Watercolours
Adrienne Ferreira
Watercolours
Adrienne Ferreira
A breathtaking debut about family secrets, a child with an amazing artistic talent, and a startling censorship controversy in a small, tension-filled Australian town.
the story of a boy artist, a river town and its mysterious underworld Eleven-year-old Novi just wants to blend in - not easy when you’re named after a silkworm and have the most eccentric family in town. A descendent of the first Italian silk growers in northern New South Wales, he is an obsessive artist with a habit of drawing the stories of the people around him, and a secret conviction that the river murdered his grandfather. Young teacher Dom Best is new in town and must overcome his lack of confidence to support Novi’s talent. together with Camille, the enigmatic school librarian, Dom encourages the boy to release his inhibitions and unravel his unusual family history through his art- though little can he imagine the consequences this will bring. Watercolours is a poignant debut novel with a mystery at its heart, an unexpected love story and a surprising twist. Most of all, it celebrates the clarity and colour a child’s-eye view brings to the adult world. ‘A stunner. It’s note-perfect and the control of the shifting points of view is incredibly skillful. the descriptions of Novi’s painting and his way of seeing the world are gut-wrenching. It’s a really fine novel’ MALCOLM KNOX
Review
Pip Newling
Novi is an 11-year-old boy growing up in the fictional small town of Morus on the NSW north coast. As the main character in Adrienne Ferreira’s debut novel, Watercolours, Novi’s perspective sets the scene for thestory of a regional town full of people who know too much about each other’s lives.
Novi’s grandfather was drowned when the river flooded five years ago, but Novi, a talented and precocious artist for his young age, believes that the river ‘murdered’ him. Dom Best, a young primary school teacher, new to rural life and to Morus, doesn’t fully grasp the history and allegiance of the various townspeople he works with and befriends, but he is determined to assist Novi in the development of his art. Eventually, Novi’s paintings and drawings of the townspeople, the crows and the river itself, lead to the unearthing of long-held suspicions and guilt.
Ferreira is clearly intimate with the workings of small towns; this shows in her story of a boy grieving for his grandfather. With the Rotary Club, the bad coffee shops, the predominance of sport over art, and the constant tension between locals and tourists, she creates the world of the Morus community convincingly. There is much to like in this first novel, and while the story itself doesn’t quite lift off the page, it does pull the reader along, much like the ever-present Lewis River, one of the main characters in Watercolours.
Pip Newling is a writer and staff member at Readings Hawthorn. You can follow her blog
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