It’s a cold and wintery night in 1968 and ten-year-old JJ’s mother isn’t home. The cows are milked, the pigs fed, and her dad won’t answer any questions.
The four children survive as best they can in a cloud of their father’s lies and clear misery, dealing with their mother’s absence in their own ways. But it’s always been JJ’s job to cause trouble, and her sleuthing wreaks havoc in their tight-knit community.
Fourteen years on, JJ has a new life, a loving partner and a good job, but she finds herself being pulled back into the unsolved mystery of her childhood. While pretending to have made peace with her father’s dishonesty, she organises a final farewell for her mother so they can all put the past behind them. Will the tragic truth finally set them all free?
While The Serpent’s Skin is in part a gripping crime story, at its heart it’s a powerful literary novel that explores the inner-workings of family, patriarchal power, and shared trauma. Author Erina Reddan really showcases her talent here with some intricate characters and insightful depictions of how secrets can ruin a family.
Reddan’s character-work is impeccable. The depth and nuance of each character, especially the protagonist JJ, is well crafted and adds so much to the story. This is one of those rare books that makes you forget you’re the reader, and fully immerses you in the story. JJ struggles a lot with her mother’s absence and watching herself and her siblings learn the truth about their mother’s disappearance is heartbreaking yet ultimately hopeful.
Another thing that Reddan nails in The Serpent’s Skin is the family dynamics. The shared trauma of losing their mother is hard on the kids, but the tense relationship between the children and their father is what really sets this novel apart. Every scene with him is tense and agonising – he’s one of the best characters I’ve read all year.
The Serpent’s Skin is an extraordinary literary crime novel about male power and the secrets that can haunt a family. Reddan’s stunning character-work and delicate prose come together to form a poignant story with a tragic mystery at its heart. Compulsive, gripping and incredibly powerful, The Serpent’s Skin ushers in Erina Reddan as a brilliant new voice in Australian fiction.
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