In Mark Brandi’s latest book, Eden, Tom narrates the story of his first few weeks after being released from prison, where he served a nine-year sentence. These early chapters are fast-paced, full of small yet compelling realistic moments. At one point, Tom has a beer with a new acquaintance who asks what he was ‘in for’. “Accessory to murder,” Tom replies reluctantly. “For helping out a mate.”Â
Homeless, unemployed and broke, Tom encounters both people who make a bad situation worse and others who are less spiteful and more helpful. He’s deliberately misdirected away from Centrelink by the receptionist at his cheap hotel, then receives helpful guidance from a Big Issue vendor who actually knows where the nearest office is. A combination of comments from strangers and a bit of good luck sees Tom land a job at ‘Eden’ – the nickname for Melbourne’s oldest cemetery used by some of its employees and home to many neglected old graves.
Tom becomes a gravedigger and general dogsbody, befriended by seasoned cemetery worker Cyril. “You think this was part of my plan? To work in a cemetery?” he asks Tom. “Well, it wasn’t. But I f***ing love it now. This is like my own private paradise.” You are left to wonder why.
After Tom starts work at the cemetery, though, the pace of the novel slows. The more experienced gravediggers demonstrate the finer points of their profession, along with some of the job’s perks – not all of which are legal. For a short time, the cemetery lives up to its nickname, but trouble soon arrives. A journalist starts hounding Tom, mysterious and worrying activities unfold at night and Tom finds himself facing some difficult choices.
Brandi lets Tom narrate the day by day events while using flashbacks and sequential leaps to gradually reveal more about his character. It is an approach that can effectively pique curiosity while sustaining tension in the present, but when it feels as though the author is deliberately withholding information to manipulate the reader, it can take you out of the story.
Tom himself comes across as a decent human genuinely trying to make a new life for himself without resorting to crime. Yet this reviewer couldn’t quite warm to him. He is very tight-lipped and tends to rebuff anyone trying to get to know him better. This reluctance to talk about his past – or to relay even a sanitised or invented version of it – leads to a frustrating emotional distance from the character, which ultimately diminished enjoyment of Eden.
The publisher describes the novel as a ‘literary thriller’, presumably intending to convey that it boasts both strong characterisation and spellbinding plot. But you don’t ever really get to know Tom, as distinct from knowing about him. Brandi’s choice to filter the story through Tom’s guarded perspective is both a strength and a limitation, creating an authentic character, but one who continually keeps the reader at arm’s length.Â
And whether that level of characterisation qualifies as ‘literary’ is ultimately beside the point. While it stumbles in its final pages – particularly with its reliance on two newspaper articles to finish the story – Brandi has still created an authentic and memorable world with Eden, and it engenders some interesting questions about the nature of guilt and the possibility of second chances.
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For readers willing to embrace a sometimes slow pace and a rather opaque protagonist, there is much here to appreciate. There are certainly many worse ways to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon than with this engaging if not perfect novel.
Eden, Mark Brandi
Publisher: Hachette
ISBN: 9780733649356
Format: Paperback
Pages: 211pp
Release date: 25 June 2025
RRP: $32.99
