The author Philip Salom. Photo courtesy of Transit Lounge.
This engrossing novel set in today’s Melbourne features Elizabeth, a freelance publishing editor, and Trevor, a bookstore owner. Philip Salom conveys the story sometimes from Elizabeth’s point of view, sometimes from Trevor’s. These two people, in early middle-age, are both haunted by their pasts, and need to escape its at times overwhelming influence. Trevor had a Polish father who was a scoundrel and abandoned his family when Trevor was in his mid-teens, and now Trevor’s own marriage is not going well. Elizabeth has a mostly absent daughter and an ailing mother requiring her attention – a mother who in her youth was more interested in ‘looking for enlightenment with the Orange People’ than caring for her daughter.
The appeal of The Returns derives in part from the slow and sensitive development of the two main characters, how they deal with their memories, and how they get to know and appreciate each other. It is an engrossing love story, made more interesting by excursions into their respective personal histories, and leavened by Gordon, a lovable lazy dog. Not that their present lives are dull. There is the range of customers Trevor has to deal with as they roam his bookshop. There is the nasty neighbour that worries Elizabeth.
Salom is a highly regarded poet so it is not surprising that his writing style reflects his love for and playfulness with words. ‘Even if he normally walks like an ungrammatical sentence, he is not disabled’, Trevor notes of himself. Further, Trevor ‘still feels a dullness which he puts down to grief for a marriage winding off its centre. Or off his centre.’ Salom also enjoys inserting little digs. Of Elizabeth’s editing job, Trevor observes that she is ‘a professional unseen. Editing, the job that disappears itself.’ Through his characters’ keen observations of Melbourne, Salom also shows insight into the city’s problems: ‘Art along Flinders Lane, poverty along Flinders St.’
To a greater or lesser degree, an author reveals something of themselves in a novel. Salom comes across as a person with an exceptional passion for books, and a great respect for those unsung heroes who edit them. Unquestionably he is a dog lover. (Noticeably, he never mentions a cat.) The brightly abstract cover also deserves mention for the way it beautifully evokes the way two people can interact.
At one stage, Trevor is at a party where he feels somewhat out of place; an experience many of us share. He drinks too much and pontificates that all ‘good books are drugs. Books are controlled hallucinations.’ That may well be so, but from reading a good novel we can also learn more about life and can gain a better understanding of the human condition, all while thoroughly enjoying the experience. The Returns is such a novel.
4.5 stars out of 5 ★★★★☆
The Returns by Philip Salom
Publisher: Transit Lounge
ISBN: 978-1-925760-26-2
Format: Trade paperback
Categories: Fiction
Pages: 336
Release Date: 25 July 2019
RRP: $29.99
