JOINT-WINNER of the NSW WRITERS' CENTRE OPENBOOK PRIZE FOR BEST FICTION 2007. It was up against 41 other entries
Signed by the author.
Antonio’s Seed - a story of family terrorism. Family terrorism is the environment that exists prior to domestic violence. Many families and people can attest to this unbearable state .
A psychological drama based on a true story.
What happens when you play God with someone else’s life?
When an Australian girl meets a young Italian immigrant in isolated farming country in 1956, mutual attraction quickly deteriorates into misunderstanding, hurt and rejection.
In an attempt to regain lost love, Ruth deliberately falls pregnant. Antonio reluctantly agrees to marry her,
but a clash of cultures and personalities gradually unfolds into something more sinister.
Some events have been condensed; names, characters and certain details have been changed.
This veil of privacy is admittedly so thin that if you poked a hole in it you would be able to find out exactly who we are and where all this took place. Some of you may find that you live there and you know us.
For those of you in Italy-Antonio’s family-will it surprise you to know what your sons and daughters get up to when they migrate to the ends of the earth?
Perhaps you saw the seed in him when he left, at sixteen years of age, to make his own way in the world. Perhaps you saw that his own way is what he was determined to have.
Review by Erin Prizzey
A review by Erin Pizzey - Founder of the Modern Women's Shelter Movement
‘Poisoned by his words, beaten by his criticism,’ is the quote that might well have been carved on Ruth’s tombstone had she not finally made her decision.
From the moment I opened the book until the final sentences I felt a huge sense of grim foreboding. For those of us who experienced an abused childhood this powerful novel catalogues the unending fear that sits in the throats of Ruth and her five children.
Antonio comes to Australia full of hatred and rejection of everything that is good in life. He is betrayed by his first love and then meets Ruth a warm, loving uncomplicated Australian girl who is oblivious to the warning signs of his morbidly jealous nature. Reluctantly Antonio marries her and then Ruth becomes his punching bag. His domain is the house, his five children become his slaves and his wife slowly looses her sense of self until she becomes a shadow.
The author states in the introduction that this story is based on a true story – it is all too horribly accurate. Antonio bullies his sons, he owns his daughters and he despises his wife and then one day he makes his big and fatal mistake. He decides to go back to Italy. During the time he is away his daughter Natalie gives her mother a present. The mother and children finally spend precious time together and the gift brings Ruth back to life.
Now Ruth begins to recreate herself but she is unaware that her husband is coming back and he is no longer the man she knew.
There is a breathless impetus and a tight grip on the plot that made me read the book far into the night. This is a book that tells the story of a survivor. If you ever wondered what it would be like to live with a terrorist in the family, then this is the book to read. A wonderful, powerful book.
About the author:
Merry Watson was born in country Victoria. She attended Sydney University,where she studied psychology and literature. Her varied career includes actor, ballroom dancing instructor, copywriter, career advisor and relationship counsellor.
Her first published work was a non-fiction book on relationships.
Antonio’s Seed is her first novel. She is currently working on a sequel, Natalie’s
Story.
Merry is married with two children and lives in Sydney, Australia.
