Carmine Island used to be a popular vacation destination. Then the ocean winds blew in the mysterious pink spores and everything changed. The spores brought a strange and unique beauty to the island, but caused serious and often fatal allergic reactions in the people there. Now only a few visitors, their pockets loaded with immunosuppressants, come to Carmine. Some of them are looking for danger, others for escape.

One of the latter group is Tinashi, the heroine of the quartet of stories that make up the bulk of Glitter Rose, a haunting new collection by Australian author Marianne de Pierres. Tinashi is healing from a personal tragedy and craves solitude above all else. Nevertheless, she quickly finds herself drawn into local society and discovers the Island’s secret: The spores bestow remarkable gifts upon the chosen -- but exact a price in return.

These are very simple stories. However, they are not easy. De Pierres is not an author who is going to hold your hand and spell things out for you. In fact, the first time I read the collection my reaction was pretty much “Okay, that was…it?” Then I reread it (it’s a very short book) and realized just how very much is going on under the surface.

Part of this has to do with de Pierres’ choice of Tinashi as narrator. Tinashi presents herself as a tightly-wound, closed-in-on-herself individual who prefers to keep her own counsel, and this extends to her relationship with the reader. Her actions set in motion primal -- even elemental -- forces, but she doesn’t really comment on the ensuing events, or ramble on about how she feels about them, as other heroines might. Things just happen. Even in the fourth (and strongest) story, “Mama Ailon”, where things go from surreal to seriously weird, Tinashi remains resolutely self-contained.

In an afterward, de Pierres says she was shooting for a sense of “languorous decay,” which took me aback because those were exactly the words that occurred to me as I read the Glitter Rose stories. All that languor creates an interesting tension with the stew of spirituality and emotion roiling away underneath. Tonally (although not so much thematically) related is the final story in this collection, “In the Bookshadow,” in which the nameless narrator discovers the surprising truth about her(?)self and de Pierres reveals herself to have a delightfully devilish sense of humor that I appreciated very much indeed.

The stories in Glitter Rose will challenge you, and you may find some of the remarkable and vivid imagery creeping into your subconscious. I definitely recommend this worthwhile collection. Just be aware that these may look simple, but they’re not casual reading. You’ll need to bring something to the table, too.

  -- Kate Nagy