I’m away on holiday on Norfolk Island where the internet is slow and patchy, so this must be a brief review of this very fine book.
The Everlasting Sunday is the debut novel of Melbourne author Robert Lukin who has previously been published in the usual Australian literary magazines – but the novel is British to its freezing winter bootstraps. It is set in 1962 during an epic winter storm in the north, and the cold gets into the bones as only a British winter can. (I remember it from my childhood. Vividly).
17-year-old Radford is sent to Goodwin Manor from London, for some reason unspecified except that he has been ‘found by trouble’. Diffident, lonely and angry in a subterranean way, Radford is also suicidal, but the low-key anti-authoritarian approach of the administrator Edward ‘Teddy’ Wilson offers a kind of balm, albeit a tentative one because all the other boys have been ‘found by trouble’ too.
There are no rules at the Manor, only customs of the laissez-faire variety, and lessons such as they are, are laid back too. They are rather like those of the 1970s in progressive schools where children turned up at lessons if and when they felt like it, relying on the skill of remarkable teachers to entice and maintain attendance. Radford (who is bright) goes to some classes but not many, chiefly only engaged by lessons in electronics taught by an unremarkable teacher called Manny.
But school is the least important aspect of Radford’s life at the Manor. Nobody tells him anything about how things work, no-one ever explains anything, and no answer is ever direct and unambiguous. Nevertheless he achieves a satisfactory acceptance, and a friendship emerges with the charismatic West. Though Teddy’s main objective is to keep the boys alive, they are mostly unsupervised, larking about in various freezing covert places on site with contraband booze and cigarettes. Not all of these boys are benign.
The tension rises as the Manor becomes snowed in. This freeze is no joke. Food supplies dwindle and Britain shuts down, with transport paralysed and commerce in a state of siege. The Manor seems not to have made provision for such an eventuality and perilous journeys must be made by horse and cart to replenish the larder. Each time the lads go out into the snow for more foolishness driven by the frustrations of being confined indoors, there is a sense that one or more of them may not return. But the crisis when it comes is unexpected and savage.
Lukins writes a brutal story in exquisite poetic prose. His imagery, drawn from an icy palette and a crumbling mansion, is startling, and the dialogue is superb, masterful in its depiction of the way adolescent boys say so little but mean much more. This is a scene in the in the aftermath of Snuffy’s return from prison, along with a girl called Victoria.
Radford and West had broken away to the belfry, and for three cigarettes they took seat of their thrones. Snuffy had in one way or another been the dominating topic of conversation since the morning of his arrival, but a change had come in the previous twenty-four hours. All had flipped and it seemed the boys were trying to last the longest without breathing his name.
‘Snuffy. How old is he? Radford asked, bowing out of the competition.
‘Twenty-two.’
They nodded, in quiet reverence to this.
‘Are you in love with Victoria yet?’
Radford waved the notion away too vigorously.
‘You should be, if you’re not,’ West said.
‘In love?’
‘Of course.’
It was a clumsy thought that had occurred to Radford more than once. He wondered if it could be accurate. How pathetic that would be. How obvious.
‘What would it mean if I was?’
‘Nothing at all,’ West said.
‘I haven’t admitted to this.’
‘I thought it might be something you wanted to talk about.’ West gestured for the matchbook. ‘Love is something people want to endlessly discuss, to speak like they might be in a film.’ He paused, putting weight on one knee and mimicking a matinee idol. ‘I prefer to smoke, it being one of life’s elementary pleasures. No courtship. No having to reason with the thing or earn its respect….’ (p.92)
You can read an interview with the author at Amanda Curtin’s blog, and at Theresa Smith Writes. See also Meet an Aussie Author.
Author: Robert Lukin
Title: The Everlasting Sunday
Publisher: UQP (University of Queensland Press, 2018)
ISBN: 9780702260056
Source: Kingston Library
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
This sounds like a perfect summer read! I have a few of these “more conventional” (for me) novels stacked up including this one which just came out here. Robert is one of my many Aussie literary Twitter friends, so I am looking forward to it.
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By: roughghosts on June 24, 2018
at 9:38 am
Many shortlists coming up for this one, I think :-)
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By: amandacurtin on June 24, 2018
at 2:43 pm
Yes, I think so too:)
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By: Lisa Hill on June 24, 2018
at 4:28 pm
Good dialogue hard to do – and I remember that winter too Lisa – it was the last from my childhood in Scotland before we emigrated. Hope you’re enjoying Norfolk island – another place on my bucket list, which is actually so long I’d need more than one bucket:)
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By: mairineilcreative writer on June 24, 2018
at 7:52 pm
Gosh, it would have been even colder in Scotland!
