She carried everything lightly, as only the dead and innocent can.

In The Art of Taxidermy, we meet young Lottie whose passion for ‘revising’ dead creatures has her Aunt Hilda horrified, more so that her father Wolfgang encourages her by buying her glass aquariums to ‘contain the fusty fug of death’ within. To his mind, she isn’t the freak Aunt Hilda believes her to be, she just has a scientific bend of mind, it’s ‘in her genes’. No sir! Girls she play with dolls, not skeletal remains of reptiles and birds, sheep… not be enthralled by the stink of death!

It is the states of decay Lottie is captivated by, the possibility of resurrection, of keeping a creature in it’s natural state forever unlike her mother Adrianna, whose death has hung around like a shadow. Through her grief, a passion for taxidermy is being born but Hilda thinks it’s a sickness, a disturbance in the child’s nature. Written in a beautiful lyrical style, nature dominates the pages more than death as Lottie weaves her way to the creak, observes nature searching for specimens. “But the day was teeming with life”, we explore the Australian land overhead as birds take flight or upon the ground muck through the mud and fungi. Then there is Jeffrey, made of skin rich like the earth and quiet grace, companion to Lottie’s peculiar hobby. A boy with Aboriginal origins, a boy who has blossomed in her dark heart.

What is a girl to do with the face of death but try and preserve it? She herself a flightless bird with Aunt Hilda trying to make her a ‘normal’ girl, doing everything she can to end her taxidermy dreams. Snippets of ‘mother memories’ creeping into her heart like soft dreams, Oma’s omens and superstitions, an inheritance of despair and always, ‘the air is heavy with ghosts.’ As Lottie finds her purpose, she must too confront her grief over the loss of her mother and learn her German family history, the reasons her family were treated like criminals. Will she be able to convince Aunt Hilda that she isn’t an unnatural girl, that she isn’t a bloodthirsty murderer of creatures with a macabre hobby? Do we embrace our yearnings or let shame force us to discard the very things that make our heart beat with meaning? Intentions are funny creatures themselves, as we see with Aunt Hilda pushing her ‘ideal’ of womanhood upon Lottie. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and all that.

A beautiful tale out of Australia, uniquely written. The subject is heavy and yet the lyrical prose is uplifting, I felt I could hear bird-call and smell the ‘fug’ of decay. For those who love narrative poetry, this is a YA novel but I think adults will enjoy it too.

Publication Date: August 23, 2019

Text Publishing Company

Absolutely lovely verse writing! I am new to this genre and the imagery this book was able to evoke was magical. I really enjoyed it! Thank you for the opportunity to read!

i enjoyed that the book was different and it was a quick read. Lottie is a girl who loves science and animals and is fascinated by death. Her mother has passed away and we find out later how some other family members have passed away too.

Her aunt has helped raise her and Lottie scares her with her fascination with dead animals and trying to figure out how to save their bodies. I was glad her father was supportive of her desire to learn.

I enjoyed the book and the illustrations were lovely!
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC in exchange for the honest review.

Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

In the wake of her mother's death, Little deals with her grief by developing a fascination with death. Her father, Wolfgang, is supportive of her new-found fascination, whilst her Aunt Hilda is horrified that a girl would wish to dabble in such a pastime.

There were a few things that I think that younger teenagers may enjoy about this book. Firstly, it is written in verse, which many reluctant reader's enjoy as it leads to speedier progress through the novel. As a result of this, the plotline is linear, uncomplicated and clearly told, without being patronising. These factors would make this book accessible to a more reluctant reader, although there is certainly plenty here for an avid reader.

I enjoyed the references to Australian animals, something which I know many younger readers would find fascinating, but this book does not shy away from difficult topics such as death, grief and mentions of internment camps during the second world war.

Whilst some have classed this as a YA novel (whatever that means anymore), I'd recommend it for readers aged 11-13, as it does not contain any of the 'adult' topics that I've seen in other YA novels.

This is a charming, and beautifully written novel, and I will be purchasing a copy for the school library when it becomes available in August.

