Undefendable
Edited by
Sulari Gentill & Sarah Kynaston
The story of a town under fire
Publication date: 26th November 2022
Genre: Non Fiction
Pages: 178
Source: Courtesy of the publisher
Review: Undefendable: The Story of a Town Under Fire
As we approach another dry, hot summer who can forget the summer Australia burned.
In the summer of 2019/2020 the township of Batlow in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains was declared ‘undefendable’ from the fire megafront. While most evacuated, many stayed to fight. In the end, the undefendable town was saved by volunteers – by farmers, teachers, electricians, retirees, and boys barely out of high school.
Sulari Gentill and Sarah Kynaston have delivered a heart-warming collection of poems, recollections and photographs from the very people who were on the ground during the fires of the summer of 2019/2020.
Sulari Gentill is herself a resident of the small close-knit community of Batlow - the town that was declared undefendable against the fires.
With a united front the residents, the Bush Fire Brigade and the Town Brigade banded together to do everything possible to save their town. They took on the fire and they won!
Everyone tells the story of their own personal experiences during that time. Most of the stories are in a conversational tone and told almost two years after the fires the awe and pride the story tellers feel comes through in the prose.
I really enjoyed Edmund Gentill's recollections. His writing is eloquent and with the resilience of youth his words are laced with humour.
Undefendable is a heart-felt anthology that showcases a town united, coming together and surviving when all odds were against them.
My rating 5/ 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
About the editors
Sarah Kyneston is a berry grower, beekeeper and (as Sulari says) the person in Batlow who knows everyone.
Sulari Gentill is also the author of the 10-book Rowland Sinclair mysteries series, The Hero Trilogy (YA); and two standalone crime novels, Crossing the Lines, and The Woman in the Library.
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