Sixty Seconds in Aussie Readers

Sep 13, 2017 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-on-kindle, contemporary-fiction, net-galley, aussie-authors, arc, own-read, 2017-release, drama

The move from Hobart to Murwillumbah in Queensland was a joint decision, though Finn felt he had no choice. Leaving the Brennan family there and knowing no one in Queensland was probably the best for them all. Bridget’s interview was successful – Jarrah and Toby drove around with their father while it was on, to fill in time. The startling purple home which was for sale as they drove past took both Jarrah and Finn’s eye – that was their new home; Bridget agreed.

As they settled into life in the t The move from Hobart to Murwillumbah in Queensland was a joint decision, though Finn felt he had no choice. Leaving the Brennan family there and knowing no one in Queensland was probably the best for them all. Bridget’s interview was successful – Jarrah and Toby drove around with their father while it was on, to fill in time. The startling purple home which was for sale as they drove past took both Jarrah and Finn’s eye – that was their new home; Bridget agreed.

As they settled into life in the topics, Finn wondered if he’d ever get used to the heat and humidity after the coldness of Tasmania. But the inground pool in the backyard was something the family used often – it was perfect after a long, hot and exhausting day. Finn was an artist and working from home while caring for two-and-a-half-year-old Toby was what he needed. Jarrah was in high school, and the bullying was just the same as it had been in Hobart. He tried to keep to himself; to keep his head down, but it didn’t always work…

When unexpected tragedy struck, the lives of each family member was shattered beyond repair. And when the police, with their investigating, came down hard on Finn, he found himself drifting in a sea of outward calm and inner turmoil. As the family fractured, each with their own guilt and terrible grief it seemed there was no way to rise above what had happened. What would be the outcome for the family who had their lives ahead of them; the lives that were shattered in sixty seconds?

Sixty Seconds by Aussie author Jesse Blackadder is a heartbreaking story of unimaginable grief, loss, love and the decisions to forgive or not to forgive. It’s also a story based on the author’s own experiences when she was a child; something she has never forgotten, her grief still raw. Most people don’t know the experience of deep, relentless grief – but Sixty Seconds lets the reader experience a part of that; and also to know that we never want it for ourselves or our loved ones. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital copy to read and review. ...more

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Jan 31, 2018 Kate Forsyth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, australian, aww2018

A few years ago I bought a novel called The Raven’s Heart by a writer I had never heard of, Jesse Blackadder. I was partly seduced by the cover and partly by the subtitle, ‘The Story of A Quest, a Castle, and Mary, Queen of Scots.’ It sounded just like my kind of book! And it was. I adored it so much I wrote to the author and told her so. Jesse wrote back to say thank you and to ask me if I would be willing to launch her next book for her. Chasing the Light was inspired by the story of the first A few years ago I bought a novel called The Raven’s Heart by a writer I had never heard of, Jesse Blackadder. I was partly seduced by the cover and partly by the subtitle, ‘The Story of A Quest, a Castle, and Mary, Queen of Scots.’ It sounded just like my kind of book! And it was. I adored it so much I wrote to the author and told her so. Jesse wrote back to say thank you and to ask me if I would be willing to launch her next book for her. Chasing the Light was inspired by the story of the first women to travel to Antarctica. I was intrigued enough by the premise to agree to read the book, and then – once I had read it and loved it – to launch it. So Jesse and I met for the first time at Chasing the Light’s book launch in 2013 and we’ve been fast friends ever since.

We’ve attended festivals together in both Australia and the UK, and last year spent a close-bonding week together as part of the Byron Writers Festival ‘Five Writers Road Trip’ around far northern New South Wales. Jesse told me that she was working on a novel inspired by a family tragedy that had had a powerful shaping force upon her life and her imagination. When Jesse was twelve, her two-year-old sister had drowned in their backyard pool. Jesse had tried to grapple with this catastrophe in her fiction before, but it had always been too raw, too close to home. As the 40th anniversary of her sister’s birth approached, however, Jesse had experienced a moment of epiphany. The story of Sixty Seconds had sprung into her imagination, demanding to be told.

Although it is inspired by true life, Sixty Seconds is a work of fiction. It begins: ‘The boy steps into this day like he owns it – like he is, in fact, God and has conjured this up with a sweep of his hand before breakfast: this achingly blue sky, this currawong sending out a ringing call from the verandah post, this water dragon sunning on a warm rock to loosen her scales, cocking her head and blinking a yellow eye in his direction.’

It’s a moment of easy joy and summery beauty, made heartbreakingly poignant by the tragedy we know is about to happen.

Sixty Seconds articulates what must be every parent’s greatest dread. The death of a beloved child, the grief and horror and guilt, ‘the seismic shift’, as Jesse calls it, which changes everyone’s life. Told in alternating chapters between the points-of-view of the boy’s father Finn, his mother Bridget, and his elder brother, Jarrah, the book moves forward from this point of shock, and shows how the ripples affect the whole community. Each voice is distinctively different. Jarrah speaks in first person, Finn in third person, and Bridget – most interestingly - in second person (and present tense). It’s a bold and unconventional narrative choice, but it works. Each chapter is very short, and so the fractured narrative structure of the book reflects the shattered family unit. As Bridget reflects, ‘the three of you – Finn, you, Jarrah – clinging to each other, rain-slicked, like shipwreck survivors. All looking in different directions.’

There is always a danger of melodrama and sentimentality when writing of tragedy, but Jesse never veers anywhere close. Her language is simple, direct and powerful. The story has tremendous pace, as the ramifications of the boy’s death reverberate through the grief-stricken family. Secrets are revealed, choices and mistakes made. At the heart of the novel is the question: can anyone recover from such a loss? If so, how?

The final chapters of this beautiful novel gave me chills all over my body, and such a lump in my throat I could not breathe. Both haunting and heart-rending, Sixty Seconds is as much a story about the redemptive power of love as it is about the terrible power of grief. I know some people will be afraid of reading it, afraid of how close it may cut to the bone. I can only urge you to read it anyway. It is, quite simply, a masterpiece. ...more

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Jul 12, 2018 Kathryn rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, australian-authors, gr-giveaways, reading-list-2018, related-to-time

Not a book to read if you've recently lost a child, or if you lost a child a while ago but the loss is still raw.

This was an interesting, although terribly sad, story, told from the viewpoints of the father (Finn), mother (Bridget) and their elder son (Jarrah). Bridget's viewpoint is told in second person, which was a little disconcerting, while Finn's and Jarrah's viewpoints are told in the third and first person, respectively. I'm not sure what purpose this serves, other than as different way ...more

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Mar 06, 2019 Kathy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

In the Blink of an Eye by Jesse Blackadder is an emotionally compelling novel about a family in crisis following an unspeakable tragedy.

The Brennan family is still adjusting to their recent move from Tasmania to Murwillumbah when their lives take a heartbreaking turn. Husband Finn is an artist whose career is about to take off but in the aftermath of loss, he is unable to concentrate on his projects. Wife Bridget is the family's primary source of income and she is unable to face any of her coll ...more

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