Australian author and journalist Caroline Overington continues her fictional examination of the issue of child abuse and neglect in her second novel I Came to Say Goodbye (Bantam, 2010). Seeking to write about the issue of child abuse in depth through fiction in a way that is not possible as a journalist, Overington examines the complex family and social dynamics that contribute to the tragedy of abused and neglected children.
I Came to Say Goodbye
The novel begins with a young woman wandering into a hospital and removing a sleeping baby girl from her bed. Placing the girl in a shopping bag, the woman walks out of the hospital and drives away.
With this brief indicator of tragedy to come, I Came to Say Goodbye backtracks to reveal the family history and struggles that culminated in the abduction of the baby girl. Told mostly from the perspective of Med Astley, the father of the woman, the story unfolds mostly through a rambling, conversational letter written by Astley to a judge.
An uncomplicated, hardworking man from the Australian coastal town of Forster, Med Astley shares his family’s story with the judge from his broken marriage to his well-meaning but at times clumsy attempts to raise his three children alone after his wife walks out on their relationship. Med focuses particularly on the struggles and challenges of raising his youngest child, Donna-Faye, who was only two when her mother left.
With Med’s daughter Kat taking over the narrative briefly towards the end of the novel, the tragic experience of Donna-Faye and her children are shared with readers in a very personal way. Both Med and Kat’s letters convey their own sense of confusion, frustration, grief and the crushing guilt that comes with hindsight and the knowledge of things left unsaid and undone.
I Came to Say Goodbye is a work of fiction and is not based on any real life events or people.
Using Fiction to Raise Questions about Social Issues
I Came to Say Goodbye raises a number of social issues, prompting readers to consider the impact of these concerns on families and individuals..
The everyday family stresses of raising children, parenting teens, relationship breakdowns, managing children with special needs and finding a balance between work and home commitments are familiar to many. At a broader community level, Overington raises such confronting issues as child abuse, welfare, mental health, the family court and legal system, social support services, education and the integration of refugees into the community.
Through Med’s honest admission of his own inadequacies, confusion, frustration and mistakes, readers are taken behind the scenes of a family tragedy and offered insight into how such a situation could arise. Social services and the court system receive the harshest portrayal throughout the novel, with the authority and unbending protocols of these systems contrasted with the relative helplessness and confusion of Med and his family.
Australian Author Caroline Overington
Caroline Overington is an award-winning journalist and author of both fiction and non-fiction. She has received two Walkley Awards for Investigative Journalism and has also received the Sir Keith Murdoch Award for Journalistic Excellence. Her non-fiction book Kickback won the Blake Dawson prize for Business Literature. Overington published her first novel, Ghost Child, in 2009.
A mother of twins and resident of Bondi Beach, Overington is a reporter for The Australian newspaper. Additional details about her previous titles and ongoing work can be found at her website.
Challenging Contemporary Women’s Fiction
Given the confronting nature of many of the issues the novel raises, I Came to Say Goodbye is surprisingly easy to read. Whilst the child abuse and significant social concerns featured throughout the novel preclude it from being termed ‘enjoyable’, it is nevertheless a story that readers will find themselves reading quickly, always with the hope that each new page will bring a positive resolution to the trials faced by Med and his family.
The combination of an easy to read style with a story that challenges readers to consider significant social issues should appeal to fans of authors such as Jodi Piccoult. I Came to Say Goodbye is ideal for book clubs and includes fourteen reading group questions covering both content and style.
Review copy details:
I Came to Say Goodbye (ISBN: 978-1-86325-681-0, 299 pages)
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