Episodit
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Diana Reid is the Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist in 2022. Her debut, Love & Virtue, won the ABIA Book of the Year Award, and the ABA Booksellers’ Choice Fiction Book of the Year Award.
Diana’s new novel is Signs of Damage.
How could everything have gone so wrong?
In the summer of 2008 the Kelly family are enjoying a holiday in the south of France. Bruce, Vanessa, their daughters Skye and Anika and Anika’s best friend Cass.The holiday seems something of an idyll until Cass goes missing. She is discovered hours later locked in an ancient icehouse but the question remains how?
Sixteen years later and the funeral for Bruce Kelly is being held a mere week before the wedding of his eldest daughter Skye. Partway through, the service is interrupted when Cass collapses in a seizure. After the shock of her collapse subsides, doctors will cast doubt on whether Cass’ seizures are the product of epilepsy, or some deeper, more mysterious malady.
What is happening to Cass and how does it relate to that summer in the south of France?
Signs of Damage has me intrigued from the get go. As we open on a coroner's office in Tuscany we understand immediately that something is very wrong. The narrative then throws us back in time where we will watch the events of the preceding week lead us up to the fatal moment.
Structurally, the novel pairs the fateful weeks in 2008 and 2024 and we travel alongside the characters from the Monday through the Saturday. While Cass emerges as our strongest point of view, with her first person narration bookending the narrative through the prologue and epilogue, we are treated to the perspectives of each of the main characters as we wind through their lives across the paired weeks.
These glimpses of perspective and insight serve to set up a tension between the story as it is lived and the way it is being perceived by each character. No coincidence in Cassandra’s name, as like her namesake from Greek mythology she seems cursed not to be believed as other characters make up their own mind about truth, and how the events of the past have shaped their present.
Signs of Damage works as a taut thriller but also as a kind of commentary on how the work of gripping storytelling turns on both the revelation and obfuscation of facts. We as readers are drawn into the web of storytelling as we too make our assumptions and tease out our theories about how the stories will fit together to reveal the greater picture.
At various times throughout my reading I wondered if I might be in the middle of a speculative, fantastical narrative or even perhaps an ‘all-in-their-head’ type psycho drama. The truth was in fact even more wonderful as I realised that I had become as active a participant in the action as any of the characters, only I was saved from having my theories impact, or perhaps injure the other players.
Signs of Damage is an insightful and entertaining exploration of trauma, mental health and our inner lives. It sets the stage for a drama and then allows its characters and yes even its readers to play out their theories until the inevitable and tragic ending. -
The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.
These are the stories that make us who we are.
Zane Lovitt is the award winning author of The Midnight Promise and Black Teeth
Jamie’s back on Carnation Way. It was a mostly conscious decision, although the dissolution of his marriage wasn’t meant to be part of the move.
It’s not so bad though. A lovely cul-de-sac full of friendly neighbours who look out for each other.
Except for that body they found under the house next door thirteen years ago. Oh and now Claire across the way has disappeared in the middle of the night.
Maybe Jamie should look into this…
Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
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Puuttuva jakso?
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Steve MinOn is the winner of the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer 2023.
Stephen Bolin lies in a coma in a Brisbane hospital.
In the hours before his death Stephen awakens long enough to write a cryptic message to his sisters. They are to carry his body north to the town of their birth.
Stephen’s sisters ignore this bizarre request and so some time later Stephen awakens in a mortuary, stiff with rigor mortis. His now dead brain animated by a single desire, to complete the trip north to Innisfail.
If that synopsis sounds like a lot, that’s because it is a lot. First Name Second Name completes an ingenious sleight of hand in being one of the more bizarre, yet compelling heartfelt novels you are likely to read in long time.
First Name Second Name grew out of Steve MinOn’s discovery that his surname was an amalgamation of two Chinese first names. This discovery compelled him to explore the history that could lead someone to give up something so crucial to their identity.
The narrative twists itself between the contemporary story of Stephen, now a Jiangshi or Chinese hopping vampire, and the generational story of the Bolin family, beginning with the meeting of Pan Bo Lin and Bridget Wilkie; One a migrant from China and the other from Scotland.
