Rosie Scott: FAITH SINGER. Sceptre, Australia 2001. FAITH SINGER opens with Faith tripping over Angel, a smacked-out 14 year old street worker in the main drag of the Cross. Her apology is ignored. An old man at that moment approaches and engages Angel for sex. He has got her attention and off they go together. Faith is left standing there furious, the social conscience instilled in her since childhood impotent against a transaction as old as history itself. Her respect for the dignity of Angel stops her from making a scene. Faith’s fury is towards the injustice of it all. Homeless children forced into prostitution and dealing in order to make ends meet, drug use becomes an escape to a temporary heaven as well as an insatiable cycle of it’s own. Faced with this injustice Faith does what she can. She welcomes these unattractive street kids into her workplace, the Bar Calais, a quiet, gloomy cafe which is a refuge from the noisy energy of the street outside. She offers them a bed sometimes, giving them a little comfort in a harsh world. Why does Faith open herself up to these young people? Why does she go further than others in order to offer support? The story flicks back and forth between Faith’s distant and recent past and as the two histories get closer the reasons are revealed. There are opportunities for healing old wounds by present action, it is necessary to be open to help from others in order to be valuable in our own lives. By writing in the first person Rosie Scott gives an immediacy to the action. Eg. “I could bend down and peer into the bleared little window directly onto the sand, glimpse a pink ice-flower, a patch of scurfy grass, the corner of the tank-stand.” Such attention to detail gives the story a ring of authenticity, as if it is direct recollection. Thus, as a reader I was in the story with Faith saying yes this could have happened rather than distancing myself by saying it’s only a story. This occurred particularly in the parts where of the desperate lifestyles of the street kids are revealed. Another result of using the first person is the blurring of the line between author and narrator. Scott seems to be saying that it’s not enough to throw money at the problems of drug addiction, paedophilia and homelessness and hope that somehow it will all go away. We need to be active in our own community, change our distant attitude and do what we can.

Reviewed by Stephen Nicholas, 2 October 2001 Also published in CrossLines.