A Caravan Like A Canary is the second stand-alone novel by Australian author, Sasha Wasley. At her mother’s dying request, Tara Button reluctantly agrees to drive the old yellow caravan up from Perth to Tabby Button’s hospice in Elsewhere. Her younger brother Zac enthusiastically organises a mate to get it roadworthy.

She takes leave from her job in the Police lab and grits her teeth against the memories of the earlier, fateful road trip forced on them by the mother she didn’t initially realise was a fugitive from the law. She’s hoping that she and Zac can reconnect during the long drive, but Zac has invited along said mate. Danh Vo (aka Benny) apparently needs a lift to a job up north, but Tara wonders if he’s rubbernecking at the infamous mother and children.

It seems, though, that they are travelling to the Kimberley in tandem with a pair of rough-looking bikers, and a talented but politically controversial graffiti artist. The bikers are a worry (is she going to have to bail out her unreliable brother yet again?); the guerrilla street art is topical and interesting.

Being in the canary-yellow caravan means that Tara is regularly swamped by memories of their earlier trip, and her mother’s relentless emails add to the emotional burden. Pressure from her unappreciative boss has her wondering why she stays in a job for which she has not an ounce of passion. Attention from Danh has her reassessing not only his motives, but her own life goals.

Wasley gives the reader a tale that features: the potential extremes to which victims of domestic violence might be driven, including taking false identities; the unfortunate consequences of a police pursuit; and the detrimental psychological effect that a stigmatising crime can have on children. It also touches on environmental issues, land rights, land care, marine care and mining practices.

Despite the seriousness of the topics, Wasley manages to relieve the tension with plenty of humour, some of it, naturally, quite dark. And she has a marvellous turn of phrase: when discussion of locally relevant issues brings forth intelligent comment from Danh, while Zac’s contributions fall to the inane and incorrect, Tara feels “It was too exhausting to argue with someone with the energy of a terrier and focus of a goldfish.” Funny, moving and thought-provoking, this is a brilliant read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Pantera Press.