I'm glad I didn't realize that this book was written in verse poetry when I first requested it on Netgalley, because I might have thought it wasn't for me. I usually find free verse poetry to be distracting when telling a story, but in this case I found it was so beautiful and I really enjoyed it. The amazing thing about poetry is that it gives the reader great freedom in imagination. Reading this book filled my mind with such beautiful pictures and emotions, too.
Lottie, the main character, is dealing with losing her mother and other people she is close to. She is a young teenager, on the cusp of puberty, and seeing the way she deals with her grief is unusual, but also understandable. She channels her grief into the art of taxidermy, while her aunt tries to do whatever she can stop it because she believes it isn't healthy. She may be right and she might just be trying to help, but this is how Lottie is coping. The book is set in Australia and I appreciated that unique perspective and the addition of some Aboriginal characters and history.
I will say it took me a bit to get into the story. I had to get used to the gruesome descriptions of dead animals and death (I wouldn't recommend this if you're squeamish). I also found myself just a little bored in the beginning because the most interesting plot points weren't introduced until like halfway through the book. I still really enjoyed the poetry up until those parts though.
I also can't help but point out that the cover is absolutely stunning!!!

A beautiful story of grief and loss, both of family and friends. A story about the need for belonging somewhere, the need for a group that is ours. Lottie griefs in her own way, and although it sometimes seems to go too far, with help from her family she can turn it into something beautiful. Just like she always intended to do.

The only reason I have not given this book five stars is, that the cycle of aunt Hilde not liking Lottie's way of grieving and throwing all of her loved belongings away, Lottie starting anew and aunt Hilda not liking it and throwing it all away etc. got a bit too repetitive after a while.

The Art of Taxidermy was such a beautiful book. Written in prose, the book starts as young Lottie has just experienced the death of her mother. As you progress through the book you see how she, her father, her aunt and grandma all cope differently with this tragedy. Meanwhile she discovers an acute fascination of dead animals and her aunt struggles to rationalize her new "obsession" with what it means to be a "girl". This is a powerful story of finding yourself and being true to yourself, as well as an insight commentary of how death affects family, its individuals, and its dynamics. I loved this book.

A gorgeous, heartbreaking story of grief and healing told in lyrical verse.

When Lotti loses her mother, she takes a scientific interest in the process of death. Examining decomposition and taxidermy, Lotti strives to re-create life in a last chance attempt to gain what she has lost.

A tale I think everyone needs to read. Truly touching.

The lyrical style writing was difficult to get accustomed to, but once the reading flow began, this book was incredibly difficult to put down.
Lotti is a young girl struggling with the death of her mother and in turn has taken an interest in the scientific process of death. She is determined to re-create life probably in an attempt to bring life back to those in which she has lost.
Despite there being many challenges to pursue her recreations, she perseveres and still manages to learn as much as she can about decomposition and Taxidermy.
This book was heart-wrenching as I was the same age when I lost someone as close to me as Lotti’s mom. I finally found the character I can relate to. We both grieved through science.
I loved this book immensely.

Thank you for the ARC!

THE ART OF TAXIDERMY is a great reminder that life is short and we need to enjoy it. The author has a very real depth of knowledge in this area and it makes me grieve for my own loved one.

The level of detail and imagery, really brought the prose to life. It’s not a book for the faint of heart. Might be hard for some. But might bring hope for other.

I was sent a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lottie is fascinated by dead animals. She collects them, at the same time horrifying her aunt. Her father both encourages her to find her way and tries to placate her aunt. It's not easy being a single parent, and what really happened to Lottie's mother?

This is a novel in lyrical form, which is new for me, and it was a heartbreakingly beautiful read. You get small clues into the main characters life and history all along the way, like what happened to Lottie's mother? What about Lottie's friend Annie, who seems to share her interest in dead animals.

Even though the subject is sometimes quite macabre, this is also beautifully written. There are parts that are heartbreakingly sad, but also parts that are hopeful for the future.

The sparse lyrical writing conveys so much - but leaves so much unsaid. This is both to the benefit of the book (the story and history unwinds slowly, and sometimes unexpectedly); but it does mean at times that you really want more of the 'weight' of story that would be explored perhaps in more traditional writing styles.

A lyrical and moving novel told in verse about a young girl's fascination with death as she copes with the loss of her mother.

Charlotte, or Lottie, has a passion for dead creatures as she sees their unique beauty and wants to preserve them in a collection. While her father, Wolfgang, supports his daughter's interest, her aunt Hilda is appalled and would like to see her niece into more girlish not ghoulish hobbies. I liked that this novel explored the gender roles of women at the time and how certain jobs were not socially accepted for a "proper lady."

