Overview
Crow Country is an absorbing novel featuring Sadie and her mother, Elsie, who move to the country town of Boort from the city.
Elsie has family connections in the town and these are rekindled when Sadie begins to investigate her family history and when Elsie meets up with a former partner, David.
At first Sadie doesn't like the town but she is drawn into the town's history and Indigenous history through her walks to the lake and her communication with crows. Sadie also has the ability to slip back in time, this is a time-slip story, and in doing so, Sadie confronts the secrets of her family's past and also the Indigenous history of the region. It is a novel that will make you consider land ownership, the impact of secrets, justice and the necessity of righting the wrongs of the past.
Teacher Notes on Crow Country by Fran Knight.
Microsoft Word - Constable, Kate, Crow Country - final draft teachers notes.doc
These notes may be reproduced free of charge for use and study within schools but they may not be reproduced (either in whole or in part) and offered for commercial sale.
LitCharts
Crow Country by Kate Constable Plot Summary | LitCharts
Magpies
Background analysis of the novel
Crow Country: treading ambiguous pathways [The background to Kate Constable's latest novel.]
Padua College Lib Guide
Dja Dja Wurrung website
DJAARA (Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation)
Some background material to the Dja Dja Wurrung people.
Giyakiki | Our Story – DJAARA (Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation)
Loddon Valley council site featuring Boort with images of First Nation's artefacts.
Aboriginal Culture - Visit Loddon Valley
Totems
The Dreaming
From The National Museum of Australia
Evidence of first peoples | National Museum of Australia
Lake Boort (not always dry)
History of Boort
Boort history featuring First Nation's artefacts from ABC News.
Boort's significant Indigenous history on a global scale - ABC News
The time-slip technique is used to make us aware of the past and its impact upon the present. Constable is able to show the past without writing a whole historical novel. The time-slip technique also allows the main character to develop her understanding of the world in which she lives, incorporating what has happened before and so develop and mature.
Fran Knight
Background material to time-slip narrative structure with Emily Gale
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. She has had stories published in Meanjin, Island and other literary magazines. The Singer of All Songs, The Waterless Sea and The Tenth Power form the Chanters of Tremaris series and were her first books, published by Allen & Unwin with very successful overseas sales, followed by a stand-alone novel set in the same world, The Taste of Lightning. She has also written a junior fiction book, Cicada Summer, as well as two books for the popular Girlfriend Fiction series – Always Mackenzie and Winter of Grace. Kate lives in West Preston, Victoria, with her husband and two daughters.
Kate Constable - Reading Australia
Read the following short interview with Kate Constable.
» Kate Constable, author of Crow Country, answers Ten Terrifying QuestionsThe Booktopian
ReadPlus book review website
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