The Comfort of Figs by Simon Cleary

 I used to love my grandmother’s sprawling, shady Moreton Bay fig tree in her backyard at leafy Ashgrove in Brisbane. I even remember asking the name of it, and later thinking that it is a pity that the city isn’t as famous for its indigenous fig trees as it is for the purple-blossomed jacarandas, which originate from South Africa. Robbie, the protagonist of The Comfort of Figs, also thinks this, although he loves all of Brisbane’s trees. His job is planting fig trees for the council, but each morning he also likes to plant one on his own, his personal contribution to the city landscape. The first tree of the day is mine,’he says. ‘The rest of the day is the council’s’.

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He also likes to show his Canadian girlfriend, Freya, around different areas of the city, and give her little gifts, from his beloved trees, such as fig tree leaves, dried silky oak leaves, bird’s feathers and macadamia nuts. Freya is astonished by what she learns about Brisbane during her explorations of the city with Robbie. ‘It has taken her by surprise that there is something more, other layers that he can show her. She thought that she had the measure of the city, thought she had seen it true, unencumbered by having been born here’.

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Robbie is troubled, however, by his estrangement from his father, who worked on the stunning Story Bridge, and will never let him forget it. When he visits his parent’s apartment, pictures of the bridge surround him, making him feel claustrophic, as he remembers his father’s obsession. His father even bought him a Meccano set of the bridge when he was a child for his birthday,  not realising that Robbie had no desire to build it, showing a huge lack of understanding. How could a father not know his child hated this? How is it that Robbie can’t make his father see?’ 

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It was no wonder that Robbie felt that he could never please his hard, cold, stern and perfectionist father, Jack O’Hara. He also found his mother Lily, who was focused on pleasing her husband, unsympathetic. Even though Jack has had a stroke, Robbie still can’t bear to see him, and likes the door to his father’s bedroom to be firmly shut when he visits. He tells Freya that his father was ‘into control’ which even extended to the way to fold blankets. ‘He was a bastard of a father,’ Robbie says angrily.

After a traumatic incident which is a turning point in both his and Freya’s lives,  Robbie starts to search for the truth about his perfectionist engineer father, and we learn Jack’s tale.  Jack played a lowly role on the bridge, one that needed physical strength and much toughness of mind on the sweeping, unsafe construction.  When his friend falls in love with the boss’s daughter, he gets himself involved in a conspiracy theory about deaths on the bridge, one that will only lead to trouble.

Robbie has always wondered about why his father is seemingly so hard and uncaring. What made him the way that he was? Will the fig tree, a tree of mystery and secrets, but also symbolic of endurance and resilience, lead him to discover the truth? ‘He wants to tell Freya that he was saved by these fig trees, their solidity, their toughness’. Can they save him now as well, and point the way back to a reconciliation with his family?

This is a beautifully-written and poignant inter-generational novel about the power of love, friendship and forgiveness.   Robbie’s an engaging character, and you really feel for him as he struggles with his guilt over his broken relationship with his father, and as he tries to help heal Freya, The love-stories in the book are extremely moving, especially Evelyn and Charlie’s, although I would have liked to learn about how Robbie met Freya. Simon Cleary shows his love of the city with his evocative descriptions of the landscape, and the river, and he also includes several fascinating historical anecdotes. I’ll definitely read more of his books.