Beryl Fletcher

THE Bloodwood Clan ranges across bush and urban landscapes in Australia and New Zealand and tells the story of two women, Eliza and Josie. Eliza has lived for most of her thirty years in a closed religious community near the town of Mudgee in rural New South Wales. Josie, a sociologist, comes to the commune to study the group for her Ph D thesis. She is very alone after the death of her husband and feels that she does not belong anywhere.

Eliza is emotionally tied to one place geographically, and has an intimate knowledge of the animals and the plants in her area. She obeys the strict laws of her group and although she is thirty years old, she has never had a lover. One day, while collecting specimens of eucalyptus bark in the bush, she sees a stranger dressed in combat gear. She becomes erotically aroused and meets him again, even though she knows that she is breaking the rules.

There is constant tension between Eliza and Josie who represent two opposite ways of being. Josie is the ultimate individual. Eliza is a group person and finds it difficult to make decisions for herself. Multiple themes and characters who represent radically different ways of being are intertwined with lyrical language about the landscapes of the bush, the city, and the constant search for home.

Status

Available from Spinifex Press for worldwide distribution.
Mailto: women@spinifexpress.com.au