Leap
Allen & Unwin, $26.99 pb, 336 pp, 9781925266115
Leap by Myfanwy Jones
Set in Melbourne’s cafés, under its bridges, behind its laundromats, and within its zoo, Leap is a contemporary Australian novel about love and loss. It entwines the narratives of Joe, whose guilt over the accidental death of his high-school girlfriend drives him to work dead-end jobs and train furiously in the art of Parkour, and Elise, a recently separated graphic designer who finds clarity in weekly visits to the tiger enclosure at the zoo, where she feels compelled to sketch the animals. The unusual pairing of a twenty-two-year-old traceur and a middle-aged mother is typical of the intergenerational connections Myfanwy Jones weaves throughout the novel. Joe mentors Declan, a disaffected teen who reminds Joe of himself when he was younger, and their relationships with their parents are a recurring theme.
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