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The Restorer
After a year apart, Maryanne returns to her husband, Roy, bringing their eight-year-old son Daniel and his teenage sister Freya with her. The family move from Sydney to Newcastle, where Roy has bought a derelict house on the coast. As Roy painstakingly patches the holes in the floorboards and plasters over cracks in the walls, Maryanne believes, for a while, that they can rebuild a life together.
But Freya doesn’t want a fresh start—she just wants out—and Daniel drifts around the sprawling, run-down house in a dream, infuriating his father, who soon forgets the promises he has made.
Some cracks can never be smoothed over, and tension grows between Roy and Maryanne until their uneasy peace is ruptured—with devastating consequences.
Michael Sala was born in the Netherlands in 1975 to a Greek father and a Dutch mother, and first came to Australia in the 1980s. He lives in Newcastle. His critically acclaimed debut, The Last Thread, won the 2013 NSW Premier's Award for New Writing and was the regional winner (Pacific) of the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize.
‘There is so much to praise about this book. Michael Sala’s prose is clear and unadorned, the setting exquisitely rendered, but it is the characters - Freya, Maryanne, Roy and Daniel - all of them flawed and complex and deeply, deeply human, who will stay with me for a very long time. I would defy anyone to read their story and remain unmoved. The Restorer is an incredibly powerful novel and, I believe, an important one.’ Hannah Kent
‘Michael Sala is a sensitive, perceptive observer of human relationships and I have long admired his work. The Restorer is a beautifully written novel about growing up, starting again—and how the riptide of personal history can pull us further and further from safety, no matter how hard we fight.’ Charlotte Wood
‘A wise and timely novel that builds and breaks like a summer storm—just as beautiful, just as brutal.’ Fiona McFarlane
‘Sala’s story of mundane domestic tension explodes in ways both already anticipated and powerfully surprising. The narrative is real, compelling, sophisticated and deeply human. Having read this work, I will certainly seek out Sala’s debut novel, and watch with interest for new works from this gifted creator. Strongly recommended.’ 4ZZZ
‘This is powerful, poetic, extraordinary fiction…Sala never falters.’ Australian
‘Unputdownable…Sala creates an atmosphere of simmering tension with an undercurrent of unpredictability that seeps into every exchange. [He] is a brilliant writer.’ Saturday Paper
‘Closely observed, with the visceral force of truth, Michael Sala’s heartbreaking novel captures the tender hope of love and its terrible cost.’ Kathryn Heyman
‘Recommended for readers of literary fiction who appreciate exploring the darker realities of Australian life now and in our not-so-distant past.’ Books + Publishing
‘Sala’s account is sophisticated and shows the immense complexity of relationships.’ Good Reading ‘Sala’s second novel is assured and polished and adds potency to the outcry against domestic violence.’ Herald Sun ‘Michael Sala’s beautifully shaped second novel glows with all the complicated pain and joy of being human…A tremendous depth of insight and compassion on the part of the writer informs the three main characters&hellip
But Freya doesn’t want a fresh start—she just wants out—and Daniel drifts around the sprawling, run-down house in a dream, infuriating his father, who soon forgets the promises he has made.
Some cracks can never be smoothed over, and tension grows between Roy and Maryanne until their uneasy peace is ruptured—with devastating consequences.
Michael Sala was born in the Netherlands in 1975 to a Greek father and a Dutch mother, and first came to Australia in the 1980s. He lives in Newcastle. His critically acclaimed debut, The Last Thread, won the 2013 NSW Premier's Award for New Writing and was the regional winner (Pacific) of the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize.
‘There is so much to praise about this book. Michael Sala’s prose is clear and unadorned, the setting exquisitely rendered, but it is the characters - Freya, Maryanne, Roy and Daniel - all of them flawed and complex and deeply, deeply human, who will stay with me for a very long time. I would defy anyone to read their story and remain unmoved. The Restorer is an incredibly powerful novel and, I believe, an important one.’ Hannah Kent
‘Michael Sala is a sensitive, perceptive observer of human relationships and I have long admired his work. The Restorer is a beautifully written novel about growing up, starting again—and how the riptide of personal history can pull us further and further from safety, no matter how hard we fight.’ Charlotte Wood
‘A wise and timely novel that builds and breaks like a summer storm—just as beautiful, just as brutal.’ Fiona McFarlane
‘Sala’s story of mundane domestic tension explodes in ways both already anticipated and powerfully surprising. The narrative is real, compelling, sophisticated and deeply human. Having read this work, I will certainly seek out Sala’s debut novel, and watch with interest for new works from this gifted creator. Strongly recommended.’ 4ZZZ
‘This is powerful, poetic, extraordinary fiction…Sala never falters.’ Australian
‘Unputdownable…Sala creates an atmosphere of simmering tension with an undercurrent of unpredictability that seeps into every exchange. [He] is a brilliant writer.’ Saturday Paper
‘Closely observed, with the visceral force of truth, Michael Sala’s heartbreaking novel captures the tender hope of love and its terrible cost.’ Kathryn Heyman
‘Recommended for readers of literary fiction who appreciate exploring the darker realities of Australian life now and in our not-so-distant past.’ Books + Publishing
‘Sala’s account is sophisticated and shows the immense complexity of relationships.’ Good Reading ‘Sala’s second novel is assured and polished and adds potency to the outcry against domestic violence.’ Herald Sun ‘Michael Sala’s beautifully shaped second novel glows with all the complicated pain and joy of being human…A tremendous depth of insight and compassion on the part of the writer informs the three main characters&hellip
348 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 27, 2017
27 people are currently reading
658 people want to read
About the author
Michael Sala
11 books20 followersMichael Sala was born and spent much of his childhood in Holland and now lives in Newcastle, where he is currently teaching and completing a PhD. He was shortlisted for the Vogel Literary Award in 2007 and received an ASA mentorship in the same year. His stories have recently appeared in HEAT, and in the Allen & Unwin anthology Brothers and Sisters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
October 19, 2017
3.5★
“He had kissed her goodbye, his lips hard and dry, his eyes unmoving. They’d been fighting the night before. She couldn’t even remember why, did not know so much the substance of the exchange that had led into their fight, only its shape, the sudden twist of words that had opened something beneath them, and there they’d been, sliding into it.”
Roy kisses Maryanne as he goes to work. They’ve been together since they were very young and have two kids, Freya, 14, and Daniel, 8. They’ve just moved to Newcastle, NSW, a coastal city north of Sydney, Australia, because Roy has bought a derelict old house to renovate and sell.
Sounds pretty normal, right? Except we meet them as Maryanne and the children are leaving her mother’s house where they have been living while the parents were separated.
We don’t know exactly why, but it’s obvious from the beginning that Roy is a muscular, physical sort of handyman/builder with a short fuse. He’s anxious to make up for lost time as a family, but Freya remains untrusting and gratefully accepts her grandmother’s phone number when Nan tells her to keep it and hide it, just in case.
They meet the gay next-door neighbour who helps Roy move a table but whom Roy immediately sends home, keeping his family tight and close. There had been a fire in the house, it was left stinking and filthy. Roy said it was great - the worst house in the best street – except it wasn’t a good street and there was a brothel just down the road.
Maryanne is a nurse, working nights at the nearby hospital, while Roy had a one-year contract, so they don’t share a lot of time together. Some of the story is from Maryanne’s point of view, but more of it is told from Freya’s – how she meets kids at school, how she struggles with camping out on the dining room floor with her little brother, who’s a quiet little boy.
