Siddon Rock

Winner of the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best First Book and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award.

'When Macha Connor came home from the war she walked into town as naked as the day she was born, except for well-worn and shining boots, a dusty slouch hat, and the .303 rifle she held across her waist.'

Macha patrols Siddon Rock by night, watching over the town's inhabitants: Brigid, Granna, and all of the Aberline clan; Alistair in Meakin's Haberdashery, with his fine sense of style; Sybil, scrubbing away at the bloodstains in her father's butcher shop; Reverend Siggy, afraid of the outback landscape and the district's magical saltpans; silent Nell with her wild dogs; publican Marg, always accompanied by a cloud of blue; and the new barman, Kelpie Crush.

It is only when refugee Catalin Morgenstern and her young son Josis arrive in town that Macha realises there is nothing she can do to keep the townspeople safe.

Reading Group Book Questions

1. Everyone in Siddon Rock has a secret story, sometimes not understood even by themselves. Do you think magic realism is a good way to reveal these stories? Does magic realism sit well in the Australian setting?
2. There are various things the novel could be about? Is there one thing that stands out for you?
3. Siddon Rock taps into various Australian myths, e.g. that dingoes take young children. What other myths are obvious (and not so obvious) in the novel. Is fiction a good means to come to an understanding about the myths of Australia?
4. Nell is a pervasive character in the town; she sees all and knows all, but when asked the people of Siddon Rock don't remember seeing her around. Why do you think this is so?
5. Do you believe in Kelpie Crush as the villian. Why?

About The Author

Glenda Guest grew up in the wheatbelt of Western Australia, and that landscape still influences her writing. Since leaving the west, she has lived in cities and country towns in Victoria, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and south-east Queensland. She is currently living in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales. Glenda has had stories and poetry published in various anthologies and journals. Chapters from the novel Siddon Rock have been published in the journal Coastlines Cultural Magazine, which is a joint Australian-Indonesian venture; and the online magazine Spiny Babbler. She has had support from artsACT, the arts support organisation of the Australian Capital Territory, for time-out at Varuna Writers’ House in Katoomba, where the first draft of the novel was written. Glenda works as a freelance editor and writer, and teaches occasionally at Macquarie and Griffith Gold Coast universities.