The Sooterkin

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Tom Gilling's wickedly funny and very original first novel is set in the early 19th century on gloomy Van Diemen's Land (now called Tasmania), an island off the coast of Sydney, Australia, a coastal colony populated primarily by convicts, debtors and other assorted dregs of society. Into this homeland a young woman named Sarah Dyer gives birth to "a thing the size of a weasel, wet and slippery and covered in fur…[with] flippers and a black snout." Some call this miracle of creation christened Arthur, a "sooterkin," a mythical creature born to women in Holland in centuries past. But Arthur most resembles a seal pup, happiest "floating on [his] back and splashing among the kelp." Sarah's nasty drunkard of a husband, William, keeps his distance from his "son," but Arthur's older brother, Ned, sadly in need of companionship, lovingly protects and plays with his new "little brother."

As news of the creature travels throughout the island, skeptics descend upon the Dyers to view the curiosity, and the enterprising family decides to cash in by charging for a peek. All the townsfolk, including Mr. Kidney, the town minister, Mr. Scully, a physiognomist, and Mrs. Jakes, the local midwife (and sometime abortionist), each form their own ideas about Arthur, and about "whether science will unravel the mystery, or faith." But when Arthur is kidnapped by a stranger with plans of his own, young Ned sets out to find his brother on a mission of love and innocence.

Vividly descriptive, with witty dialogue and colorful characters, The Sooterkin (already a bestseller Down Under) is an extraordinarily unique tale, both touching and funny.

New York Post

[The Sooterkin] has the intoxicating fragrance of magic-and magical storytelling.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

On July 14, 1821, on a small island off the coast of Australia, Sarah Dyer gives birth to a "thing the size of a weasel, wet and slippery and covered in fur." Rumor spreads that the creature is a sooterkin--"a monstrous animal, with a hooked snout, fiery, sparkling eyes, a long neck and the stump of a tail"--but closer inspection reveals the newborn as none other than a seal pup, whom Sarah names Arthur. In Australian journalist Gilling's droll and engaging first novel, a bestseller Down Under, the seal pup's appearance--while cause for wonder--is not quite cause for alarm. The town's minister, Mr. Kidney, writes about the event: "we are a colony, so inured to the Unnatural that the Natural itself seems wondrous and terrible." This imaginative story doesn't confine itself to a single narrator or hero; rather, the entire population of the island acts as the true protagonist. Included in the community of convicts, debtors, itinerants and rebels are the drunken Mr. Kidney, nursing hopes that his service will cancel his debts, and the midwife Mrs. Jakes, who was expelled from England for performing illegal abortions. Sarah Dyer is a convict, and her older son, Ned, is a talented pickpocket and petty thief. But when someone captures Arthur, the long-dormant moral outrage of the island is at last incited, and a search team is sent out to recover the pup before he's killed for his pelt or sold to the circus. Gilling's island is a Dickensian, scatological, violent world in which people are as likely to steal as to pay, to cheat as to pray. Shifting points of view and the plot's decentered trajectory make for a sometimes disjointed read, but this unlikely setting acts like a hothouse for the miraculous, showcasing people's unusual and even heartwarming ability to embrace the strange. (June) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

The unusual title is only a hint of what is to come in this extraordinary book. In 1821, a village in Australia is thrown into shock when a woman gives birth to a male child--who resembles a seal pup more than a human infant. While the local authorities try to determine if the birth is authentic or an attempt to con the community, the mother names the newborn Arthur and treats him as if he were any other child. His older brother, Ned, is entrusted with daily visits to the ocean shore where the pup can splash and frolic. Father William spends most of his time in the local pubs, figuring out how he can work this situation to his best advantage. First-time novelist Gilling shows a sharp and clever sense of humor as he introduces us to this microcosm of quirky characters. First published in Australia to great acclaim, this fantastical story is not going to appeal to all readers but should find a following in the libraries where authors like Alice Hoffman, Sherman Alexie, or Gabriel Garc a M rquez are popular.--Karen Traynor, Sullivan Free Lib., NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Alida Becker

Jubilantly irreverent . . . Gilling isn't shy about applying a fun-house mirror to an old-fashioned adventure, playing sly modern games with appearance and reality. . . . The possibility of uncertainty makes for irresistible entertainment.
—The New York Times Book Review

Kirkus Reviews

An Australian newcomer vividly evokes a topsy-turvy world Down Under where convicts become respectable citizens, mammals lay eggs, and a seal born to a woman stirs up a rich broth of confusion. As much a gentle satire on Australia's less-than-respectable past as an unsentimental tribute to unlikely family devotion, the story is set in Hobart, the capital of Van Diemen's Land (today called Tasmania) during the early 19th century. It covers the months following the birth of Arthur, a seal pup, to former convict Sarah Dyer and her husband William, a dishonorably discharged soldier. Hobart is a rough, hard-drinking, rumor-ridden place populated by convicts transported from Britain, remittance men, and fortune-seekers. Almost everyone has a shady past. Reverend Kidney is actually a layman who took the job of chaplain because he was heavily in debt. His housekeeper and the town's midwife, Mrs. Jakes, is a convicted abortionist. The country surrounding Hobart is plagued by bands of outlaws who rob and plunder the farmsteads, murdering farmers and unwary travelers. When Sarah gives birth to Arthur, with Mrs. Jakes in attendance, she and elder son Ned lovingly embrace the new addition. William, a habitual drunk, is less certain. The birth is a sensation in a place hungry for novelty. The chaplain believes the baby has been sent by God; Mr. Sculley, a would-be scientist, thinks it is a Sooterkin, a mysterious hybrid creature; and the locals just want to ogle it. Sarah, a loving but practical mother, capitalizes on their curiosity by charging for a look-see. When Arthur starts singing, weak-willed William succumbs to the blandishments of an entrepreneurial doctor who offers to buy him. LoyalNedthen embarks on a dangerous and picaresque search to find his brother. A literate and imaginative, if sometimes strained, riff on the provocative power of the unusual in a strange and distant place.