Amazing Allen and Unwin memoir by a Queensland courts judge’s associate
Australian memoir Eggshell Skull has been on my reading list for a number of reasons.
Author Bri Lee writes about working in many Queensland cities and towns where I have lived.
And as a print journalist for many years I know the courthouses she refers to and also some of the cases.
But I’ve also been eager to read Eggshell Skull because it has been winning awards since it was published by Allen & Unwin in mid 2018.
It was shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards in non-fiction, winning the 2019 People’s Choice Award, and also won the 2018 People’s Choice at the Nib Awards for research in writing, plus the 2019 ABIA for Biography of the Year.
The publisher describes the work as “a haunting appraisal of modern Australia from a new and essential voice”.
Keep reading to find out more about Lee’s first book and be inspired to start writing your own life story …
About Bri Lee’s first book
The memoir covers about three years after Lee graduates with a law degree in Brisbane, Qld.
She starts a prestigious one-year job as a judge’s associate, which takes her on circuit around the state.
On her first day it becomes clear the vast majority of cases are for sex offences against women and children.
Details of the trials are harrowing.
And all the while Lee must remain even-faced and unmoved as she reads out charges, selects names for juries and asks for verdicts.
The toll of these cases weigh and gnaw on her health and wellbeing.
She questions the justice system, society, her career future and ultimately her memory.
When the year’s work ends Lee fortifies herself to take her own childhood abuser to court.
The last sections of the book follow her difficult journey through the legal system – without her judge’s associate gown – and ultimately face to face with her abuser.
Related article –Book review: Educated by historian Tara Westover
Learning from Bri Lee
From the heart
One of the key things that struck me about this book was Lee’s description of her feelings.
As writers we can learn much from how she records emotions both positive and negative.
Lee doesn’t stop at listing key feelings she describes how they change over time and how they affect her thoughts and actions.
Some descriptions are so breathtaking you feel pulled along riding the emotional wave:
“I read once that the human body slowly pushes shrapnel back out through the skin. That a shard of metal can take years to reach the surface and finally truly be expelled. Veterans get bits coming out of them decades after wars. Could the same thing happen to memories? Perhaps that was what I was feeling: an itchy, irksome thing, a foreign object inside me, moving just millimeters every year, tearing through me until it breached.”
Light and shade
The book is also punctured with quiet pools of beautifully described details and settings.
While chaos may reign around her at work and in her personal life, Lee centres the reader by scattering quintessential Aussie scenes through the pages: kookaburras, magpies, rolling green cane fields, summer sunsets and cool ocean breezes.
“I burst through the web of a giant golden orb spider, sparkling with morning dew.”
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Truth of the matter
Perhaps the most interesting thing we can learn from this book as writers is to be inspired by Lee’s courage and bravery to tell and pursue the truth.
As life-story writers we can sometimes be self-conscious about recording what really happened.
There is a temptation to skim over truths, save egos, avoid embarrassment and skirt uncomfortable details.
We might think this is what our readers want and even what we are comfortable to write.
But Lee shows us with such strength and force how to push truth into the light.
She unapologetically describes many difficult truths: sex abuse, self harm, mental health, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders.
The disclosures are confronting but essential parts to her story and a larger story about society.
As a side note on telling the truth, I noticed this book has a very strongly worded disclosure at the start.
Related article – Tell the truth: The surefire way to out skeletons in the family closet
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Why Bri Lee wrote Eggshell Skull
I think writing this book has been cathartic for Lee.
It has obviously helped her process a dark time in her life.
But the book is also a stark warning to us all about the insidiousness of sex abuse and how women and children are disadvantaged by the justice system.
I also believe that Lee felt compelled to write this book for others who have been abused, especially the many who do not report such crimes.
Lee shows “Her” that she is not alone, not to blame and ultimately offers a hand along the path to a better life.
“I put my hands out onto my files and thought of the faces of all the women and children I’d seen in court. I’d seen them crying. I had felt their fear and their freeze when they relived their horrors in front of a cavernous room of angry adult strangers.”
Related article – How to write about painful memoir stories
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Final say: Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee
Eggshell Skull is a stellar read.
It is a behind-the-scenes look at the courts system and a bigger story about women and the law.
There are definitely confronting elements but the overall feeling at the end is of optimism, hope and new beginnings.
People like Lee are speaking up and getting to work changing the state of play.
So to are others like her Judge, retired-policeman father, family and friends.
Eggshell skull: “A well-established legal doctrine that a defendant must ‘take their victim as they find them’. If a single punch kills someone because of their thin skull, that victim’s weakness cannot mitigate the seriousness of the crime.”
The same can be said for this book.
Readers must take Lee’s work as they find it.
*Please note: If you or someone you know needs help contact Beyondblue or Lifeline Australia.
*Bri Lee’s next book, Beauty, a powerful meditation on beauty and body image, is on sale from November 5. Check it out here!
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Your say
Please let me know what you think of Eggshell Skull. What book should I review next? I always love hearing from readers. Drop me an email or leave a reply in the comments section at the end of this article.
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This article first appeared on the website Forever Young Autobiographies.com.
