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Cape Grimm

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Cape Grimm

By: Carmel Bird
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower, Nicki Paull
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About this listen

On the far northwest coast of Tasmania at Cape Grimm lies the isolated and idiosyncratic community of Skye, which practises a religion that reveres the imagination. One clear evening in 1992 all the inhabitants enter the church hall, where they are locked in and burned alive. They have been persuaded to do this by a young man called Caleb Mean - also known as El Nino, the Christ Child. The only survivors of the fire are Caleb, his lover Virginia, and their baby daughter Golden. How could such a thing happen? Do the answers lie in the history of Skye itself, founded by the unlikely survivors of a 19th century shipwreck? Or do the only real clues lie in the dark truths of fairytales?

©2004 Carmel Bird (P)2004 Bolinda Publishing Classics Fantasy Fiction Geography & Cultures Growing Up Growing Up & Facts of Life Literature & Fiction Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins Multi-generational Family Oceania

Editor reviews

An inexplicable tragedy lies at the center of Carmel Bird's hypnotic and intriguing Cape Grimm: the burning of nearly all of the town's inhabitants inside of a church by Caleb Mean, or as he is also known, the "Christ Child".

Humphrey Bower and Nicki Paul display a chameleon-like ability in capturing the subtle accents, inflections, and emotions of the mosaic of colorful personalities that make up Cape Grimm, and their powerful, authoritative performances add resonance to Bird's examination of how a small town's complex history can inform a seemingly senseless act of violence.
All stars
Most relevant
I was very disappointed with this title. First of all I don't understand why it was placed in the Fantasy section as it contains no fantasy aspects at all. The reading of the book is good with a different narrator for both of the main points of view contained in the story. The story however is the problem, it trudges along at a snails pace with nothing happening. The story itself isn't detailing the events in the church of even those leading up to it except in the most basic manner; instead it deals with the history of Caleb's ancestors and the mindset of Caleb's wife after the event. The last 2 hours of the reading are taken up with an appendix. A timeline of events, many of which aren't connected to the story and a A-Z which once again has many items which don't link to the main story, but does contain a nice telling of the Grimm Brothers fairy tale Hans my Hedgehog. I advise you to give it a miss.

Very very poor

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