The Promise Seed will move and
mesmerise you.
The development of Cass’ third novel is assisted by a grant gratefully received from the Australia Council for the Arts.
Her stories feature histories, memories and secrets and the way in which troubled families function.
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Reading, writing and kindness
It’s been four months since I last posted on my website. Thanks to all of you for your support and love over the past two years as our daughter Kiara struggled with Stage 4 metastatic cancer, and for your outpouring of grief when she died on 23 May this year. It has been a long (and also much too short) two years; exhausting, challenging, devastating and overwhelming. Thank you for carrying us in your arms and holding us tight. Writing is on pause for me as I grieve but I have kept reading (albeit slowly) and will share with you through reviews in the coming weeks the books that have sustained me during this period. Congratulations to everyone who has recently published – what an achievement. And congratulations to everyone who has kept writing words, despite their own challenges and personal difficulties, whether published or not. And thank you readers for continuing to support creatives with buying, borrowing and recommending books. Kiara’s two greatest legacies are her two gorgeous children, and her capacity for kindness in spite of all she endured. The literary community, especially in Brisbane, exhibits this kindness in our inclusive and welcoming way, and I wish for us all to continue this tradition by supporting writers in every genre. Reading = tolerance = kindness. I hope to return to hosting literary events next year. In the meantime, like you, I will keep reading and (eventually) writing again. Books are a joy and a solace.
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What Am I Reading?
Normal Rules Don’t Apply – Kate Atkinson
Kate Atkinson’s most recent collection of short stories, Normal Rules Don’t Apply (Penguin Random House 2023) is a book of signs and symbols, imagination and magic, fables and fairytales, portents and pretend, the impossible and the ridiculous, all written in her beautiful, closely observational, literary prose, with evocative and atmospheric settings and descriptions, brilliantly portrayed characters, and narratives that will keep you thinking.
read more…In The Woods – Tana French
Tana French is an extraordinary crime writer who manages to combine literary prose with engaging characterisation and a page-turning plot. In her novel In The Woods (Hachette 2007), the fictional Dublin Murder Squad takes on the case of the murder of a child. Narrated in the first person by Detective Rob Ryan, we are given an intimate perspective of the layers and threads of the investigation that he follows, along with his partner, Cassie Maddox. In this way, In The Woods is a traditional crime novel with an expected trajectory.
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