The historical narrative charts a story of determination as both Bo Lin and Bridget must overcome others perceptions to carve out a life in the colony of Queensland. The reader is privy to the imbalance between men and women, but also between anglo and chinese and how the colony’s British origins see Bo Lin’s identity chipped away even as Bridget’s children and grandchildren come to embrace more of their Scottish heritage.
The generations trace their way down to Stephen who as a young man in the eighties struggles to come to terms with a host of identities. Stephen feels the difference between himself and his family all the more acutely as he realizes that neither his cultural, nor his queer identities are things they want to hear about.
Alive and dead we follow Stephen’s journey through the landscapes of Queensland and the chapters of his life. As a Jiangshi he is drawn to lifeforce even as he’s overwhelmed by the pull that takes him into his past.
This journey was compelling and slightly horrifying as we come to realise that the animating force of Stephen’s undead existence seems to be drawing him to discover some kind of space. It’s perhaps not clear whether this is meant to be a peaceful resting place or simply a destination that brings together all the disparate elements of his identity.
First Name Second Name is a wild ride. This is without a doubt a very thoughtful, literary novel but it blindsides the reader with moments of horror and humour.
While the author acknowledges a wish to explore cultural loss and the pressures that migrants feel in a society that can be hostile to their existence, the text invites its own exploration of this question for the reader to discover. -
The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.
These are the stories that make us who we are.
Vanessa McCausland is author of DREAMING IN FRENCH and THE BEAUTIFUL WORDS.
Paige White's beautiful life is documented closely for her thousands of followers: lakeside picnics with her daughter, sunny afternoons in the family van, and romantic dinners with her husband. So when she posts an ominous image, and her body is shortly after discovered in the lake, everyone immediately wonders - suicide or foul play?
Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
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The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.
These are the stories that make us who we are.
Catherine Jinks is the award winning author of more than forty books. You’ve met her on Final Draft when we discussed her novel The Attack…
Catherine’s new novel is Panic.
Bronte’s gone viral in the worst possible way. After being doxed by an ex she needs to get out of town, fast.
Taking a job caring for an elderly woman on a farm sounds like the perfect job; low-key, private and the farm is a health retreat. What wasn’t in the brochure was a group of sovereign citizens attempting to disconnect from mainstream society.
Bronte isn’t sure whether to be worried or bemused, all she knows is she’s got nowhere else to go.
Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
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Eileen Chong is an award winning poet. You’ve met her on Final Draft with her last collection A Thousand Crimson Blooms and today she’s joining us with her new collection We Speak of Flowers.
We Speak of Flowers comprises 101 interconnected fragments that can be read in any order, attempting to make sense of grief in the face of great pain.
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You can get more books, writing and literary culture every week on the Final Draft Great Conversations podcast. Hear interviews with authors and discover your next favourite read!
Book Club is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
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Catherine Jinks is the award winning author of more than forty books. Her new novel is Panic.
Katoomba’s a small community. There’s not a lot of places to hide when people know your name and Bronte’s gone viral in the worst possible way. Getting social media drunk and angry is never a good idea and now Bronte’s been doxed by her YouTube famous ex and she needs to get out of town, fast.
Fortunately the gig economy is full of jobs for people desperate enough to take them…
Caring for an elderly woman on a farm sounds like the perfect job; low-key, private and the farm is a health retreat. Bronte’s on the first train and ready to wait out her notoriety in the countryside around Bathurst. It should be idyllic, unfortunately what wasn’t in the brochure was a group of sovereign citizens attempting to disconnect from mainstream society.
Bronte isn’t sure whether to be worried or bemused, all she knows is she’s got nowhere else to go.
Catherine Jinks’ stories have a ripped from the headlines quality and Panic is no exception. The narrative captures a bitter melange of our modern insecurities and then throws our protagonist Bronte headfirst into them.
Bronte is eminently sympathetic. She’s likeable, but not saccharine and when we meet her she’s already throwing hands with the internet douches, so we know she’s got the right idea. Bronte’s also capable but not well resourced and so we must follow her as she’s buffeted by fate's ill winds.
That Bronte lands on the doorstep of a group of sovereign citizens is an increasingly more likely plot twist. Once the curious province of current affairs programs, we now know these groups exist, trying to escape their problems by denying the authority of the government they don’t feel like following anymore.
In Panic the group are a mix of the extreme and the sympathetic as they try through bluster and hubris to talk themselves into reality. Veda and Troy want to escape their debts and live off the land, but they can’t even get to town and back in an unregistered car.
Bronte’s dilemma is to be both caring and vulnerable. She’s stuck caring for Veda’s mum Nell. Nell has her own secrets and when her health takes a turn they threaten to spill out and ruin the whole show. Now Bronte must battle to stay out of danger as the sov cits raise the stakes and the police answer in kind.
Panic is a engaging thriller, filled with pacy writing and larger than life characters that will have you guessing. The setting and structure bring clever elements of horror to the tale, even as we dive deep into the procedural dilemmas of trying to emancipate yourself from local government and authority.
If you’re finding the headlines a little too real lately, then Panic might be just the escape to help you work through the issues in an entertainingly hyperreal way.
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You can get more books, writing and literary culture every week on the Final Draft Great Conversations podcast. Hear interviews with authors and discover your next favourite read!
Book Club is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
Want more great conversations with Australian authors?
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The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.
These are the stories that make us who we are.
Sean Wilson is a writer, playwright and communications professional. Sean is the author of Gemini Falls. He has been shortlisted for the Patrick White Playwrights Award by Sydney Theatre Company.
Sean joins us today with his new novel You Must Remember This.
On a warm autumn evening Grace decides to go for walk. It must be autumn judging from the temperature, and Grace was going to… she’s well, surely it will come back to her.
Grace's daughter Liz assures her she’ll like her new room, but nothing feels quite right and Grace is sure things keep going missing.
Ranging across Grace’s life, You Must Remember This is a story of love and family and the struggle to hold onto your very sense of self in the face of failing memory.
Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
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This week we've checked out the first episode of Holden Sheppard's Invisible Boys.
Invisible Boys is the award winning debut novel from Holden Sheppard and is now a smash hit series on Stan.
Holden even pops by to talk about pioneering queer storytelling and adapting his show for the screen.
Loved this review?
You can get more books, writing and literary culture every week on the Final Draft Great Conversations podcast. Hear interviews with authors and discover your next favourite read!
Book Club is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
Want more great conversations with Australian authors?
Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week from 2ser.
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The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.
These are the stories that make us who we are.
Ashley Kalagian Blunt is the author of Dark Mode, shortlisted for the 2024 ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year. Her new novel is Cold Truth.
Ashley is in conversation with Felix Shannon
Harlow Close has made a career as an influencer uncovering the secrets of Winnipeg, dubbed ‘North America's strangest city’. The region is renowned for its sub-zero temperatures, dropping to minus 40 degrees – sometimes for months at a time. Yet, it’s not just the frigid winters and geographic seclusion that render Winnipeg peculiar.
When Harlow’s father mysteriously disappears amid a brutal cold snap, suspicions of foul play arise. It’s not like Scott to miss phone calls – and he’s been even more cautious since that time he was catfished by a romance scammer. Unhappy with the pace of the police investigation, Harlow launches her own search, enlisting her sister Blaise’s reluctant help.
Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
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In a special, bonus episode, Andrew welcomes Felix Shannon as a regular on the Final Draft podcast.
Felix is the renowned host of Death of the Reader and joins us with fresh ideas and a unique way of reading and discovering books. -
The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.
These are the stories that make us who we are.
Karina is the author of Duck a l’Orange for Breakfast (April 2023), which was longlisted in the Indie Book Awards for Best Debut Fiction, and Never Ever Forever. Karina, alongside her friend and author Clare Fletcher, is the founder and co-host of the successful That Rom Com Pod.
Karina’s joins Andrew today with her new novel That Island Feeling.
Andie is determined to help her best friend Taylor through her divorce. A week on Pearl Island is just the beginning and Andie has an itinerary planned to help forget men and all their dramas.