The beach and the shore are where both Freya and Maryanne find some respite. Freya meets an alternative sort of kid, Josh, who has a few face piercings, smokes dope, shoplifts, and loves music. He tells Freya he can do pretty much what he wants because his mother left a few years ago and his dad hasn’t really recovered and leaves Josh to his own devices.
Freya’s discontent is certainly understandable, but she is also typical of most teens I’ve known. No matter where you are in your teens, you just KNOW it would be better to be someplace else, without parents, of course. [I tell kids that it’s Nature’s way of making sure kids want to strike out on their own one day so we aren’t all living piled on top of each other in the same house for generations! But I digress.]
There are awkward parts of the book where bits of local history and colour are dropped in – caves, shipwrecks, attractions – and the Newcastle earthquake of 1989 is a plot point. There is a lot of 80s music featured, on cassettes, of course, to emphasise the period. And there are scenes at school sandwiched in here and there. I did enjoy one, though, where a teacher who knew she was fighting a losing battle persisted anyway.
“‘Hormones,’ Mrs O’Neill said in the swelter of the classroom. ‘You girls are all wading through a soup of hormones. Don’t take any risks. Don’t trust your instincts, except when they tell you what I tell you. If that voice in your head doesn’t sound like me, it’s not worth listening to. And you boys, God help you. Don’t listen to anything that comes into your head. Not a thing, unless it’s STOP, STOP, STOP. You boys need stop signs tattooed on your foreheads. Not that you’d ever look at yourselves long enough to notice.’
Shouting into the wind, she was. The family dynamic shifts to and fro with underlying discontent, distrust, and a sense of impending danger.
Roy loses his job, but keeps working on the house. Maryanne is kept busy at the hospital and is always on eggshells around Roy. Freya wags school and starts using pot, while little Daniel tries to learn the clarinet.
Roy is aggressively jealous of the time Maryanne spends with the gay guy next door and with her workmates. Not a happy family. And we do eventually learn why Maryanne is so cautious around Roy, but it seems to be a very long time coming.
It's obvious Sala's got talent, and some passages are poetically descriptive, so I'll be keeping an eye out for what he does next.
Thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing for the copy for review from which I’ve quoted (so quotes may have changed).
“He had kissed her goodbye, his lips hard and dry, his eyes unmoving. They’d been fighting the night before. She couldn’t even remember why, did not know so much the substance of the exchange that had led into their fight, only its shape, the sudden twist of words that had opened something beneath them, and there they’d been, sliding into it.”
Roy kisses Maryanne as he goes to work. They’ve been together since they were very young and have two kids, Freya, 14, and Daniel, 8. They’ve just moved to Newcastle, NSW, a coastal city north of Sydney, Australia, because Roy has bought a derelict old house to renovate and sell.
Sounds pretty normal, right? Except we meet them as Maryanne and the children are leaving her mother’s house where they have been living while the parents were separated.
We don’t know exactly why, but it’s obvious from the beginning that Roy is a muscular, physical sort of handyman/builder with a short fuse. He’s anxious to make up for lost time as a family, but Freya remains untrusting and gratefully accepts her grandmother’s phone number when Nan tells her to keep it and hide it, just in case.
They meet the gay next-door neighbour who helps Roy move a table but whom Roy immediately sends home, keeping his family tight and close. There had been a fire in the house, it was left stinking and filthy. Roy said it was great - the worst house in the best street – except it wasn’t a good street and there was a brothel just down the road.
Maryanne is a nurse, working nights at the nearby hospital, while Roy had a one-year contract, so they don’t share a lot of time together. Some of the story is from Maryanne’s point of view, but more of it is told from Freya’s – how she meets kids at school, how she struggles with camping out on the dining room floor with her little brother, who’s a quiet little boy.
The beach and the shore are where both Freya and Maryanne find some respite. Freya meets an alternative sort of kid, Josh, who has a few face piercings, smokes dope, shoplifts, and loves music. He tells Freya he can do pretty much what he wants because his mother left a few years ago and his dad hasn’t really recovered and leaves Josh to his own devices.
Freya’s discontent is certainly understandable, but she is also typical of most teens I’ve known. No matter where you are in your teens, you just KNOW it would be better to be someplace else, without parents, of course. [I tell kids that it’s Nature’s way of making sure kids want to strike out on their own one day so we aren’t all living piled on top of each other in the same house for generations! But I digress.]
There are awkward parts of the book where bits of local history and colour are dropped in – caves, shipwrecks, attractions – and the Newcastle earthquake of 1989 is a plot point. There is a lot of 80s music featured, on cassettes, of course, to emphasise the period. And there are scenes at school sandwiched in here and there. I did enjoy one, though, where a teacher who knew she was fighting a losing battle persisted anyway.
“‘Hormones,’ Mrs O’Neill said in the swelter of the classroom. ‘You girls are all wading through a soup of hormones. Don’t take any risks. Don’t trust your instincts, except when they tell you what I tell you. If that voice in your head doesn’t sound like me, it’s not worth listening to. And you boys, God help you. Don’t listen to anything that comes into your head. Not a thing, unless it’s STOP, STOP, STOP. You boys need stop signs tattooed on your foreheads. Not that you’d ever look at yourselves long enough to notice.’
Shouting into the wind, she was. The family dynamic shifts to and fro with underlying discontent, distrust, and a sense of impending danger.
Roy loses his job, but keeps working on the house. Maryanne is kept busy at the hospital and is always on eggshells around Roy. Freya wags school and starts using pot, while little Daniel tries to learn the clarinet.
Roy is aggressively jealous of the time Maryanne spends with the gay guy next door and with her workmates. Not a happy family. And we do eventually learn why Maryanne is so cautious around Roy, but it seems to be a very long time coming.
It's obvious Sala's got talent, and some passages are poetically descriptive, so I'll be keeping an eye out for what he does next.
Thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing for the copy for review from which I’ve quoted (so quotes may have changed).
October 16, 2017
Moving to Newcastle was meant to be a new start for Roy, Maryanne and their children Freya and Daniel. A new house, new schools, new jobs, a change of scene to help them re-unite after a year spent apart. But from the start, nothing seems to work out as planned. The house is a derelict mess, trashed and damaged by squatters. Roy immediately sets to work to clean and renovate it and make it fit to be a family house again but he is still seething with anger against Maryanne for leaving him and there is a dark psychological tension that settles over the family. Maryanne lives on tenterhooks, never knowing what mood Roy will be in when he comes home. His jealousy and resentment makes it hard for her to make friends and keep in touch with her mother. Teenage Freya feels the stress and tension keenly and tries to numb her pain with risk-taking behaviour, all the time worried for her mother and younger brother. She can feel that a crisis is building and is fearful of when it will erupt and how it will affect them all.
This is a dark story of a fractured family struggling to be whole again. The psychological tension is palpable, building slowly into a dark storm that you know must eventually break, damaging all in it's path. The characters are well drawn - angry, moody Roy driven by jealousy with violence seething just below the surface; Maryanne trying to placate him and protect her children, particularly young Daniel who is always getting in trouble and Freya, our narrator trying to navigate adolescence in a new environment, fearful of her father and worried about her mother and brother. The author has placed these events firmly into the Australian vernacular with his detailed descriptions of Newcastle and the events that occurred in that year (1989).
