‘Fate had singled her out.’

Chronologically, ‘The Year of the Beast’ is the beginning of Steven Carroll’s award-winning Glenroy series. The series is set in the Melbourne suburb of Glenroy, and contains the following books: ‘The Art of the Engine Driver’ (2001), ‘The Gift of Speed’ (2004), ‘The Time We Have Taken’ (2007), ‘Spirit of Progress’ (2011), ‘Forever Young’ (2015) and ‘The Year of the Beast’ (2019). In ‘The Art of the Engine Driver’ we meet Vic Carroll, his wife Rita and their son Michael. In ‘The Year of the Beast’, Mr Carroll returns to the origins of Vic and his family.

In 1917, Maryanne Carroll is forty years old, unmarried and pregnant. In the future, her baby will become Vic the engine driver. In 1917, as Maryanne walks around the streets of Melbourne, sometimes restless and unable to settle, debate about the second conscription referendum is underway. The nation is divided: rallies for ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ bring out some of the worst of humanity: the beast is apparent. Maryanne is concerned about the world into which her baby will be born.

‘But where is her world? For surely this isn’t it. Is it travelling towards her, or is she travelling towards it?’

Maryanne’s sister Katherine (one of my favourite character in this series) is living with her, helping prepare for the birth of the baby. Father Geoghan, the local priest, wants Maryanne to relinquish her baby: ‘The baby must be saved.’ She and Katherine travel to a foundling home where Maryanne thinks the word is wrong. ‘Because they’re not found. They’ve been given away. Abandoned even.’

And so Maryanne, who has lost her position as a teacher, determines that she will raise the baby herself. We learn something about the father of Maryanne’s baby, about the choices he makes. As we walk with Maryanne, we see the sometimes vicious confrontations between supporters of ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ and perhaps less likely amicable discussion between Archbishop Daniel Mannix and Prime Minister William Hughes.

Mr Carroll brings the turmoil of 1917 to life. The beast is both the war and the fight over conscription. It is also the inhumanity demonstrated both to Maryanne and others who don’t fit neatly within society’s defined roles.

I’ve read this novel twice. I’ve read most (not yet all) of the Glenroy series. I love the way in which Mr Carroll develops the setting of his novels, providing just the right space for me to understand (mostly) his characters and appreciate the factors that form them. This novel has provided me with the perfect keystone for the series. It has also given me an opportunity to reflect on how Australia has developed over the one hundred years covered in the series.

‘However much the past may rise up before us, and however much its ghosts may sit at our tables, however much it may haunt us at varying times, however much it may be present, it is also the past. And the more distant, the more mysterious.’

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith