A powerful novel about a difficult matriarch, Blackwattle Road explores some of the ways we manipulate family connections and use them to control and destroy people's lives.
Liona Trelelen's life centres on her longterm lover, Angus, and her godson Curtis. And she deceives Curtis into believing that she and Angus are his true parents, whereas Curtis is the child of a Middle Eastern immigrant who deserted his ship in 1907, endured the ostracism of being an outsider in a small mining town in the Hunter Valley. Curtis suffers because of his constant mistrust and indecision and his rejection of those who love him most. The curse of not belonging is passed down from one generation to another when he marries Debra Watling because she is pregnant, but he refuses to believe that the child is his son. When he marries again and has a daughter, Ellie, he believes he finally has someone who truly belongs to him. When Curtis's continued denial of his son, William inadvertently causes the youth's death, Angus discloses the full extent of Liona's lying and scheming. The two men turn against her and she retaliates by destroying them both.