Louisa will be spending the next six weeks at her mom's family's bush camp located in a remote Tasmanian rain forest. The camp will be bulldozed soon to make an access road and bridge over the river to the service the tin and iron ore mines. Louisa doesn't want to be in Tasmania. She wants to be practicing her violin so that she can earn a spot with the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. She has left behind her parents who are spending their summer in the wetlands of Southern Ontario so her mother can study Fowler's toad, an endangered species.
In the morning, Louisa and Uncle Ruff head over to the Northwest Eco Lodge. There Louisa meets Mel, a guide and her son, Colin. While waiting for Mel to finish talking to a group of tourists, Colin tells Louisa about Convict Rock, an island in the middle of the river. Local legend holds that two escaped convicts were believed to have gone to the island, starved to death there and now haunt the place. Colin impresses Louisa with his knowledge of the bush and the animals.
When they return to camp, Louisa asks her uncle about the strange smell she experienced during the night. He tells her it was either a Tasmanian devil or a Tasmanian tiger called a thylacine. But Louisa has just learned from Colin that the latter are extinct. Uncle Ruff asks Louisa if she knows about the camp and Piggy who is a pig-footed bandicoot - an animal that is supposed to be extinct since the 1950s. Piggy is a descendant of some pig-footed bandicoots given to Louisa's great-grandmother, Eleanor in the 1940s. She ran a breeding program that had limited success, with Piggy being the last one.
Uncle Ruff reveals to Louisa that the story begins with a Tasmanian tiger named Shadow who was Eleanor's first tiger. He tells Louisa that he can tell her the facts but to "know the heart of the place" she needs to read the remnants of her great-grandmother Eleanor's diary which he gives her. Much of the diary was lost in a fire which destroyed the bush camp in the 1990's.
Meanwhile, Mel talks to Louisa about Colin, revealing that he has ASD, autism spectrum disorder. She indicates that Colin "...has challenges with social interactions, reading non verbal cues..." and that as a result making friends is difficult for him. To help him, Mel has Colin stay at the camp since he seems to feel comfortable with Louisa. Although she's not comfortable with this, Mel tells her that Colin will be able to fill her in on the history of the area and that he's also a good cook.
From the diary entries made in 1939, Louisa learns that Shadow was rescued as a baby by a hunter named Old Stevie and Eleanor cared for him until he grew up. But Louisa wants to know what happened to Shadow, so Ruff gives Louisa the remaining pages of her great-grandmother's journal to read so she can understand how saving the Tasmanian tiger came about.
As Louisa reads Eleanor's journal she comes to realize that there is much more to the rundown bush camp than it first appears. Her great-grandmother used the camp as a way of saving thylacines by keeping them safely at Convict Rock. It was Old Stevie who didn't have the heart to sell the thylacine, Shadow, who had the idea of using Convict Rock. Stevie felt that because of the superstitions surrounding Convict Rock, no hunters would go out there, and Shadow could swim across to hunt and have a safe retreat. Although Eleanor attempted to find Shadow on Convict Rock after she released him there she was unable to do so. But one night playing Waltzing Matilda on the piano, he came near the camp listening to the tune she often played when he was a pup. Eventually Eleanor and Stevie discover that Shadow has found a mate and has two pups.
When Uncle Rufus learns that he must now vacate the camp so it can be demolished for the mining road, he reveals that there maybe a female Tasmanian tiger hiding out on Convict Rock. Despite his efforts, he has been unable to trap her so that she can be moved to a more remote area of the forest. But Louisa may hold the key to capturing Ellie, as Ruff has named her.
Discussion
Music for Tigers combines a diverse number of themes to create an interesting story in a unique setting. Set in the Tarkine region of Tasmania, the novel focuses on the possibility that an extinct animal, the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine, may still be alive. In reality, this carnivorous marsupial was listed as extinct in 1936 with the death of the last surviving thylacine in captivity. In recent years however, there have been a spate of reported sightings but no firm confirmation that thylacines still exist.
Kadarusman, a native of Melbourne, Australia, builds a believable story around this idea using a diverse cast of characters. Louisa, is a young teen who has been sent to her family's old bush camp. Louisa plays the violin and is determined to earn a spot on the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. However, she suffers from performance anxiety which can impact her audition. Her Uncle Rufus is the caretaker of the family bush camp and an animal conservationist. Mel works at The Northwest Eco Lodge, along with her son, Colin, who is a knowledgeable bushwalking guide and who also has autism spectrum disorder.
Although Louisa's relationship with her uncle frames the story, it is Louisa and Colin's relationship that is most interesting. The author uses Colin's penchant for detail and facts to provide readers with many interesting facts and information about a wide variety of topics including thylacines, Tasmanian poisonous snakes, the stars in the Southern Cross, the Tarkine forest. Some readers may find the details boring or distracting from the story, but Colin's behaviour and mannerisms are an accurate portrayal of someone with ASD.
Within the larger story of Louisa, Uncle Ruff and Colin's mission to find a thylacine they have named Ellie, on Convict Rock, is the story of Louisa's personal journey. She arrives on Tasmania, distracted by her worry about getting a spot in the youth orchestra back home. When Mel announces that Colin will be coming to stay at the bush camp, Louisa is panicked. " 'Oh no, I don't think that will work, ...I have to practice a lot while I'm here. I have a big audition when I get back to Toronto. I really don't think I'll have time to- to-..." Louisa's initially put off by the roughness of the camp, and the presence of Colin who comes to stay at the camp. She's terrified of the large Huntsman spiders that inhabit her cabin and is fearful of the Tarkine forest.
However, reading her great-grandmother Eleanor's journals, helps Louisa understand the purpose of the bush camp and to learn about the Tasmanian wildlife. She gradually begins to see the beauty in the forest and in the animals. For example, when Louisa returns to her cabin to practice for when she will be playing to attract Ellie, she spies another Huntsman spider on the wall. But her reaction is very different this time.
" 'As I begin to play I see something move in the corner of the cabin, near the top of the doorframe. A large creature with long hairy legs, but I don't scream.
"I guess it's going to rain again, huh?' I ask her.
The spider settles herself on the wooden beam.
I take a deep breath. 'All right,' I tell her. 'I guess you can stay this time.' "
By the end of her stay, Louisa becomes good friends with Colin, as she learns to accept who he is. She comes to admire his amazing knowledge of the forest and his courage in trying to make friends in high school. Her fear of the forest is replaced by a love for its beauty as seen when she goes for walk before leaving. "I reach the mossy log and sit down after checking for snakes. For once, I don't have my violin. I want to hear the music of the forest instead. I sit and listen to the currawongs sing their Vivaldi chorus and the rhythmic swish and sway of the towering giants above me.I close my eyes, breathe in the lemon myrtle, and listen carefully. I want to imprint it all in my memory forever."
Kadarusman offers her young readers a map showing the location of Tasmania and the Tarkine Region in the country. There are also notes at the back of the novel about the Tasmanian Tiger, Tasmania's Convict History and Species Extinction. The author incorporates many interesting details about the Tarkine Region which contains "one of the largest temperate rain forests", into her novel.
Music For Tigers is a novel that will appeal to readers interested in the natural world and conservation. Those readers looking for a novel that's a bit different will enjoy this story.
Book Details:
Music For Tigers by Michelle Kadarusman
Toronto: Pajama Press Inc. 2020
189 pp.
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