Featured Books:
Chris Womersley: Bereft
In 2007 Chris Womersley won the Josephine Ulrick Literature Prize for his short story “The Possibility of Water” and in 2008 he won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction for his debut novel The Low Road (Scribe). Chris has completed his second novel, Bereft.
“Bereft is a dark, brooding story of war, family secrets and a man’s search for justice. Chris Womersley knows how to shine light into the darkest corners of rural Australia.” — Michael Robotham
“A rich, gripping tale of love, loss, conflict and salvation. I had that very rare experience of wanting to read it again, almost immediately.” — Australian Bookseller & Publisher
It is 1919. The Great War has ended, but the Spanish flu epidemic is raging across Australia. Schools are closed, state borders are guarded by armed men, and train travel is severely restricted. There are rumours it is the end of the world.
In the NSW town of Flint, Quinn Walker returns to the home he fled ten years earlier when he was accused of an unspeakable crime. Aware that his father and uncle would surely hang him, Quinn hides in the hills surrounding Flint. There, he meets the orphan Sadie Fox — a mysterious young girl who seems to know more about the crime than she should.
A searing gothic novel of love, longing and justice, Bereft is about the suffering endured by those who go to war and those who are forever left behind.
Sarah Hopkins: Speak to Me
Sarah Hopkins has worked in the area of social justice and prisoner rights for 15 years. She is currently working as a lawyer with the Aboriginal Legal Service in Sydney. Her new novel Speak to Me was released by Penguin in May 2010.
Michael, a psychiatrist, is trying to put his life together after a brain tumour. His lawyer wife Elizabeth is wrestling with her new role as breadwinner. Their children are acting out the chaos their parents refuse to confront. This is the story of a troubled daughter who cannot talk to her mother, a mother who does not know how to listen, a father who listens but cannot see, and a son who will only talk to God.
Over the course of one week, events will threaten to tear this family apart — but also bring them from the brink of darkness towards a kind of redemption. From one of Australia’s most acclaimed new novelists, Speak to Me is a compelling tale of love, loss and survival.
Glenda Guest: Siddon Rock
“… best first book, 2010 Commonwealth Writers Prize”
When Macha Connor came home from the war she walked into town as naked as the day she was born, except for well-worn and shining boots, a dusty slouch hat, and the .303 rifle she held across her waist.
In April 2010 Siddon Rock was announced as the winner of the £5000 (A$8,250) best first book award in this year’s Commonwealth Writers Prize. The judges praised Siddon Rock for its rich cast of odd characters and blending of the everyday with fantasy. “Behind every door in town lurk secret desires and wild imaginings. The novel deftly delves into the hauntings and disjunctions of settler Australia, and in its fable-like quality captures the laconic mannerisms of the Australian outback.”
Kirsten Tranter
The Legacy
What has happened to Ingrid?
Beautiful Ingrid inherits a fortune and leaves Australia, and her friends, and Ralph who loves her, to marry Gil Grey and set up home amid the New York art world. There she becomes the stepmother to Gil’s teenage artist daughter Fleur, a former child prodigy, and studies at Columbia University. But at 9:00 a.m. on September 11, 2001, she has an appointment downtown. She is never seen again.
Or is she? Searching for clues about Ingrid’s life a year later, her friend Julia uncovers only further layers of mystery and deception.
Both an unputdownable mystery and a compelling meditation on the nature of art, truth, friendship and love, The Legacy announces the arrival of a major new talent.
“Ingrid’s New York life unravels in a satisfying mystery, yet The Legacy is much more sophisticated than a typical genre novel. Tranter’s characters are well-written, her prose sophisticated and rich (but never heavy handed, despite many literary references), and self-conscious in the right moments so that it never dips into cliché. This is the most satisfying novel I’ve read all year. I can’t wait to see what she does next.” – Hannah Francis, Australian Bookseller and Publisher
Fourth Estate/ HarperCollins Launch: 10 February 2010
Follow Kirsten’s internet diary: www.kirstentranter.com
Nobel Prize for Literature 2000
Gao Xingjian
Chinese playwright, novelist and artist Gao Xingjian became a critic of the Communist regime as a young man. He fled Beijing and has lived for many years in France where his first novel, Soul Mountain, was first published and became a bestseller, going into five editions. In 2000 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Mabel Lee’s English translation of Soul Mountain has been a success worldwide.
Gao’s second novel One Man’s Bible focuses the political horrors of the twentieth century through the lens of desire and memory. It has received rave reviews in the US.
In 2004 Gao published a collection of short stories, Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather. In September 2006 HarperCollins Australia released A Case for Literature, a collection of thought-provoking essays.
Mabel Lee is Gao’s English-language translator. She is represented by Australian Literary Management, and ALM is the lead agent for the English language translations of Gao’s writing.
You can read the first chapter of Soul Mountain on this website, as well as Mabel’s perceptive and informative Introduction to the book, the Swedish Academy’s bibliographical
note published on the occasion of the 2000 Nobel Prize, and a note about the author.
Rights in the English language translation of Soul Mountain have been sold to HarperCollins Australia, HarperCollins US, and HarperCollins UK.