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Text for a copy of the book to read and review
This is a dark story of a fractured family struggling to be whole again. The psychological tension is palpable, building slowly into a dark storm that you know must eventually break, damaging all in it's path. The characters are well drawn - angry, moody Roy driven by jealousy with violence seething just below the surface; Maryanne trying to placate him and protect her children, particularly young Daniel who is always getting in trouble and Freya, our narrator trying to navigate adolescence in a new environment, fearful of her father and worried about her mother and brother. The author has placed these events firmly into the Australian vernacular with his detailed descriptions of Newcastle and the events that occurred in that year (1989).
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Text for a copy of the book to read and review
March 4, 2017
“Some nights sleep wouldn’t come to her at all. A wakefulness bloomed in her, so intense it was as if something made of needles was trying to claw its way out. She’d watch the dawn spread over the street”
The Restorer is the second novel by Dutch-born Australian author, Michael Sala. When Maryanne arrives with her children at the house in East Newcastle that her estranged husband has bought, it is with hope that they can restore their relationship to its earlier, more stable state. The house is a dump, but Roy is confident he will have it fully liveable or saleable within a year.
Not everyone shares his enthusiasm for the move. Fourteen-year-old Freya is resentful of being torn away from Sydney, her friends and her nan; eight-year-old Daniel is still acting too vague and dreamy, too sheltered by Maryanne, for Roy’s liking. As the months go by and Roy’s behaviour regresses, Maryanne’s certainty about her decision to give it another chance begins to erode.
Sala tells his story using two main narrators: Maryanne provides the perspective of a woman trying to balance a relationship with the man she loves and the imperative to protect her children from harm; Freya gives the point of view of an adolescent growing up in a family filled with hidden tensions, with a background of which she is more aware than anyone realises; next-door neighbour Richard’s short but prescient narrative bookends these two.
Sala’s beautiful descriptive prose effortlessly captures his setting: Newcastle locals will easily recognise their city. His mention of significant events anchors his tale firmly in the year 1989. His descriptions of weather are especially evocative: “…the weather had turned on its head the way it did on the coast, everything – the warmth, the calm, the clarity – thrown away, rain coming over at unpredictable moments, on again, off again, pummelling its fists against the windows and the roof, then fragments of blue stumbling across the sky, a sudden burst of intolerable sun, before the clouds locked back into place again and it was all humidity, and waiting, just waiting, for something to break”
His characters are multi-faceted and realistically flawed; their dialogue is natural and their behaviour quite believable, although Maryanne gives Freya more freedom than many mothers would a fourteen-year-old. Sala touches on many topical issues, as well as some that are timeless: feelings of inadequacy, lack of trust, domestic violence, teens hormones and upheaval, suicide, drugs, alcohol, mental cruelty, and anger management all feature. This is a powerful, moving read.
The Restorer is the second novel by Dutch-born Australian author, Michael Sala. When Maryanne arrives with her children at the house in East Newcastle that her estranged husband has bought, it is with hope that they can restore their relationship to its earlier, more stable state. The house is a dump, but Roy is confident he will have it fully liveable or saleable within a year.
Not everyone shares his enthusiasm for the move. Fourteen-year-old Freya is resentful of being torn away from Sydney, her friends and her nan; eight-year-old Daniel is still acting too vague and dreamy, too sheltered by Maryanne, for Roy’s liking. As the months go by and Roy’s behaviour regresses, Maryanne’s certainty about her decision to give it another chance begins to erode.
Sala tells his story using two main narrators: Maryanne provides the perspective of a woman trying to balance a relationship with the man she loves and the imperative to protect her children from harm; Freya gives the point of view of an adolescent growing up in a family filled with hidden tensions, with a background of which she is more aware than anyone realises; next-door neighbour Richard’s short but prescient narrative bookends these two.
Sala’s beautiful descriptive prose effortlessly captures his setting: Newcastle locals will easily recognise their city. His mention of significant events anchors his tale firmly in the year 1989. His descriptions of weather are especially evocative: “…the weather had turned on its head the way it did on the coast, everything – the warmth, the calm, the clarity – thrown away, rain coming over at unpredictable moments, on again, off again, pummelling its fists against the windows and the roof, then fragments of blue stumbling across the sky, a sudden burst of intolerable sun, before the clouds locked back into place again and it was all humidity, and waiting, just waiting, for something to break”
His characters are multi-faceted and realistically flawed; their dialogue is natural and their behaviour quite believable, although Maryanne gives Freya more freedom than many mothers would a fourteen-year-old. Sala touches on many topical issues, as well as some that are timeless: feelings of inadequacy, lack of trust, domestic violence, teens hormones and upheaval, suicide, drugs, alcohol, mental cruelty, and anger management all feature. This is a powerful, moving read.
January 15, 2018
‘A scrupulously written, scarifying story of impending tragedy, which is to give nothing away…A picture of domestic tension, violence and disintegration.’
Sydney Morning Herald, Books for Your Holiday Reading
‘The standout novel for me was Michael Sala’s ferocious family drama The Restorer. In a year that made me think again and again about why men do terrible things, Sala’s emotional tour-de-force dares to confront some of those causes and the implications of violence at a social level.’
Gretchen Shirm, Australian, Books of the Year 2017
‘Michael Sala is a sensitive, perceptive observer of human relationships and I have long admired his work. The Restorer is a beautifully written novel about growing up, starting again—and how the riptide of personal history can pull us further and further from safety, no matter how hard we fight.’
Charlotte Wood
‘There is so much to praise about this book. Michael Sala’s prose is clear and unadorned, the setting exquisitely rendered, but it is the characters - Freya, Maryanne, Roy and Daniel - all of them flawed and complex and deeply, deeply human, who will stay with me for a very long time. I would defy anyone to read their story and remain unmoved. The Restorer is an incredibly powerful novel and, I believe, an important one.’
Hannah Kent
‘A wise and timely novel that builds and breaks like a summer storm—just as beautiful, just as brutal.’
Fiona McFarlane
‘Michael Sala has a rare gift: in prose that takes your breath away, he tells a story of heart-rending sorrow without a trace of sentimentality.’
Raimond Gaita on The Last Thread
‘A confronting and compelling story of a family. Sala captures perfectly the puzzled silence of the uncomprehending child in a narrative swollen with unspoken secrets.’
Debra Adelaide on The Last Thread
‘Recommended for readers of literary fiction who appreciate exploring the darker realities of Australian life now and in our not-so-distant past.’
Books+Publishing
‘Sala's story of mundane domestic tension explodes in ways both already anticipated and powerfully surprising. The narrative is real, compelling, sophisticated,and deeply human.’
4ZZZFM
‘Sala’s account is sophisticated and shows the immense complexity of relationships.’
Good Reading
‘Sala’s second novel is assured and polished and adds potency to the outcry against domestic violence.’
Herald Sun
‘Michael Sala’s beautifully shaped second novel glows with all the complicated pain and joy of being human…A tremendous depth of insight and compassion on the part of the writer informs the three main characters…The reader knows pain is coming but the power and deep humanity of Sala’s writing defies the instinct to look away.’
SA Weekend
‘Entrancing and heartbreakingly sad.’
Who Weekly
‘The Restorer is a beautifully written and very powerful fiction that not only shines a light on the deep roots of domestic violence but also plays with the line of what remains in the face of such destruction. Sala’s story will stay with the reader long after the book is finished.’
Compulsive Reader
‘This is a sensitively rendered novel with a fine eye for emotional and physical detail. The questions it raises are as disturbing as they are compelling.’
Sydney Morning Herald
‘Now, I’m not self-promoting here, but I will be on stage [at Sydney Writers Festival] with Newcastle writer Michael Sala. Indeed, the only person I’m promoting is Sala, as his unsettling family novel The Restorer is superb.’
