Limen

Reviews

Limen is more than just a story of about the northern Queensland wilderness. … The space, where the two women and the dog are at once freed and imprisoned by the wilderness, is a space where they are either about to exist or not. They are part of no human society; they are constrained by no rules. For the space f nine days, they are merely together, present as the cormorant or the kookaburra is present in the landscape.

—Sarah Brooks, Sinister Wisdom

Is there a moral to the story? In some ways, this could be a parable of our times, as the women (here and now, these individuals) appear as victims of their environment through no fault of their own.

—Mary Cresswell, Plumwood Mountain

Its images and metaphors, its slow unfolding, its fears and joys celebrate the feminine.

—Patrick McCauley, Rochford Street Review

If you are uncertain about novels in verse, this would be a great one to try. The story is easy to follow; the language spare and beautiful, but accessible... Limen is a beautiful read... The text is supported by simple, stylish, irregularly interspersed, black and white illustrations – a lizard, tire tracks, patterns in the mud.

—Whispering Gum

Both definitions of limen involve SPACE – intellectual and emotional space. This is enhanced by the space on the page. Many pages have just a few lines of poetry at the top and then space crossed with one of Jeanné Browne’s images. What this space does is create room for you, the reader, to enter the women’s journey. You, like the characters in the story, are suspended on the threshold, in the space between two often opposing possibilities. The space both on the page and in the poetry itself, is a source of narrative tension. Reading this book you live the experience of the women.

—Andrea Goldsmith, at the launch of 'Limen'

This book is about a danger that turns into an adventure, but its impact on me was one of calmness and gentleness. I am not sure how that is achieved, but I came away from it feeling soothed and hopeful. I heartily recommend this book, especially to those who think they don’t like or understand poetry.

—Me, You, and Books

The book is quite beguiling, and charmingly illustrated by artist Jeanné Browne.

—Beverley Kingston, Jessie Street National Women's Library Newsletter

In her launch speech, the novelist Andrea Goldsmith described this work as ‘deceptively simple’, a comment with which I agree. It certainly appears that way at first, but rewards a closer reading.

—Barbara Temperton, Australian Poetry

But Limen is also a narrative cycle added to and altered by the art of Jeanné Browne, whose delicate visual footnotes – bird shapes, tyre tracks, feathers and leaves – invite the natural world to come and sit within the book, giving hints and reminders to the reader of its beauty and power.

—Lucy Alexander, Verity La

The essence of good poetry is often said to be the distillation of the ineffable into words. On that basis, the economy of the verse that echoes the observations, thoughts and musings of the women (and their dog) in Limen results in poetry that is both captivating and poignant. 

—John Burke, Guys Read Gals

An adventure tale in verse spare as haiku and seductive as undertow. Ominous, riveting, beautiful. And exquisitely illustrated.

—Robin Morgan