Sophie Cunningham has a novelist’s eye for action and ear for dialogue, and she brings both to the story of Darwin’s devastation by Cyclone Tracy. Cunningham draws on a range of intimate sources, including oral testimonies, interviews, diaries, family histories and newspapers, seeking out Darwinians’ first-hand experiences of the 1974 cyclone and using these individual stories to frame the large-scale destruction. She speaks to scientists and authorities, but the most compelling testimonies come from locals who found themselves in the cyclone’s path. These people share the awe and terror the storm’s apocalyptic force provoked. Warning is accessible reading, its compelling narrative informed by scientific fact but not overly bogged down by complex detail. Cunningham views the interaction of humans and natural disasters through the lens of climate change, showing that we are only now beginning to comprehend the damage humans have wrought on the planet. A work of contemporary historical analysis, Warning sits alongside evocative narrative nonfiction such as Anna Krien’s Into the Woods, though Cunningham’s presence in the story is less pronounced. As in her previous nonfiction book, Melbourne, the telling of significant historical events is deeply grounded in human experience, and small details convey the story of Cyclone Tracy with visceral power.
Veronica Sullivan is a bookseller and deputy online editor of Kill Your Darlings. This review first appeared on the Books+Publishing website in June 2014.
