fleshed out to create a character & a landscape with as much body & thrust as the sex scenes.
August 1, 2016
I mostly enjoyed this first book by Ariella van Luyn. It's always good to know where the events take place, and living in Townsville, I can imagine the streets and the distances and even some of the buildings. It felt raw and untamed, kind of how I imagine the area to be at the time. The main character seems a little disconnected emotionally, and I was unsure whether this was because the character wasn't developed fully, or if this was intentional as a product of the characters upbringing and experiences. a pretty good read, and I would read another by this author.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews