Malus explores the intersection of sexual violence and environmental policies in Tasmania. Set in 1993, the narrative is told from the perspective of Shan, a newspaper librarian and single mother who is coming to terms with her rape as a fifteen-year-old, which took place around the same time as the flooding of Lake Pedder.

In Malus Carol Patterson has created memorable locations and circumstances embedded in Hobart’s politics and society. She skilfully presents the tragic fate of Tasmania’s natural environment, entwined with that of her protagonist Shan’s trauma as a teenager. We immediately become invested, as readers, in Shan’s story, her past and the dilemmas she faces. The landscapes in which the action takes place, through which the plots twine and unwind, evoke and mirror the moral landscapes of Carol’s work, so there is a beautiful and seemingly effortless doubling effect. A great debut novel. ~ Dr Terry Whitebeach.