Meanwhile, Lottie is also finding ways to come to terms with her mother's death and expresses it through the art of taxidermy. I liked the juxtaposition between the grotesque descriptions of animals to the natural beauty of wildlife. Through taxidermy, Lottie can restore beauty in a world surrounded by rot and decay. And I appreciated that this book did not romanticize death and instead portrayed death as being a natural part of life.

Exceptionally written and certainly a unique read. 9/10 would recommend.

*Thank you to NetGalley and its publishers for providing a free ARC*

The concept of this story is one that drew me in immediately. It’s about a young girl exploring the intricacies of life and death through the study of taxidermy, with the support of her father and much to the dismay of her late mother’s sister. And it’s told in verse! I have a weakness for verse lately, making this a quick read.

However, I found that the execution of the story was a disappointment. It felt like something was always missing, I always wanted more: I wanted to know more about Lottie and her family, I wondered why certain things were being left unexplained, I wanted to know more about Lottie’s actual studies with the stuffing of animals instead of her just staring at them. Something would be set up and then would just end.

Kernot did not provide the artistic insight to taxidermy that the title led me to hope, and often seemed to have the same tone in writing as the aunt had against Lottie, as if the reader was supposed to think she was crazy as well. My hypothesis is just that the story did not translate well to verse, as I feel the plot line itself had great bone structure.

All in all, I gave it 3 stars. It feels a little generous, but I the concept alone was enough to provide a pretty good cushion. There are some graphic scenes about dead animals and vivid death imagery in general. If this is something you can look past, it’s not a bad read.

Thanks again to NetGalley and Text Publishing Company for sending me a copy of this book!

This wonderful book is written in verse and is based around the 1980's. It's the first type of verse book that I have read, it did not disappoint.

The story focuses around Lottie, who is silently struggling with the loss of her mother, the book flits between the past and present whilst giving a glimpse at what her family were like when they were still alive.

As Lottie begins to have a fascination with Taxidermy, family members try everything to make the little girl she should be and not the girl Lottie wants to be. The writing and story telling in itself is I would say beautifully morbid, there's a love and sadness that grows within the book and the use of imagery is beautiful.

It showed how each character portrayed different stages of grief and how they deal with their own sadness and loss which was a very interesting interpretation.

Without giving too much away, I thoroughly enjoyed this book more than I thought I would and I would highly recommend. Also, can I just point out that the cover works is absolutely gorgeous, the book itself is a beautiful tale. However, if you are squeamish towards certain animal natures, then I would tell you to read lightly.

The Art of Taxidermy by Sharon Kernot is a tremendous read and I can't wait for more of her work to follow.

The book will be released in the UK by Text Publishing Company on the 23rd August 2019 and I would strongly suggest picking it up.

It is important to know what you are getting into, before reading this book. So stating the obvious - this is a poetry book. Not easily read and not everyones cup of tea. If you enjoy "darker" more serious themes in your poetry books, this is for you. I would pass this book, but only because the theme didn't suit me.

The Art of Taxidermy is a book written in verse about death and grief. I found this very well done and engrossing. I hope to read more by this author.

Full review up at www.thebookishwiccan.wordpress.com

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a quick but captivating read. I was hooked from the first page and couldn't put it down. Bravo. Will definitely be purchasing this for my library.

A thoughtful and haunting tale told in free verse. Lottie is a young girl struggling with the loss of her mother, and her sorrow translates into a peculiar interest in death. Much to the alarm and disgust of her family, she begins to collect dead things. Luckily I missed the "poetry" label when I received this book - the unusual format might have turned me off from reading it, and that would have been such a shame. Though not my favorite device, the flowing free verse suits the material – lending it a morose, dream-like quality. The Art of Taxidermy is a surprisingly lovely and tender story of grief and the preservation of life, love, and memories. It's a quick, memorable read.

A book written in verse that is fundamentally about Taxidermy, but is also about loss and grief, about friendship and being who you want to be despite what others say or feel. This book is relatively short, but it packs lots in and still manages to be written with such vivid description of the land and the animals.
I sped through this in a couple of sittings and was really immersed. Highly recommend