Stephen Romei, Australian
‘His style is spare and direct, as if parading its lack of trickiness and fanfare; but underneath it swells a great, unwieldy tide of emotion.’
Overland
‘The Restorer is a powerful, emotionally charged and thought provoking book.’
Pile by the Bed
‘Michael Sala taps into the tension and fear of the times to help build the mood…The cracks are widening long before the earth moves in this novel of a family locked into patterns of violence.’
Australian Women’s Weekly
‘The Restorer is a powerful, emotionally charged and thought provoking book. Yet again shining a light on a pervasive strain in Australian society, Sala effectively builds the tension based on a certain fatalistic inevitability. The storm was always coming and it was always going to break.’
PS News
Sydney Morning Herald, Books for Your Holiday Reading
‘The standout novel for me was Michael Sala’s ferocious family drama The Restorer. In a year that made me think again and again about why men do terrible things, Sala’s emotional tour-de-force dares to confront some of those causes and the implications of violence at a social level.’
Gretchen Shirm, Australian, Books of the Year 2017
‘Michael Sala is a sensitive, perceptive observer of human relationships and I have long admired his work. The Restorer is a beautifully written novel about growing up, starting again—and how the riptide of personal history can pull us further and further from safety, no matter how hard we fight.’
Charlotte Wood
‘There is so much to praise about this book. Michael Sala’s prose is clear and unadorned, the setting exquisitely rendered, but it is the characters - Freya, Maryanne, Roy and Daniel - all of them flawed and complex and deeply, deeply human, who will stay with me for a very long time. I would defy anyone to read their story and remain unmoved. The Restorer is an incredibly powerful novel and, I believe, an important one.’
Hannah Kent
‘A wise and timely novel that builds and breaks like a summer storm—just as beautiful, just as brutal.’
Fiona McFarlane
‘Michael Sala has a rare gift: in prose that takes your breath away, he tells a story of heart-rending sorrow without a trace of sentimentality.’
Raimond Gaita on The Last Thread
‘A confronting and compelling story of a family. Sala captures perfectly the puzzled silence of the uncomprehending child in a narrative swollen with unspoken secrets.’
Debra Adelaide on The Last Thread
‘Recommended for readers of literary fiction who appreciate exploring the darker realities of Australian life now and in our not-so-distant past.’
Books+Publishing
‘Sala's story of mundane domestic tension explodes in ways both already anticipated and powerfully surprising. The narrative is real, compelling, sophisticated,and deeply human.’
4ZZZFM
‘Sala’s account is sophisticated and shows the immense complexity of relationships.’
Good Reading
‘Sala’s second novel is assured and polished and adds potency to the outcry against domestic violence.’
Herald Sun
‘Michael Sala’s beautifully shaped second novel glows with all the complicated pain and joy of being human…A tremendous depth of insight and compassion on the part of the writer informs the three main characters…The reader knows pain is coming but the power and deep humanity of Sala’s writing defies the instinct to look away.’
SA Weekend
‘Entrancing and heartbreakingly sad.’
Who Weekly
‘The Restorer is a beautifully written and very powerful fiction that not only shines a light on the deep roots of domestic violence but also plays with the line of what remains in the face of such destruction. Sala’s story will stay with the reader long after the book is finished.’
Compulsive Reader
‘This is a sensitively rendered novel with a fine eye for emotional and physical detail. The questions it raises are as disturbing as they are compelling.’
Sydney Morning Herald
‘Now, I’m not self-promoting here, but I will be on stage [at Sydney Writers Festival] with Newcastle writer Michael Sala. Indeed, the only person I’m promoting is Sala, as his unsettling family novel The Restorer is superb.’
Stephen Romei, Australian
‘His style is spare and direct, as if parading its lack of trickiness and fanfare; but underneath it swells a great, unwieldy tide of emotion.’
Overland
‘The Restorer is a powerful, emotionally charged and thought provoking book.’
Pile by the Bed
‘Michael Sala taps into the tension and fear of the times to help build the mood…The cracks are widening long before the earth moves in this novel of a family locked into patterns of violence.’
Australian Women’s Weekly
‘The Restorer is a powerful, emotionally charged and thought provoking book. Yet again shining a light on a pervasive strain in Australian society, Sala effectively builds the tension based on a certain fatalistic inevitability. The storm was always coming and it was always going to break.’
PS News
November 15, 2017
This book was both compulsive and repulsive as it dragged you on a destructive path to an ending that you just wanted to avoid. The tension ebbed and grew through the changing seasons, dialogue and physical descriptions of the characters. It was powerful and attacked the reader from all sides. This felt real in time, setting and plot and captured my attention from the first page.
May 25, 2018
Michael Sala's The Restorer kept me up each night, reading well past my bedtime, but I just couldn't put it down. It was absolutely engrossing! The tension was so palpable, at times, that I found myself holding my breath! Such incredible characterization. I felt I knew each of the characters in the book, and I cared about them - really, really cared about (some of) them. When I finished the book, I felt a bit hollow - like I was missing them. The ending was very strong and somewhat how I anticipated it would end, although I was kind of hoping there'd be a twist on what happened. I'll say no more, except it was terrific, and I'd recommend it highly.
September 17, 2022
So i thought to myself that maybe i read too many classics, too many dead authors. Give some modern authors a go, i thought, you never know what you might find.
So i did. This was at my local public library so i thought i'd give it a try.
Unbearably dull.
I've noticed a pattern....
Any book whose author came through one of the creative writing programs at an Australian university is nearly always technically proficient but completely dull, sterile and lifeless. As i read it i can see the influence of the classroom in the flawless technique but there is no passion, no spark, no "oomph!" for want of a better term.
Also any book that got a review/blurb from Rebecca Starford and/or Hannah Kent is always dull, safe and boring pc approved crap.
Just a pattern i'm noticing...
So i did. This was at my local public library so i thought i'd give it a try.
Unbearably dull.
I've noticed a pattern....
Any book whose author came through one of the creative writing programs at an Australian university is nearly always technically proficient but completely dull, sterile and lifeless. As i read it i can see the influence of the classroom in the flawless technique but there is no passion, no spark, no "oomph!" for want of a better term.
Also any book that got a review/blurb from Rebecca Starford and/or Hannah Kent is always dull, safe and boring pc approved crap.
Just a pattern i'm noticing...
April 6, 2017
Set by the sea in Newcastle, Australia, this book reminded me a lot of Tim Winton's novels. Maryanne and Roy are giving their marriage another try and have moved to a derelict house that Roy intends to do up. Their teenage daughter Freya is struggling to settle into her new school, and actually just to settle into her life! And the young son Daniel, has something a bit off about him (all is revealed later). The combination of Freya's coming of age and her parents' tattered marriage works well, and of course as the plot progresses things start to unravel. I enjoyed the way this novel was written - told from Freya and Maryanne's points of view, and with the setting being a major component.
April 4, 2017
This was a beautifully written, suspenseful read that I could not put down. The sense of place set in 1989 Newcastle Australia was wonderful and vivid. The characters were well drawn especially that of Freya who reminded me of girls I had grown up with in the 80's. The portrayal of a dysfunctional family was very well rendered and whilst set in Newcastle it could have been anywhere in Australia. Heartbreaking, from the first page you are on an unknown trajectory. A path you know won't end well but you are too captivated to stop. A great read.
