LITTLE SISTER - Unsettling novel lingers

Julian Novitz’s unsettling and absorbing new novel is about absent fathers, identity and motivation. It lingers long after the final mystery reveals itself.

Called Little Sister, Novitz worked on the novel when he was the 2009 Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellow, taking up residency at the Sargeson Centre, located on the edge of Auckland’s Albert Park. He completed it after moving to Melbourne, the two countries each featuring in this compelling book.

Underpinning the story is the tangled, tight and co-dependent relationship between teens Shane, Will and Eileen; and their then teacher, Mr N. 

The three friends are clever but troubled misfits and have been thrown together at school. They had become close; close enough for Eileen to confide in Shane about her little sister, whom she wants to protect and keep away from her estranged father.

Falling into four narratives, each character is given their own recollection of the events surrounding the murder of Eileen’s father on a fateful night in 2001. 

Shane’s section is told late that same night, as he stops running through the bush and tries to get a handle on what has just happened; as he sits at the police station the following day, Will gives his version of events; ten years later, Eileen tries to avoid reflecting on her as the tenth anniversary of her father’s death draws near; and finally, Mr N., waking up on his couch back in 2001, the morning after the murder, is unaware of what has transpired the night before.

As past and future collide, Eileen, living in a distant city under an assumed name, is perturbed to find a young woman is stalking her and claiming to be her little sister, even though Eileen knows that this is impossible. Who is she? It is not until the final narrative from Mr N. that we learn that he alone holds the key.

ABOUT JULIAN NOVITZ:

Julian Novitz was born in Christchurch. He was the winner of the New Zealand Society of Authors Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction in 2005, the Bank of New Zealand Katherine Mansfield Award for short fiction in 2008, and was a recipient of the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellowship in 2009. He currently lives in Melbourne.

Title: Little Sister

Author: Julian Novitz - Vintage - RRP: $28.99

Publication - 4 May 2012