Ash is a novella about Thea, a rural vet in small town New Zealand. A mother of two small children she juggles the overwhelming needs of breastfeeding, never ending laundry and child care with a demanding job in male dominated field, and a husband that barely seems present. Even getting the kids into the car seems like a monumental effort. Despite being on maternity leave Thea is called in to cover for a younger, unattached male colleague who unironically thanks her later in the book for making things better for young vets. Thea is young herself, but feels the weight of her responsibilities weighing her down, she is exhausted (show me a mother who isn't), her husband is no help, her kids need her, her work pressure is building.
The first half of Ash feels a lot like Prophet Song and Soldier Sailor, both powerful books of one woman's struggle. But then a volcano erupts and Thea's life is irrevocably shattered as her community is smothered in ash, forcing businesses to shut and work to go online while the townspeople struggle for supplies and to keep their children healthy. Thea feels like I felt at the beginning of the first Covid lockdown, that the people who will feel this the most are the mothers. There's no escape into work for us now.
Ash is an amazing work, combining poetry, parenting, misogyny, small town New Zealand and a climate disaster into a mighty punch. I felt it so deep in my soul. Ash is a book I need to own and to revisit often.