January 12, 2018
In this incredibly powerful and suspenseful novel of family dysfunction, Roy, Maryanne and their two children Freya and Daniel, move from Sydney to Newcastle, Australia, to start a new life. It gradually becomes clear that something bad has happened in the past, and now Roy has bought this dilapidated and derelict house to restore and at the same time restore his family. With brilliant characterisation, flawless dialogue and a vivid and atmospheric sense of place, this is one of the most unputdownable books I have ever read, chilling and unpredictable in its exposition and written with expert timing and pace. It becomes increasingly obvious that Roy is a ticking time-bomb and is one of the most frightening men I have ever encountered in fiction. The tension builds and builds and I defy anyone not to hold their breath reading this excellent, if deeply disturbing, novel. Highly recommended.
August 21, 2025
I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this.
The major standout aspect of this book is it’s ability to craft a strong sense of foreboding right from the beginning. The tension begins slowly, keeping you on the edge of your seat throughout, so that I felt myself wanting to get back to the book every time I put it down.
The characters are also incredibly well-developed. Each one feels like a fully fleshed-out relatable person, with their own motivations and backstory. I found myself becoming invested in their lives and rooting for them with the sense that I was observing them in real time.
Very well done.
The major standout aspect of this book is it’s ability to craft a strong sense of foreboding right from the beginning. The tension begins slowly, keeping you on the edge of your seat throughout, so that I felt myself wanting to get back to the book every time I put it down.
The characters are also incredibly well-developed. Each one feels like a fully fleshed-out relatable person, with their own motivations and backstory. I found myself becoming invested in their lives and rooting for them with the sense that I was observing them in real time.
Very well done.
November 22, 2017
3 1/2 stars - A slowly unfolding story of domestic disquiet set in coastal NSW. Told from the 15 year old daughter's perspective, the story is a snapshot of one year, when a fractured family moves from Sydney to a "renovator's dream" (burnt out squat) terrace home in Newcastle. Disturbing and moving at the same time.
April 21, 2018
This book is chilling on every page, not chilling because of the daily events portrayed but chilling because it is crystal clear from the first chapter that this will not end well. It was so real to me geographically because I could follow every street, hill and path along Newcastle's foreshore where this book is set. But more importantly, real because of the recognition of a woman's belief that an impossible relationship 'will work out', despite all obvious indications to the contrary. The price paid in this case for that belief is catastrophic. Full marks to Michael Sala for his understanding of the character Maryanne's open prison.
January 15, 2019
Haunting. Hard to read due to content. Domestic violence. But good Australian writing.
January 16, 2018
Set in Newcastle NSW in 1989 just prior to a major earthquake, this family drama is seething with unexpressed violence. After 2 years of separation, whilst living with her mother in Sydney, Maryanne has a reconciliation with her husband Roy. She and the 2 children , teenage Freya and young Daniel, move to Newcastle to a “ renovators delight” that Roy has purchased in a seedy part of town. Freya is resentful of the move and Daniel wary. There is a strong metaphor as Roy repairs the house and works at repairing the marriage. The story is told in alternating chapters from the point of view of Maryanne and Freya. Roy looms large, his violence threatening to explode at any moment. I recommend it as a well written book with believable characters.
September 27, 2022
I read a review of this story sometime soon after it was published in 2017 and it piqued my interest being located in Newcastle, NSW, Australia. I downloaded it to an e-reader at the time not knowing the extent of the potential reading joy.
This now beautiful coastal city is 300k south east of where I live inland and has become well known to me over the last two decades; initially with the Hunter region becoming part of the role I occupied for about 12 years, and more recently with immediate family moving there.
It has a strong industrial past, with the biggest employer being BHP steelworks for many of its 84 years of operation before it closed in 1999. My experience of 'Steel City' in that time was limited to a school excursion in the early 1970s; and a visit to meet family friends in about 1979. Its reputation was working class riddled with industrial pollution, particularly in the suburbs close to the plant where many of the workers lived.
Michael Sala has set The Restorer in 1989, when the peak of BHP operations would have reduced but whilst it still had a significant hold on the community. It is set in the East Newcastle precinct which then was run down inner city close to Newcastle and Nobbys Beaches. Paradoxically it was also adjacent to what was, and still is one of the more elite locations high on The Hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Nowadays, this area is prime real estate and over the last 30+ years has been gentrified, has beautiful public amenities and the magnificent beaches are a major attraction.
This gritty, empathic story commences when Maryanne, her children: Freya aged 14 and Daniel aged 8, are returning to live with Roy following a reconciliation. This includes a move from Maryanne's mother's home in Sydney to the unknown Newcastle; to a rundown, shabby, house close to where the Hunter River meets the ocean. The landscape and built environment of the time are critical characters with Maryanne working at what was then Royal Newcastle Hospital overlooking the beach; and local landmarks that existed then and largely remain. Michael has well captured so much: the constant current of wondering for those living in a seething environment of domestic violence, the impact of this on children and the partner, and the incredible challenges of being an adolescent for all which is worsened by relocation and living in fear.
This background of dread is always present, waiting for an eruption. Maryanne loves her work as a nurse and twice when Freya witnesses her in that environment she sees a mother much more free and relaxed than when at home. She is protective of Daniel but is dealing with her own challenges - a new school, new friends, teenage experimentation with alcohol and pot; and witnessing her mother’s trauma.
Roy is a very talented tradesman, hence the title of the book. He cleverly restores the neglected house into what would be a lovely family home if all the occupants were not constantly on tenterhooks.
Against this background is the build up towards the earthquake that struck Newcastle on 28th December 1989; which in many ways changed the city forever. 300k away on that day, the tremor was felt. The site of the hospital now has beautiful, expensive apartments with incredible views. ‘The Royal’ was relocated to be adjacent to the John Hunter Hospital. Newcastle is a spectacular city with the public environment befitting the locations including beachside walking/cycling facilities, cafes and the striking Memorial Walk above Bar and Merewether Beaches.
Dr Michael Sala moved from Europe to Australia in the 1980s and now lives in Newcastle as a creative writing academic and author. His book is both a love letter to his now home and a reflection of the period in which he writes. Every page has engaging prose with all characters given respect. The perpetrator behaviour is witnessed rather than judged; as is the partner response to such a relationship.
I was staying in Newcastle whilst reading much of this story, which made it all the more poignant. However, it would not be necessary to be familiar with the environment to appreciate well crafted observation of a family in crisis at a particular point in time, history and location.
This now beautiful coastal city is 300k south east of where I live inland and has become well known to me over the last two decades; initially with the Hunter region becoming part of the role I occupied for about 12 years, and more recently with immediate family moving there.
It has a strong industrial past, with the biggest employer being BHP steelworks for many of its 84 years of operation before it closed in 1999. My experience of 'Steel City' in that time was limited to a school excursion in the early 1970s; and a visit to meet family friends in about 1979. Its reputation was working class riddled with industrial pollution, particularly in the suburbs close to the plant where many of the workers lived.
Michael Sala has set The Restorer in 1989, when the peak of BHP operations would have reduced but whilst it still had a significant hold on the community. It is set in the East Newcastle precinct which then was run down inner city close to Newcastle and Nobbys Beaches. Paradoxically it was also adjacent to what was, and still is one of the more elite locations high on The Hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Nowadays, this area is prime real estate and over the last 30+ years has been gentrified, has beautiful public amenities and the magnificent beaches are a major attraction.
