Embedded Files
As Sadie whipped the newspaper off the table, an upside-down headline caught her eye – something about a person called Hitler. Her heart gave a peculiar involuntary skip. The date was printed at the top of the page. Friday June 23, 1933.
Author and Book Cover
Kate Constable
Kate Constable
Kate Constable was born in Victoria but spent much of her childhood in Papua New Guinea, without television but within reach of a library where she 'inhaled' stories. She studied Arts/Law at Melbourne University before working part-time for a record company while she began her life as a writer. Kate lives in West Preston, Victoria, with her husband and two daughters.
"I desperately wanted to write an Australian fantasy novel that explored the connections of both Aboriginal and non-indigenous Australians to our landscape and the magic it contains. I want to thank Gary Murray and the Dja Dja Warrung people for their generosity in helping me to tell the story of Sadie and Crow, and setting it in Dja Dja Warrung country. I hope readers will find something to think about – about our history, and our future. And I hope they enjoy a really cracking story. "
1. In what ways is the novel a fantasy?
2. What makes this story "cracking"?
Setting
Setting
The Foreword
The Foreword
"Crow Country is a spiritual cultural collaboration for all who love a good story."
1. What does the italicised writing tell us?
2. Who wrote the Foreword? Why is this important?
3. What are the important points of information?
4. Answer the questions that Waa asks (the part in italics).
Setting: Boort
Setting: Boort
Boort is an Aboriginal name meaning, “ smoke from the hill”. The town is situated on a lunette and on the edge of a lake – Little Lake Boort. The area around Boort and east to the Loddon River was a regular camping area of the Jaara Aborigines. Many middens (cooking mounds) still exist today; some, in the lake-bed of the Big Lake Boort are very well preserved. Boort is also known for its more than 2,000 scarred trees.
1. Why does Ellie choose to live in Boort? What draws her back there?
2. What does Sadie think of Boort initially? Why does her opinion change? Find evidence to support your answer.
3. Construct a map of Boort from Waa's perspective. Read p.13. Include land features and buildings mentioned in the novel.
Structure
Structure
What is a time- slip narrative?
What is a time- slip narrative?
Time-slip stories have two (or more) interconnected timelines. Usually the main character is taken on a voyage of discovery, through research, documents, family history, archives or time travel.
The past or future story illuminates the main (and other) character's current dilemmas or challenges.
In some time-slip stories, what caused and comes from the time-slip is highly significant. In others, the protagonist has no control and no understanding of the process and it may not be explained to the reader at all. The character is either left marooned or settled in the past time and must make the best of it, or is returned at the climax of the story by a process as unpredictable and uncontrolled.
Time Slip Questions
Time Slip Questions
What changes occur in the environment before Sadie slips back to another time?
Where does Sadie go to when she travels back in time to the 1930s?
Whose body does Sadie see the world from? How does Sadie influence this person?
How does she feel after she comes back to the present time?
Why do you think Kate Constable has used time slips in the story?
How has the author made the time-slip believable?
Style
Style
Imagery
Imagery
Kate Constable uses imagery extensively in the novel.
She uses similes, metaphors and personification.
Read the opening chapter carefully.
Highlight every piece of figurative language that you notice.
In what ways does Kate Constable make the landscape come alive?
Why does the author describe the land from above?
Choose your favourite sentence and explain what made you choose it.
Analogy
Analogy
Kate Constable uses analogy in Chapter 21, Ellie and Dave paint over the wallpaper in Sadie’s room. When she returns, she feels the bumps of the paper beneath the paint, imagining the layers of paint and wallpaper used over the years.
Explain how the image reflects what is happening in the story.
Motifs and Symbolism
The stone circle represents sacred Aboriginal heritage.
Consider the symbolism of:
1. the circle shape
2. dryness of the lake
3. the removal of the dirt covering
How does the symbolism build your understanding of Sadie's purpose in the novel?
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