Limberlost

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2023





'Arnott has an eye and an ear for description that can elevate otherwise quiet moments to something genuinely transcendent... A luminously told, whole-life story of a young boy discovering how to be his own man.' Guardian



Ned West dreams of sailing across the river on a boat of his very own. To Ned, a boat means freedom - the fresh open water, squid-rich reefs, fires on private beaches - a far cry from life on Limberlost, the family farm, where his father worries and grieves for Ned's older brothers. They're away fighting in a ruthless and distant war, becoming men on the battlefield, while Ned - too young to enlist - roams the land in search of rabbits to shoot, selling their pelts to fund his secret boat ambitions.



But as the seasons pass and Ned grows up, real life gets in the way. Ned falls for Callie, the tough, capable sister of his best friend, and together they learn the lessons of love, loss, and hardship. When a storm decimates the Limberlost crop and shakes the orchard's future, Ned must decide what to protect: his childhood dreams, or the people and the land that surround him...



At turns tender and vicious, Limberlost is a tale of the masculinities we inherit, the limits of ownership and understanding, and the teeming, vibrant wonders of growing up. Told in spellbinding, folkloric spirit, this is an unforgettable love letter to the richness of the natural world from a writer of rare talent.



Robbie Arnott is the author of the novel Flames, which won the Margaret Scott Prize, was short-listed for the Victorian Premier's Literary Prize for Fiction and was long-listed for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, and The Rain Heron, which won the Age Book of the Year 2021 and was shortlisted for Miles Franklin Literary Award. He has been named a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist. He lives in Tasmania.



Bursts with language... an ode to the fierce and the feral



Arnott has an eye and an ear for description that can elevate otherwise quiet moments to something genuinely transcendent... A luminously told, whole-life story of a young boy discovering how to be his own man.



Carries echoes of Ernest Hemingway... a beautiful, pared-back exploration of masculinity, and the sustaining nature of dreams.



Wonderfully vivid



Limberlost is as close to flawless as any book I have read in years. The poise and precision of Arnott's writing lends restraint to the fury at Limberlost's heart.



Spectacular and stunning. In a novel steeped in the natural landscapes of Tasmania, Arnott captures a very relatable youthful male anxiety that exists between fathers and sons. Very subtle and deeply moving.



It is an unforgettable story, humble, transporting, and filled with grace and bravery. It's one of the strongest things I've read for a very long time.



Robbie Arnott is the sort of young writer we all hoped would emerge in Australia, a Conrad-like storyteller whose tales always tremble on the edge of the mythic and legendary. And as well as being a splendid narrator of tales, he has a quality too easily overlooked now. He writes beautifully!



Ned-with his shame and pride-blazes his way into your heart. A tender, soaring novel from one of Australia's finest writers.



An immersive experience, a story that is deeply embedded in the language of its environment... Scaled right down to a single, humble life, Limberlost is lit up by the energy of that life's relationships. It serves as a reminder of the complicated position humans occupy, tangled as we are in the webs of interdependence, of pain and responsibility and care, that bind us to a world much greater than ourselves.



In Limberlost magic lies in lyrical language and the powerfully real characters brought to life through it...This is a novel about the deepest of emotions, about love, the fear of loss, and about joy.



Robbie Arnott is a tremendously talented and unique voice in Australian literature, and his third novel, Limberlost, exceeded all my expectations. It is a gorgeously written coming-of-age novel...a touching and profound depiction of connection, grief and familial love.



This book is something special: tender, sad, exceptionally well-written [and] unexpectedly moving.



Sad and satisfying



Timeless and poignant



Shocking... Beautiful... Satisfying