The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow (1996) is Thea Astley's

Thea Astley

Thea Astley was an Australian novelist and short story writer. She was a prolific writer who was published for over 40 years from 1958. At the time of her death, she had won more Miles Franklin Awards, Australia's major literary award, than any other writer...

 second last novel. It won The Age Book of the Year

The Age Book of the Year

The Age Book of the Year Awards are annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's The Age newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. Since 1998 they have been presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival...

 in 1996.

Plot summary

The novel is based on a violent event that took place on Palm Island, Queensland

Palm Island, Queensland

Palm Island is an Aboriginal community located on Great Palm Island, also called by the Aboriginal name "Bwgcolman", an island on the Great Barrier Reef in North Queensland, Australia The settlement is also known by a variety of other names including "the Mission", Palm Island Settlement or Palm...

(called Doebin in the novel) in 1930, in which the white Superintendent of the settlement, Robert Curry (Brodie in the novel), ran amok, setting fire to buildings and killing his own children in the process. He was eventually shot dead by one of the indigenous inhabitants, Peter Prior (Manny Cooktown in the novel), under orders from the white deputy Superintendent. Astley focuses most of the novel on various white characters who were present on the Island at the time, but intersperses their experiences with briefer passages spoken by the Aboriginal man, Manny Cooktown.

The novel spans a long time period, from 1918 when the settlement was established to 1957 when Aboriginal workers went on a strike, but most of the action takes place after 1930.

Themes

Sheridan writes that "the novel underlines the grim repetitions of colonial oppression but also the endurance and resilience of the Aboriginal characters".

Style

It is a multiple point of view novel, with some voices being first person and the rest third person. It's important to note that most of the characters are invented, and all of the names have been changed. The prime narrator is Manny Cooktown: he starts the novel and appears between the various voices providing a commentary on what is happening on the Island as the novel progresses, but he does not conclude the novel. The final voice is authorial.