This gritty, empathic story commences when Maryanne, her children: Freya aged 14 and Daniel aged 8, are returning to live with Roy following a reconciliation. This includes a move from Maryanne's mother's home in Sydney to the unknown Newcastle; to a rundown, shabby, house close to where the Hunter River meets the ocean. The landscape and built environment of the time are critical characters with Maryanne working at what was then Royal Newcastle Hospital overlooking the beach; and local landmarks that existed then and largely remain. Michael has well captured so much: the constant current of wondering for those living in a seething environment of domestic violence, the impact of this on children and the partner, and the incredible challenges of being an adolescent for all which is worsened by relocation and living in fear.
This background of dread is always present, waiting for an eruption. Maryanne loves her work as a nurse and twice when Freya witnesses her in that environment she sees a mother much more free and relaxed than when at home. She is protective of Daniel but is dealing with her own challenges - a new school, new friends, teenage experimentation with alcohol and pot; and witnessing her mother’s trauma.
Roy is a very talented tradesman, hence the title of the book. He cleverly restores the neglected house into what would be a lovely family home if all the occupants were not constantly on tenterhooks.
Against this background is the build up towards the earthquake that struck Newcastle on 28th December 1989; which in many ways changed the city forever. 300k away on that day, the tremor was felt. The site of the hospital now has beautiful, expensive apartments with incredible views. ‘The Royal’ was relocated to be adjacent to the John Hunter Hospital. Newcastle is a spectacular city with the public environment befitting the locations including beachside walking/cycling facilities, cafes and the striking Memorial Walk above Bar and Merewether Beaches.
Dr Michael Sala moved from Europe to Australia in the 1980s and now lives in Newcastle as a creative writing academic and author. His book is both a love letter to his now home and a reflection of the period in which he writes. Every page has engaging prose with all characters given respect. The perpetrator behaviour is witnessed rather than judged; as is the partner response to such a relationship.
I was staying in Newcastle whilst reading much of this story, which made it all the more poignant. However, it would not be necessary to be familiar with the environment to appreciate well crafted observation of a family in crisis at a particular point in time, history and location.
July 10, 2018
Set in Newcastle East in 1989 (perhaps if it didn't have this nearby setting, it would have received 3.5 stars rather than 4). Subtle and powerful.
August 4, 2018
3.5 stars. With a fresh start in a new city, Maryanne returns to her husband Roy, hopeful that he has changed. Roy is convinced that all is forgiven and that his hard work in doing up the ‘renovators’ delight’ he has bought for them, will result in Maryanne and their two children trusting him again. This is a well-written, slow-burn domestic noir, the tension growing so palpably that the reader simply waits for the dam to burst. The story is told mainly from the point of view of 15 year old Freya as she struggles to fit in both at her new school and at home. The characters are all realistic and all have their own flaws and shortcomings. The Newcastle (Australia) setting is also well done. I enjoyed this but probably a bit too slow-moving for me and a little too much of the teenage angst/rebellion/risk-taking/anti-social behaviour at the expense of other characters. Worth a read.
December 11, 2017
This is a hard one to review. It's set in Newcastle, it's Australian, it's written (mainly) from the point of view of a 15 year old girl, it has drama, and has a great feel for the exterior landscape, of a restless sea and wild coastline YET it's so bloody depressing and dark. The restorer chooses a rank and broken house to live in, and re-unite his family, torn apart by his own violence. The story builds in hopelessness and despair, and also inertia , as no-one can break free of his desire to control and dominate.No restoration there I'm afraid. I loved the cover, probably the best part for me.
April 26, 2018
Wow, What a great writer and fabulous book. I have never know a male writer to write as women so well. He gets inside the mother and daughter characters to a tee. Brilliant. The suspense is palpable throughout, almost like a thriller without all the action. Things happen as they do in most normal lives, only with minor differences that do make a difference in the end. Can't recommend this book and writer enough. I'm ready to travel to Newcastle NSW to visit every place Michael describes.
October 27, 2017
A well written book that paints an intimate and realistic picture of an abusive relationship. I predicted the ending, which was nonetheless shocking when it occurred. Much as the setting of Newcastle is part of the essence of the story, there was too much emphasis on description of the setting and weather, which became boring and repetitive.
August 13, 2018
I liked this book. It is quite simple as a story but well told with two well-developed female characters (the men – not so much). It made me remember a very brief amount of time spent in Newcastle where it is set. The landscape is evoked with effect. And I thought about the notion of restoration – about the extent to which it is possible to fix relationships and the kinds of support necessary to be able to do this.
Fourteen year-old Freya, her younger brother Danila and their mother Maryanne arrive in Newcastle at the beginning of the novel. It is a new town for them but they are returning to old ground – to life with Roy, father and husband, and an incipient violence that overshadows each member of the family. Roy is fixing up an old house. The story flips between the perspectives of 14 year-old Freya and her mother. This interchange is really effective – giving different perspectives on the dynamics within the family. Freya is the most developed character – Sala does a good job of writing about a teenager who is both new in town and vulnerable at home. Anyone who has been around a family violence situation will recognize the authenticity of the tension created in the narrative. There is love and there is fear and they live together as drivers of the action of this novel.
The interactions of the family sit alongside local and global events. Sala has set the novel in 1989 – “the year of the Newcastle earthquake, Tiananmen Square, a fatwa on Salman Rushdie, the fall of the Berlin wall, and spectacularly high interest rates.” In other words, there are plenty of fracture lines outside of the immediate domestic drama. One reviewer criticized the novel on this basis: “My old high school teachers would love The Restorer, and not merely because it portrays teachers in a generous light. They’ll love it because Sala employs foreshadowing and symbolism with a grim deliberateness—often heavy-handed, occasionally subtle—that lends itself perfectly to the critical strategies prevalent in senior high school English classes. Perhaps Sala’s intention is to dramatize the common idea that observers should have sensed that a major event was looming, but the result, for me, is tedious.” (https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/the-r...)
This didn’t bother me. If I had a criticism, it would be that the character of Roy is very one-dimensional. His anger is explained as stemming from his childhood, he tells Maryanne of “the bitter, determined way his old man had always used both words and his hands to hack at everyone he should have cared for, the fact that Roy had learned to forgive him for it, because they’d only had each other, the death of his mother when she was barely formed in his memory, and the stony, empty pathways that led from one part of his childhood to the next.” It’s not enough really to get a full sense of Roy. Sala says that he feels the "ghosts of abusive people" in his life. "At times I feel like I suffer from a kind of post traumatic stress. I'm fascinated how things that happen in our childhood become markers for the rest of our lives. Being human that's inevitable but you have to fight against them. You have to examine them and step outside them. They might be a constant in your life, you might never get over them, but you've got to never stop negotiating with them to make you a better person." (https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/...)
Sala says in the SMH interview that when he was a boy his stepfather was an ominous presence in his life. “Cross his legs at the kitchen table and he would be kicked. Reach out too soon for food and he would have his ear slapped. Fail to hear his name called and his stepfather would grab him by the hair. "I was very aware of everyone around me," Sala recalls. ''It was hard to relax."” He writes well about this.
Fourteen year-old Freya, her younger brother Danila and their mother Maryanne arrive in Newcastle at the beginning of the novel. It is a new town for them but they are returning to old ground – to life with Roy, father and husband, and an incipient violence that overshadows each member of the family. Roy is fixing up an old house. The story flips between the perspectives of 14 year-old Freya and her mother. This interchange is really effective – giving different perspectives on the dynamics within the family. Freya is the most developed character – Sala does a good job of writing about a teenager who is both new in town and vulnerable at home. Anyone who has been around a family violence situation will recognize the authenticity of the tension created in the narrative. There is love and there is fear and they live together as drivers of the action of this novel.
