Rainbow Opera, The

Already well established in her native New Zealand as a writer of adult fiction, Knox now makes her debut as a novelist for a younger age group. The result is a lyrical foray into the world of adolescent dreams, of daughter-father relationships and of changing perceptions of identity and memory, played out against a terrain – introductory maps are provided – of place names which take the reader, literally and metaphorically, from ‘Doorhandle End’ to ‘Tricksie Bend’. These form part of the topography of ‘the Place’, the book’s parallel world setting, accessible only to those ‘Dreamhunters’ who return eventually from their sojourn there to present their discoveries to ‘Rainbow Opera’ audiences.

At the crux of Knox’s novel lies the decision to be made by two 15-year-old cousins, Rose and Laura, as to whether they are yet ready for ‘the Try’, the rite by which they would become initiated into the world of dream-catching.(‘For fifteen years they had stayed clear of the border, now they were steering straight for it.’) The complicating factor comes with Laura’s father, Tziga, most celebrated of dream-catchers, whose conflicts with the country’s authorities are ultimately to lead to his disappearance and an ensuing search for him by daughter and niece. In the process, the young women will discover much about the discrepancies, political and social, which lurk between illusion and reality. Knox’s novel is a fresh, if at times rather dense, treatment of adolescent ‘borderlands’, characterized by considerable inventiveness. There are, unarguably, some engaging lighter moments but the prevailing tone is serious and reflective. Some young readers may find the narrative, especially in the first half of the novel, too much given to exposition, as distinct from action, but those who persevere will almost certainly find themselves eagerly awaiting the arrival of the story’s second instalment. RD