Author Poppy Gee on the mysteries of the Apple Isle

Isolated beaches, pristine forests, wild rivers, and remote villages … postcard perfect Tasmania is a haven for tourists, and the perfect place to hide a body. Tasmanian-born author Poppy Gee examines why the beautiful Apple Isle has inspired a slew of new thrillers, including her second novel, Vanishing Falls.

Read on …

Poppy Gee

Growing up in Tasmania the safety warnings ringing in our ears as kids were about the dangers of the bush and the ocean. It was always the unpredictable wilderness we had to be wary of, never people. I was fifteen when my mother first warned my sisters and I to be cautious of strangers in our quiet coastal community.

We grew up hearing horror stories of hikers found dead metres from the hiking track, hidden beneath the thick canopy and unseen by the search helicopter. On our small farm, we were banned from building cubby houses in the landslip in case it collapsed on us. In the summertime, we thumped our feet on the beach track to scare away poisonous snakes. Swimming in the unpatrolled surf, we were warned about strong ocean currents, sharks, and the bull kelp which could grab you and drag you under.

In 2017 a much-admired English teacher from my high school was hiking in the rainforest at Duckhole Lake with his wife and dog. His wife waited for him at the agreed meeting spot; however, only the dog turned up. Vast resources were enlisted to search for him, but they never found a trace of the experienced bushwalker. That’s the dark promise of the Tasmanian forest. It can swallow a person, leaving communities and families devastated and heartbroken.

The wilderness can be blamed for many tragedies in Tasmania. However, a chilling list of unsolved mysteries stem from something more malevolent. In 1993, German backpacker Nancy Grunwaldt disappeared while riding a bicycle down Tasmania’s east coast road. Two years later, Italian traveller Victoria Cafasso was stabbed to death on a nearby beach. Tasmania is small in geography and in population. It feels like everyone knows everyone, or shares family connections. At the time, you could not walk into a pub without hearing someone speculating about what happened to these two young women. Yet more than twenty years later, these cases remain unsolved. It raises a disturbing question: are people in the tight-knit community protecting one of their own?

This year a range of thriller writers chose the forests, coasts, and scattered villages of Tasmania as their crime scene of choice. These novels include Kyle Perry’s gripping debut The Bluffs, Sarah Barrie’s psychological suspense Dead Man’s Track, Jock Serong’s historical thriller The Burning Island, Jane Harper’s bestseller The Survivors and my own dark mystery, Vanishing Falls. These novels explore the premise that someone is missing. A missing person narrative does two things: it keeps the reader in suspense; but also, allows for the hope that the missing person will survive. Where did they go? Will they be found alive? And what happens to the people who are left behind?

Readers often ask writers where they get their ideas from. Tasmania is catnip to the crime writer. Australia’s smallest state is a place of stark contrast: the island’s dark history is interwoven with romantic storylines of apple-growing, art galleries, ancient forests, and a paddock-to-plate culinary reputation. Tasmania provides all the ingredients for robust suspense: close-knit communities in remote locations, a landscape that is as beautiful as it is treacherous, and an abundance of places you could hide a body.

—Vanishing Falls by Poppy Gee (Booktopia Editions) is out now.

Vanishing Falls

by Poppy Gee

Celia Lily is rich, beautiful, and admired. She's also missing. And the search for the glamorous socialite is about to expose all the dark, dirty secrets of Vanishing Falls...

Deep within the lush Tasmanian rainforest is the remote town of Vanishing Falls, a place with a storied past. The town's showpiece, built in the 1800s, is its Calendar House-currently occupied by Jack Lily, a prominent art collector and landowner; his wife, Celia; and their four daughters. The elaborate, eccentrically designed mansion houses one masterpiece and 52 rooms - and Celia isn't in any of them...

Order NowRead More

No comments Share:

About the Contributor

Booktopia Guest Blogger