Julia Martin’s A Millimetre of Dust was launched recently at Kalk Bay Books – though, with all the SA Lit goings on, it seems an age ago. (Geddit?) The first review we’ve seen to date describes the book as a “remarkable archaeological travelogue”.
This carrot from David Pike contains a hypertonic core, however. For all he praises the richness of Martin’s prose, the deep and pensive emotion and the personal detail that layer the text – as well as her vivid descriptions of animals and artefacts and evocative depictions of the landscape – he grumbles at a certain lack of humour and “over-earnestness”:
Martin was inspired to track down the various traces of prehistoric habitation in the country and, with her husband (author Michael Cope) and her two small children, embarked on the journey described in the book.
The archaeological material is interlaced with much lyrical description of places, people and animals, and with musings on many topics from what it means to be human to the uses of fire, iron and steel, or the wonder of diamonds — and the book is thus a rich source of information, feeling and insight.
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