The interactions of the family sit alongside local and global events. Sala has set the novel in 1989 – “the year of the Newcastle earthquake, Tiananmen Square, a fatwa on Salman Rushdie, the fall of the Berlin wall, and spectacularly high interest rates.” In other words, there are plenty of fracture lines outside of the immediate domestic drama. One reviewer criticized the novel on this basis: “My old high school teachers would love The Restorer, and not merely because it portrays teachers in a generous light. They’ll love it because Sala employs foreshadowing and symbolism with a grim deliberateness—often heavy-handed, occasionally subtle—that lends itself perfectly to the critical strategies prevalent in senior high school English classes. Perhaps Sala’s intention is to dramatize the common idea that observers should have sensed that a major event was looming, but the result, for me, is tedious.” (https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/the-r...)
This didn’t bother me. If I had a criticism, it would be that the character of Roy is very one-dimensional. His anger is explained as stemming from his childhood, he tells Maryanne of “the bitter, determined way his old man had always used both words and his hands to hack at everyone he should have cared for, the fact that Roy had learned to forgive him for it, because they’d only had each other, the death of his mother when she was barely formed in his memory, and the stony, empty pathways that led from one part of his childhood to the next.” It’s not enough really to get a full sense of Roy. Sala says that he feels the "ghosts of abusive people" in his life. "At times I feel like I suffer from a kind of post traumatic stress. I'm fascinated how things that happen in our childhood become markers for the rest of our lives. Being human that's inevitable but you have to fight against them. You have to examine them and step outside them. They might be a constant in your life, you might never get over them, but you've got to never stop negotiating with them to make you a better person." (https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/...)
Sala says in the SMH interview that when he was a boy his stepfather was an ominous presence in his life. “Cross his legs at the kitchen table and he would be kicked. Reach out too soon for food and he would have his ear slapped. Fail to hear his name called and his stepfather would grab him by the hair. "I was very aware of everyone around me," Sala recalls. ''It was hard to relax."” He writes well about this.
May 19, 2022
Newcastle author Michael Sala made a splash with his debut novel The Last Thread (Affirm Press, 2012). It won the NSW Premier's Award for New Writing 2013, and the Commonwealth Book Prize for the Pacific Region in the same year. That success was followed by The Restorer (Text Publishing, 2017), which in 2018 was longlisted for the Miles Franklin, and nominated for both the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Fiction, and the ABIA Small Publishers Book Award. The novel is a tense portrait of a dysfunctional family...
The book is set in 1989. That was the year when the Berlin Wall crumpled under the onslaught from ordinary people; when the Chinese pro-democracy movement was crushed in the massacre in Tiananmen Square; and when the Newcastle earthquake killed thirteen people, hospitalised 160, and made 1000 people homeless. Allusions in the novel to these tectonic events suggest the complexities of 'restoration': East and West Germany were subsequently restored to unity with some fractures remaining even now; the Chinese government restored a widely condemned and uneasy order in China over the bodies of the protestors; and the earthquake created the imperative for restoration even though things could never be the same, not least for the injured and bereaved.
Sala's novel mirrors these events. Maryanne tries to 'restore' her family, to bring them back together after separation but she finds that their shared history doesn't mean they have enough in common to thrive. Her authoritarian husband Roy tolerates no dissension and enforces his will with violence; and efforts to restore the family to its earlier days cannot make things the way they were.
The story is told through three voices: Maryanne, vacillating between standing up to her husband and letting her love for him take precedence; her daughter Freya whose coming-of-age is marred by the constant conflict at home and her own risk-taking behaviour; and — bookending the novel — Richard, a gay neighbour, who performs the role of the bystander who defers intervention until its too late.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/05/19/t...
The book is set in 1989. That was the year when the Berlin Wall crumpled under the onslaught from ordinary people; when the Chinese pro-democracy movement was crushed in the massacre in Tiananmen Square; and when the Newcastle earthquake killed thirteen people, hospitalised 160, and made 1000 people homeless. Allusions in the novel to these tectonic events suggest the complexities of 'restoration': East and West Germany were subsequently restored to unity with some fractures remaining even now; the Chinese government restored a widely condemned and uneasy order in China over the bodies of the protestors; and the earthquake created the imperative for restoration even though things could never be the same, not least for the injured and bereaved.
Sala's novel mirrors these events. Maryanne tries to 'restore' her family, to bring them back together after separation but she finds that their shared history doesn't mean they have enough in common to thrive. Her authoritarian husband Roy tolerates no dissension and enforces his will with violence; and efforts to restore the family to its earlier days cannot make things the way they were.
The story is told through three voices: Maryanne, vacillating between standing up to her husband and letting her love for him take precedence; her daughter Freya whose coming-of-age is marred by the constant conflict at home and her own risk-taking behaviour; and — bookending the novel — Richard, a gay neighbour, who performs the role of the bystander who defers intervention until its too late.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/05/19/t...
January 13, 2020
This was very good. A realistic look at the effects of domestic abuse on all the family members, on the insidious ever-presence of potential violence. The insights were astute, the characters real and relatable. Maryanne is determined to keep her family together, not realising that the toxic nature of Roy's relationship with everyone in the family pushes them away, and makes them feel more alone than they would if he were not around. No body can really say what they mean, and they are all walking on eggshells all the time. It's exhausting reading at times, because it is exhausting living with the threat of pain, humiliation and verbal and physical violence all the time.
I like that it was told largely from a teenage girl's POV (Freya, the daughter). Her awareness of the danger she is always in, both in the home (from her father) and out in the world (from men and teenage boys who harass her daily), imbued the book with a tense kind of menace that reminds us how linked all of that is. Catcalling on the street, the pressure for girls to behave sexually which often starts before they are ready, the general air of disrespect...and then domestic violence. It all comes from the same place.
This book wasn't about things 'happening' so much the stress of waiting for things to happen, when you know something is going to explode but you don't know when. That's what this family is living with and it's a tense, emotional ride. 4.5 stars.
I like that it was told largely from a teenage girl's POV (Freya, the daughter). Her awareness of the danger she is always in, both in the home (from her father) and out in the world (from men and teenage boys who harass her daily), imbued the book with a tense kind of menace that reminds us how linked all of that is. Catcalling on the street, the pressure for girls to behave sexually which often starts before they are ready, the general air of disrespect...and then domestic violence. It all comes from the same place.
This book wasn't about things 'happening' so much the stress of waiting for things to happen, when you know something is going to explode but you don't know when. That's what this family is living with and it's a tense, emotional ride. 4.5 stars.
October 1, 2017
The Restorer is a fantastic story of a family living under psychological terror.
Roy and Maryanne have relocated to Newcastle, an unfashionable coastal town in New South Wales, from the bright lights of Sydney. Roy has bought a derelict old cottage near the seafront that was last occupied by druggy squatters who burnt through the floor of the main room into the creepy basement. Their children, Freya - an awkward teenager - and Daniel - still in primary school - are terrified of what might lurk in the dark depths...
Although the move was claimed to be for Roy's work, it seems that they are running away from something in Sydney. There is a dark past that drip feeds into the narrative. This is done with perfect pacing, alternating points of view from Freya to Maryanne and back, we see a complex set of relationships unfolding, and Roy sits with brooding menace over everything.
Newcastle, a place I don't know, is depicted convincingly as a dead-end town populated by dead-beat dropkicks. Those who show any spark of life seem to be shunned by their peers until they buckle to the pressure to under-achieve. Its not going work wonders for the Novocastrian tourist agency.
