Point Venus
Portrait of an Island
Norfolk Island, ‘a place fit only for angels and eagles’,
is one of the most remote locations in Oceania. It lies one thousand
miles north-east of Sydney across the Tasman Sea. In the nineteenth
century, this lonely paradise became a hellish prison for convicts
transported from Britain and later home to the descendants of the
Bounty mutineers. Paul Seagrave, an unstable young concert pianist,
has abandoned his promising career after a nervous breakdown and fled
there from the Australian mainland to recuperate.
Point Venus is a complex blend of historical novel and modern
drama, a tale of two forbidden loves. Paul experiences a lyrically
erotic relationship with the mysterious island woman Mareva, a descendant
of the mutineers, acted out amidst the lush scenery. Later he discovers
a secret journal kept by Paulina, the cultured wife of a brutal Commandant
of the penal station in the nineteenth century. He reads of her breathless
passion for a young Polish cavalry officer stationed at the military
garrison - an affair painfully conducted in the shadow of the gallows.
In this interwoven story, the menace of the days of cruelty and degradation
are finely balanced against the sensuality and innocence of contemporary
island life.
 |
 |
|
|
| |
Philip and Nepean Islands from
a cliff walking track, Norfolk Island © Michael Moran |
Point Venus is a meticulously researched and powerful narrative.
With its structure inspired by the pagan mysteries of love depicted
in the Renaissance painting Primavera by Botticelli, this intense
novel transports the reader to an exotic realm of seductive yet sinister
beauty.
 |
|
| The colonial
era cemetery from Cemetery Bay, Kingston, Norfolk Island ©
Michael Moran |
|
