Ribbonwood - Ruby Landers

Welcome to Ribbonwood. Let’s take a moment to listen to the birds, admire the colours in the trees, and the scent of eucalyptus in the air. Now, Ribbonwood is a quaint town in the hinterland behind Brisbane in Australia. It’s small. But like most small towns, it’s big on gossip. And Ruby Landers pokes and teases to put on full display how meta it is when people talk about each other when they are the ‘other’.

In fact the opening to Ribbonwood is a commentary from various townsfolk about one of their own citizens; Lara Bennett.

We see Lara as a man-eater, husband-stealer, and all round tramp. Yet as the story unfolds, strips itself bare like the bark off a stringy bark gum tree, we begin to ask if the rumours are all that they seem?

Enter Paediatrician Ollie Gabrielli. With a fresh case of PTSD from her job in Melbourne, she’s arrived back to her family vineyard in Ribbonwood to recover and also be with her elderly and dying grandmother to see out her last days.

Ollie and Lara did not get along at school but, in a classic enemies-to-lovers story, sniping and sneering can lead to some fabulous sex. Ollie becomes one of the few people who can see through Lara’s protective walls, and she grabs a ladder to clamber over them to settle into Lara’s heart.

I haven’t given too much plot away. There are some trigger warnings. See Ruby’s website for what they are. But they make sense, those triggers. Gosh, the twists and turns pull in strings of triggers to shoot down all those rumours.

Ribbonwood is cinematic. I saw, through the camera lens, the setting, the people, the richness of the words that translated to visual effects. The story is quick-witted, sensual. It is ribbonwood: a dense tree that houses wildlife and provides fruit to feed that wildlife. It’s amazing how the fruit of a town’s ‘chat’ can feed a town of only nine-hundred.

Ribbonwood is a nominee for the Ann Bannon Popular Choice prize for this year’s Goldies. Make sure you vote for it.