But it’s not cold here at all, see our impressions at https://hillfamilysoutherndivision.wordpress.com/category/australia/norfolk-island-2018/
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By: Lisa Hill on June 24, 2018
at 9:23 pm
I can’t imagine a record breaking English, let alone Scottish, winters. Right now I’m struggling with Victorian nights, I think WA has made me soft.
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By: wadholloway on June 26, 2018
at 8:26 am
Ha ha, we save up the really bad weather for visitors from warmer climes *wink*
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By: Lisa Hill on June 26, 2018
at 9:03 am
[…] The Everlasting Sunday thanks to Amanda Curtin’s blog, and because I liked the book so much, (see my review) I asked Robert if he’d agree to be featured on Meet an Aussie […]
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By: Meet an Aussie Author: Robert Lukin | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on July 18, 2018
at 9:02 pm
[…] The Everlasting Sunday by Robert Lukins […]
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By: 2018 ANZLitLovers Australian and New Zealand Best Books of the Year | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on December 15, 2018
at 5:38 pm
[…] The Life to Come by Michelle de Kretser, see my review The Everlasting Sunday by Robert Lukins, see my review Border Districts by Gerald Murnane, see my review The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton – on my […]
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By: 2019 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards shortlist | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on March 1, 2019
at 12:26 pm
[…] the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards but instead I’ll jump to another impressive debut, The Everlasting Sunday by Robert Lukins. It’s been shortlisted for the same award, and rightly so. I was very […]
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By: Six Degrees of Separation: From The Arsonist by Chloe Hooper, to … | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on March 2, 2019
at 12:31 pm
[…] The Everlasting Sunday, Robert Lukins (UQP), see my review […]
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By: 2019 ALS Gold Medal Longlist | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on March 29, 2019
at 10:12 pm
My reviews of great Australian books…..shuffle along
…but usually 6-8 months after you all have read them!
I just finished The Everlasting Sunday and was very impressed
this being a debut novel. Winner NSW Literary Prize on 29 April?
I don’t think so…there is some very tough competition!
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By: N@ncy on April 17, 2019
at 5:25 pm
I’m so glad you liked it. Do you have any trouble sourcing the books from the Netherlands?
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By: Lisa Hill on April 17, 2019
at 6:25 pm
The Erratics…can’t find it anywhere (e-book, paperback). This is probably due to it being out of print. Books by New Zealand authors are difficult to buy…especially poetry. I did order a few paperbacks by NZ writers, ebooks not available.
Books by A. Sargo-Ryan …not available.
After Leah Purcell’s devastating reframing of white Australian myth in The Drover’s Wife I would like to readnNakkiah Lui’s warm and quick-witted romantic comedy Play. Unfortunately…not available.
So my search continues for these books!
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By: N@ncy on April 17, 2019
at 8:17 pm
Well, I’m a good bit closer to NZ than you are, and even I find it difficult to find their books locally. I get them all from Fishpond which is an Australian/New Zealand version of The Book Depository. They deliver free to Australia, but not to the rest of the world, which makes their books expensive to buy if you can’t get an eBook version of it. (Though they do sometimes have used copies, which are quite a bit cheaper, so it’s worth having a look).
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By: Lisa Hill on April 17, 2019
at 10:34 pm
..thanks so much for this tip!
I’ll look at Fishpond!!
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By: N@ncy on April 18, 2019
at 2:18 am
Let me know, please, about the postage situation i.e. if it’s reasonable or not. I never know whether to recommend FP for international readers because the postage doesn’t apply to us in Australia.
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By: Lisa Hill on April 18, 2019
at 12:09 pm
[…] The Life to Come by Michelle de Kretser, see my review The Everlasting Sunday by Robert Lukins, see my review Border Districts by Gerald Murnane, see my review The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton – on my […]
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By: 2019 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards winners | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on April 29, 2019
at 10:04 pm
[…] Lisa of ANZLitLovers liked it too. […]
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By: ‘The Everlasting Sunday’ by Robert Lukins – Reading Matters on May 14, 2019
at 6:44 pm
[…] The Everlasting Sunday by Robert Lukins (see my review) […]
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By: 2019 Miles Franklin Longlist | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on May 23, 2019
at 9:57 am
[…] The Everlasting Sunday by Robert Lukins, see my review […]
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By: 2019 Voss Literary Prize longlist | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on October 8, 2019
at 10:06 pm
[…] Everlasting Sunday by Robert Lukins, see my review and see Theresa Smith’s […]
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By: 2019 Voss Literary Prize shortlist | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on November 15, 2019
at 3:03 pm