At Café 64
by Shaeden Berry
Echo Publishing
When Justin Kowalski drove across a line of traffic and through the front wall of Café 64, he killed himself and three other people – and taking the reasons for his shocking actions to the grave.
Unable to find any evidence of criminal behaviour or mental illness in Justin’s past, and with no one to prosecute, the police labelled the tragedy as ‘an isolated incident’. But what about the people left behind in the aftermath of the tragedy?
Almost two years later, three women walk into a meeting being held by ‘Victims of Café 64 Tragedy’ support group. Perth-based author Shaeden Berry lets the reader get to know these three women in her compelling novel, and find out what it means to be a victim.
Emily Brown had joined lots of support groups in the aftermath, and travelled 45 minutes by public transport to the church hall to attend the meeting set up by a couple who had the foundations of their lives shaken when they lost their daughter.
Emily worked at a call centre and was a consummate people-pleaser who didn’t want to cause any ripples in the world she inhabited … a world where her daily routine had to unfold exactly the same as the day before.
Florence (Flo) was a junior accountant who was never one for complaining, and certainly didn’t consider herself a victim, as she was standing outside the café and hadn’t seen anything happen. It was just that the people close to her were worried and pushed her to go to the meeting.
Madeleine (Maddy) had been let go from her job as a bank accountant almost a year previously and had so much anger that her fiancé Henna had been killed. She was so angry that she didn’t have room for anything like happiness, or love, or even sadness.
The three women are strangers who get dragged into each other’s lives by the shared tragedy. They become friends as they are forced to confront the real toll that the deadly day at Café 64 has had on their lives.
Berry’s extremely powerful story makes the reader think about the nature of loss, and how grief affects, and the ripples of tragedy affect people in so many different ways.
Lezly Herbert