The novel builds the tension very well until it reaches a heartbreaking denouement that, unusually in a novel, evokes a feeling of strong anger.
I look forward to reading more of Michael Sala.
Roy and Maryanne have relocated to Newcastle, an unfashionable coastal town in New South Wales, from the bright lights of Sydney. Roy has bought a derelict old cottage near the seafront that was last occupied by druggy squatters who burnt through the floor of the main room into the creepy basement. Their children, Freya - an awkward teenager - and Daniel - still in primary school - are terrified of what might lurk in the dark depths...
Although the move was claimed to be for Roy's work, it seems that they are running away from something in Sydney. There is a dark past that drip feeds into the narrative. This is done with perfect pacing, alternating points of view from Freya to Maryanne and back, we see a complex set of relationships unfolding, and Roy sits with brooding menace over everything.
Newcastle, a place I don't know, is depicted convincingly as a dead-end town populated by dead-beat dropkicks. Those who show any spark of life seem to be shunned by their peers until they buckle to the pressure to under-achieve. Its not going work wonders for the Novocastrian tourist agency.
The novel builds the tension very well until it reaches a heartbreaking denouement that, unusually in a novel, evokes a feeling of strong anger.
I look forward to reading more of Michael Sala.
April 23, 2018
This is a dark, suspenseful and beautifully written novel. From the opening paragraphs there is a growing unease. What presents as a family moving into a new home in Newcastle (Australia) in 1989 slowly plays out to reveal dysfunction and tragedy. The story revolves around 15 yaer old Freya as she enters a new environment, discovers new experiences and gradually has her eyes opened to some uncomfortable truths. Through her we learn about her younger brother Daniel and the complexities of her parents, Roy and Maryanne.
Every aspect of this story adds to the atomsphere and suspense, whether it be their dilapidated house, the relationships outside of the family, a murder in the community and even the Newcastle earthquake.
It wasn't a happy read, the climax is very affecting and it is disturbing to think of it as a reflection of an all too common scenario behind the closed doors of many Australian homes.
Above all, this is yet another example of the writing talent we have in Australia. Highly recommended.
Every aspect of this story adds to the atomsphere and suspense, whether it be their dilapidated house, the relationships outside of the family, a murder in the community and even the Newcastle earthquake.
It wasn't a happy read, the climax is very affecting and it is disturbing to think of it as a reflection of an all too common scenario behind the closed doors of many Australian homes.
Above all, this is yet another example of the writing talent we have in Australia. Highly recommended.
September 6, 2020
Set against the backdrop of 1989 and the Tiananmen Square protests and the fall of the Berlin Wall, The Restorer tells the story of a fragmented family trying to piece itself back together after a years separation. Told from the vantage points of the mother Maryanne and her teenage daughter Freya the novel spans a calendar year with its shifting seasons and local and world events.
I usually find award nominated/winners hard to read (too literary for my humble tastes) but this was an easy read. With a mystery at it’s core and a storyline that just keeps on building until it’s climatic ending The Restorer draws you in and keeps you hypnotised with it’s easy flow of words and beautiful descriptions of the Newcastle coast. As a child of the 80’s I could readily identify with the music and the television shows mentioned and appreciated the inclusion of the technology of the time and the cars and home decos and fashion.
The Restorer is a beautifully written novel that will stay with you long after you read the final page. I dare anyone not to be moved by this powerful work of fiction.
I usually find award nominated/winners hard to read (too literary for my humble tastes) but this was an easy read. With a mystery at it’s core and a storyline that just keeps on building until it’s climatic ending The Restorer draws you in and keeps you hypnotised with it’s easy flow of words and beautiful descriptions of the Newcastle coast. As a child of the 80’s I could readily identify with the music and the television shows mentioned and appreciated the inclusion of the technology of the time and the cars and home decos and fashion.
The Restorer is a beautifully written novel that will stay with you long after you read the final page. I dare anyone not to be moved by this powerful work of fiction.
June 5, 2019
The Restorer is a very well written book about family breakdown and domestic violence. It focuses on the daily lives of a family living in Newcastle in 1989 as the tension in their restored terrace house builds to breaking point.
The characters and reader know something terrible is coming, but it's unclear who is going to be the victim. This maintains the story's momentum as it could be anyone in the family of four. From the outside, the family appear to have everything, but they are all haunted by emotional demons, and although Roy, the father, is the violent one, Maryanne, the mother is also trapped in the cycle of abuse, stemming from her childhood. Freya shows signs of following down the same path in her relationships with boys.
Sala is an excellent writer and this was an enjoyable and satisfying read with great use of symbolism. As someone who grew up in Newcastle at this time, I can confirm that he captures the era and vibe of 'Newwie' perfectly.
The characters and reader know something terrible is coming, but it's unclear who is going to be the victim. This maintains the story's momentum as it could be anyone in the family of four. From the outside, the family appear to have everything, but they are all haunted by emotional demons, and although Roy, the father, is the violent one, Maryanne, the mother is also trapped in the cycle of abuse, stemming from her childhood. Freya shows signs of following down the same path in her relationships with boys.
Sala is an excellent writer and this was an enjoyable and satisfying read with great use of symbolism. As someone who grew up in Newcastle at this time, I can confirm that he captures the era and vibe of 'Newwie' perfectly.
October 11, 2020
Read as part of 20/20 book challenge in the category of book with 11 characters in the title. This, while not perhaps a literary masterpiece, is a very engaging book, which I just read in literally 6 hours straight. It is the story of an estranged couple who move to an almost derelict house in Newcastle and attempt to restore both the house and their relationship. The story is largely told through the voices of the wife, Maryanne and her teenage daughter, Freya.
While it is 'about' a lot of things, love, family relationships, parenting, domestic violence, growing up, caring for others, it is really about life itself. All the characters, even the minor ones, are very clearly and empatheticaly drawn and the setting also brought sharply into our awareness. I feel like I've been there and done it alongside the book characters. It certainly isn't a 'fun' read, but it is very realistic and very readable. ,****
While it is 'about' a lot of things, love, family relationships, parenting, domestic violence, growing up, caring for others, it is really about life itself. All the characters, even the minor ones, are very clearly and empatheticaly drawn and the setting also brought sharply into our awareness. I feel like I've been there and done it alongside the book characters. It certainly isn't a 'fun' read, but it is very realistic and very readable. ,****
August 3, 2022
A compelling, tense and confronting read told through the eyes of 15 year old Freya and her mother who have moved to Newcastle (NSW) as a family to reconcile with Freya’s father following an initially unexplained incident. Freya has to contend with the challenge of fitting in at a new school in a new city against the backdrop of the shifting and uncertain sands of her home situation. Whilst this is essentially a pretty grim tale, it is beautifully written and contains a number of well drawn relationships and kindnesses that offer hope to the family.
I don’t want say to much more as I’ll introduce spoilers.
A couple of other factors that made the book a particularly good read for me are: I well remember the summer of 1989 when the bulk of the book is set, so an enjoyable trip down memory lane there. Also I have recently visited Newcastle and am familiar with many of the locations mentioned, so it was interesting to see them from another perspective and learn of their history.
I don’t want say to much more as I’ll introduce spoilers.
A couple of other factors that made the book a particularly good read for me are: I well remember the summer of 1989 when the bulk of the book is set, so an enjoyable trip down memory lane there. Also I have recently visited Newcastle and am familiar with many of the locations mentioned, so it was interesting to see them from another perspective and learn of their history.
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