A journey with the ferryman

Shortly after the release of her first book, a lyrical memoir that was short-listed for the Stella Prize, Katia Ariel got a call from another publisher.

Catherine Lewis, from Wild Dingo Press, wanted to talk about an idea that had landed on her desk: to tell the story of the man who had been the Director of Melbourne’s Chevra Kadisha for 30 years, Ephraim Finch. She asked if Ariel had heard of him.

“Well, yeah, because I’m a Jew who’s lived almost her entire life in Melbourne. Of course I’d heard of him. He’s so central, he’s so beloved, he’s the hub in a wheel in lots of ways.”

Then came an amazing moment, Ariel says. “We looked at each other and she said, ‘It’s you. You’re the author for this book.’ And I kind of went, ‘Yeah, it is me.’”

The idea of writing about Finch’s life and his extraordinary legacy had been “in the ether” for a long time, says Ariel. A few people had interviewed him and one had done so comprehensively, amassing boxes and boxes of transcripts. Finch himself had extensive detailed journals. All of this material was made available to Ariel.

Was the sizable bulk of all this prior paperwork a burden to Ariel? “No, it was wonderful. Writing a life is such an immense undertaking, any background briefing that came my way I was so eager to receive and incorporate.” She points out that she also had the huge luxury of a living subject she could interview.

In writing about Finch the man, Ariel had to cover a lot of information about Jewish teaching and customs. How much did she know and how much required research?

“I knew more than I realised. The thing about being raised in any sort of cultural tradition, you absorb things. I have never been raised in a religious home. I come from the Soviet Union where my childhood was forcibly atheist, but as soon as we came here, we started to practise things in our own modest, secular way.”