Season of the Briar by H.F. Brinsmead ~ 1965. This edition: Oxford University Press, 1965. Illustrated by William Papas. Hardcover. 202 pages.
My rating: 3.5/10
Brutal rating, isn’t it?
I put it this low because I truly believe that even with full allowances given for Season of the Briar being aimed at a teenage audience, this highly capable author could do exponentially better. (Anyone else know and admire Pastures of the Blue Crane, written a mere year before this one?)
I had such high hopes for this novel, and there are bits and pieces which are wonderful, but the plot imploded early on and what might have been a fantastic “finding oneself” story got all improbable boy’s-own-adventure, with a highly manufactured dramatic fantasia about a young hiker lost in the Tasmanian wilderness, and her supernaturally tinged rescue.
Quickie overview:
Four young men find summer work on an Australian weed-spraying crew which is sent to Tasmania. They encounter and re-encounter a group of hikers heading for the alpine area surrounding as-yet-undammed Lake Pedder, and, when one of the hikers gets lost during a sudden change in the mountain weather, several of the weed sprayers decide to assist in her rescue, with mixed results.
Before the hiker goes astray, the spray crew has reached a hidden valley peopled by eccentric Euro-Tasmanian old-timers who are so desperately caricatured as to irretrievably shake this particular reader’s faith in the probability of the tale, even before the rescue mission episode. Even the beautifully written descriptions of the glories of the Tasmanian wilderness (Stunning Lake Pedder! An endless pink granite sand beach! ) weren’t enough to woo me back.
Laboriously comical pen and ink illustrations by William Papas detract rather than add to the overall effect.
To be fair, there are a number of good things going on with this book. Such as a certain amount of bildungsroman-style character development, and a believable depiction of the evolution of the relationship of a group of people thrust into close companionship 24/7 and subjected to some truly challenging work and living conditions. One of Brinsmead’s sons worked on a similar spray crew, and the versimilitude of this aspect of the tale has obviously come from some personal familiarity with the enterprise.
Brinsmead was an articulate and passionate naturalist and conservationist, and this comes through loud and clear in her written appreciation of the southern hemisphere wild country as depicted here. At first I found her approving view of the liberal application of herbicides to portions of this wilderness quite troubling, but it soon clicked that she was all about getting rid of exotic flora in order to preserve the native stuff, and, along with that, to improve the state of agriculture in the region.
It’s a very 1960s’ sort of teen/young adult-market story, and I should probably modify that rating to reflect its period, but, as I have said already, Season of the Briar disappointed me in how it so closely missed being something more than what it turned out to be.
P.S. – I still think highly of Hesba Fay Brinsmead! A fascinating, deeply earnest personality as well as a more than decent writer. I have a growing collection of her novels and memoirs; Season of the Briar is something of an anomaly compared to the others I’ve read.
Leaves & Pages 
I haven’t read anything by this author so far, thanks for the warning about this one. I’ll look out for some of her others though.
Most of her books are teen/young adult, though she did write some non-fiction memoirs, and at leasty one adult novel. Her best-known book is probably ‘Pastures of the Blue Crane’, so that should be easy to find if you are so inclined as to sample her work.
So glad to read this review! I’m doing an Australian Women Writers challenge this year and have been looking for some lesser known, older books and authors. I’m really keen now to track down one of Hesba Fay Brinsmead’s books. Perhaps not this one though. 🙂
‘Pastures of the Blue Crane’ is a lovley coming-of-age story. It’s decidedly “young adult” in target audience, and very much a product of its time (published in 1964), but I’ve enjoyed it a number of times over the years. A pleasant, well-written example of its genre. And yes, very “Australian”.
And if you are looking for Australian woman writers, have you come across Melina Marchetta? She’s a more contemporary young adult writer, who has produced some quality books, from “normal” fiction to fantasy/alternate world. ‘Looking for Alibrandi’ is good; I enjoyed it.
I know of Melina Marchetta but haven’t read any of her books yet. I’ve added ‘Pastures of the Blue Crane’ to my list. Now just have to get my hands on a copy! My huge local library gave me blank stares when I asked them about it today. Which is exactly why I want to read and review these writers. Thanks so much for the info!
I think I’d prefer Bitter Heritage.
Neither are exactly “keepers”, Brian!
But I expected more from the Brinsmead, so was more disappointed. I guess I should take the intended audience (“young people”) into account, but that’s no excuse for poor plotting.
The Margaret Pedler – absolutely forgettable. Not even bad enough to be funny. Well, it was, but it felt like a waste of effort even to mock it as even as much as I did!
Reading a Paul Gallico right now – The Foolish Immortals – and not overwhelminingly thrilled with that one, either. In a bit of a flat spot, reading wise.
Ah, well. It happens.
Perhaps not funny, but it did inspire a very entertaining review. Well, worth the effort, I say! Must add that “’I can’t put – forgive me – the daughter of a thief, of a swindler, in the place my mother’s held. Or’ – his voice dropped a little – ‘make her the mother of my children'” is something I won’t soon forget.
I’ve been going through a bit of a flat spot myself, but feel lift in the novel I’ve just started, Roger Lemelin’s In Quest of Splendour.
Thank you for the kind words. I am so glad you enjoyed the review!
Interesting you should mention Roger Lemelin. My hand briefly hovered over one of the Plouffe novels just the other day, but then moved on to the Gallico I mentioned.
This is an exceptionally busy time of year for me and light reading is all I want to tackle, but light reading enthralling enough to engage me fully for the brief times I can find to engage in it. An eternal quest!