The Last Tasmanian

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

Curtis’s latest comic novel is a revisiting of the inhabitants of
Brennen Siding, his fictional settlement along New Brunswick’s
Miramichi River. The people of the village were introduced in The
Americans Are Coming (1989), where the adventures of the Ramsey family
(Shirley, Dryfly, Palidin), Shad Nash, Nutbeam, Bert Todder, and Lindon
Tucker were lovingly detailed.

The Last Tasmanian takes its title from the story told by Hilda Porter,
the retired Brennen Siding schoolteacher, whose great-grandfather was
present at the disinterment of the last Tasmanian aborigine that “ever
walked on the face of the earth.” Hilda’s appearance in The
Americans Are Coming was limited; in the present book her role is
significantly expanded into a symbol of the continuity of life in the
village, from the past into the future. Her search for someone to whom
she can pass on her story leads to young Shad Nash. Shad and his friend,
Dryfly, reach their own levels of maturity in The Last Tasmanian. Curtis
invests them with a wonderful combination of humor and strength. His
unfailing ear for the dialect of the characters and his deep
appreciation for the Miramichi’s customs and traditions contribute
directly to the book’s success. Curtis has emerged as a leading
Canadian humorist in the Stephen Leacock tradition; his Brennen Siding
world will last for a long time. Strongly recommended for all fiction
collections.