The untouched country

Readers familiar with Robbie Arnott’s fiction will have some expectations about the kind of book the author is likely to conjure. Dusk sits comfortably inside the thematic and narrative territories he has previously explored, particularly in The Rain Heron (2020) and the wonderful Limberlost (2022). Dusk features Arnott’s typically vivid descriptive prose and his concern with the natural world and our place within it. Dusk generates pathos with delicate expertise and mixes genres while retaining a strong semblance of realism.

Dusk’s protagonists are twins, Iris and Floyd Renshaw, who rely on and complement each other, and have done so for the entirety of their thirty-seven years. They learn that a puma is ‘taking shepherds up in the highlands’ and killing the hunters who tried to catch it. They only half-believe the story, but the rumoured bounty is enough to pique their interest.