Charlie, Tam and the Singing Canary

 

Charlie, Tam and the Singing Canary
Bill Nagelkerke

                                                                                     

Charlie, Tam and the Singing Canary
Bill Nagelkerke
Ill. Monica Koster
Copy Press, Nelson (2026)
Dist. Real NZ Books, Nelson
Novel, 215 pages, Paperback
ISBN 978 0 473 78063 0

 

‘I’m an expert at moving,’ says Charlie, who has just arrived in Coalburn on the West Coast, with her peripatetic mother, Izzie.

 

Local girl Tam shows Charlie around her new school, and they learn that they are both from single-parent families. The pair soon become strong friends.

 

Tam, who loves words, is delighted to find that Izzie has taphophilia, a love of cemetery headstones and is keen to write a book about them. When Izzie walks through a graveyard, she ‘feels like she’s strolling through the pages of a book, a colouring-in book that only has the outlines of pictures … She wants to colour the pictures in.’ 

 

Charlie and Tam are intrigued by a neglected Coalburn grave which has only the words ‘Esme 1940 – 1985’ visible, but those people who the pair might expect to provide answers – Tam’s Nan Ngaire and Emma’s former classmate, Ernie the local librarian – remain tight-lipped. ‘Questions asked and unanswered’ spur the girls on in their quest.

 

(Their time spent in the local library does have one positive aspect. It gives Bill Nagelkerke a chance to dispose of an aged cliché. Ernie, the elderly librarian, informs the girls, ‘This is a library. No need to whisper.’)

 

The visits to the cemetery trigger several interesting family discussions of memories and past experiences.  Charlie’s mother, Izzie, starts off with heart-stopping words, ‘Listen, Charlotte, there’s something I have to tell you.’ 

 

Meanwhile Tam’s grandmother reminds her that family stories get passed down the generations. ‘That’s how lives last. Every family has at least one storyteller,’ Nan Ngaire continues, ‘The stories tie us each to the other. Keeps us tethered like mountain climbers roped together.’ Which is a lovely simile but why is it that Tam’s father Matt has no idea who his own father is?

 

‘I tell you it wasn’t easy growing up without a father to my name.’

 

Tam is worried that Nan Ngaire doesn’t like Izzie’s ‘morbid interest in cemeteries … and where that sort of interest might lead.’  Tam wants them both to stop researching Esme since it is disturbing her touchy grandmother. Charlie agrees but at the same time she is convinced that Esme is communicating with her.

 ‘Better that we keep our heads down,’ Charlie says.

But the Esme speaking in her head responds, ‘That’s how you run into brick walls. If you do, you’ll just hit one of those brick walls. You don’t like the thought of that, do you Charlie?’

Charlie’s bursting to tell Tam about what her mother has told her, but not yet. Soon.

 

The girls turn their attention to their upcoming tramp to Midas Hut, a beautifully-described bush walk, with Matt and Ngaire. An unexpected accident, however, brings an even more unexpected announcement from Ngaire of all people, ‘Listen up. Once we’ve eaten, I have a story I want to share with you all.’

 

The best storyteller here is Bill Nagelkerke. Young readers may not spot it but Charlie, Tam and the Singing Canary is a strikingly original narrative. It is told in the present tense, with a discreet eye-of-god narrator dividing their time between the two girls. This means readers get a good insight into each girl’s thoughts and memories, as well as subtle hints from the narrator. ‘She’s bursting to tell Tam what passed between her mum and her. And she will, soon.’

 

This skilful storytelling technique means that when Charlie hears Esme’s voice at Esme’s grave, the reader doesn’t know if it is a real voice or a figment of Charlie’s imagination. (Neither does Charlie.) Tam certainly believes that Charlie is talking to herself.

 

By the end of the story, various strands are tethering the characters together and there is a surprising but enjoyable presentation in the concluding pages.

 

And the singing canary? That’s Nan Ngaire’s story and you’ll have to read this book to learn its significance.

 

This crisply-told story is a richly-detailed celebration of friendship, family and love in a small West Coast town.

 

Bill Nagelkerke’s best novel ever!

 

 

The illustrations and cover are by Monica Koster. She has also created a magnificent aerial view of Coalburn.

 

 

A Name Note:

Interestingly, few of the characters are called by their given names.

Charlie is Charlotte Nowak

Izzie, her mother, is Isabelle Beaumont

Ngaire is Ngaire Taylor, and is also Tam’s Nan Ngaire

Matt, her son, is Matthew Taylor

Tam, his daughter, is Tamora Taylor

 

Trevor Agnew, May-July 2026 [Review 3839]

                        Bill Nagelkerke