Andie certainly hasn’t prepared for double booked bucks parties and she definitely hasn’t planned for handsome, barefoot boat captains…
Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
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Sean Wilson is the author of Gemini Falls. He has been shortlisted for the Patrick White Playwrights Award by Sydney Theatre Company.
Sean’s new novel is You Must Remember This.
On a warm autumn evening Grace decides to go for walk. It must be autumn judging from the temperature, and Grace was going to… she’s well, surely it will come back to her.
Hours later, and with her family panicked Grace will be helped home by the police.
Grace's daughter Liz assures her she’ll like her new room, but nothing feels quite right and Grace is sure things keep going missing.
As Grace searches for a foothold in her new home she finds that the past and the present seem to blur. Moments of time blend into memories and Grace is thrown back across her life trying to make sense of it all.
I’m going to start with a strong recommendation because You Must Remember This is a novel that brings heart, intelligence and literary verve to the topic of dementia.
Ranging across Grace’s life, You Must Remember This is a story of love and family and the struggle to hold onto your very sense of self in the face of failing memory.
The reader travels with Grace through her life and through the stylistic device of a melange of chapters we are given some insight into Grace’s experience of the world. Between the pages Wilson has created a linear narrative and then parsed it erratically to try and capture Grace’s own sense of confusion and the unsettling nature of memories blurring. The overall effect is less of memory loss, than of the overwhelming sense that all of life is happening in an unfiltered and uncontrolled way.
The figure of Grace is alluring for her vulnerability but also for her strength. As her past unfolds we learn about her childhood and come to see what shaped the woman she is. This story engages deftly and with compassion the issue of making Grace a whole person and not simply an object of pity. As we move between generations of mothers and daughters, always with Grace as our anchor we are shown how that life has worked on so many others.
Novels have a tricky way of trying to impose order onto events and create these things we call stories. They give us hope that we will find meaning in a sequence of moments. This is very much something that Grace finds is slipping from her, ever more, the harder she tries to grasp it.
In Wilson’s hands we are shown how Grace works through this and also how sometimes she simply must experience life in its jumble. It’s humbling as a reader to have our expectations overturned and then work to discover a new way of seeing through Grace’s eyes.
You Must Remember This is a slim book that came to occupy an outsized space in my thoughts. It offers compassion and the opportunity to understand through the character of Grace and perhaps in the way we carry our experience of reading back into our everyday lives.
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You can get more books, writing and literary culture every week on the Final Draft Great Conversations podcast. Hear interviews with authors and discover your next favourite read!
Book Club is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
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The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.
These are the stories that make us who we are.
Lech Blaine is the author of the memoir Car Crash and the Quarterly Essays Top Blokes and Bad Cop. His new work is Australian Gospel.
Australian Gospel is a family saga, it’s Lech's family saga, detailing the lives of his mum & dad, and his foster siblings. It’s also about the lives of Michael and Mary Shelley, the biological parents of three of Lech's brothers and sisters and the religious zealots who hounded their existence.
Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
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The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.
These are the stories that make us who we are.
Esther hails from Cork, Ireland and lives in the North West of Tasmania. Esther is the author of Leaving Ocean Road and The House of Second Chances. She’s joining us today with her new novel The Writing Class.
We’d all like to believe we’re the authors of our own story, but when Vivian’s husband Dave abandons her, she learns the hard way there are some twists she wouldn’t have plotted for herself.
Back home in Tasmania, Vivian is at a loss for what to do with herself until a chance encounter sees her teaching a writing class. Amidst the diverse students Vivian learns discovers new things about herself, and about the power of raising up your voice when you have something to say.
Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
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Here are my End of Year Picks and a few recommendations for buying Xmas Gifts for the book lover in your life!
Lech Blaine’s Australian Gospel
‘A Family Saga’. Australian Gospel tells the story of Lech’s siblings. It’s a big family and Lech’s mum and dad Tom and Lenore fostered five children in the years before Lech was born. Three of those children, Lech’s brothers and sisters, happen to be the biological offspring of Michael and Mary Shelley.
Buy it for - Anyone looking for a good Aussie Yarn
Miranda Darling’s Thunderhead
Across a single day we are thrown into the life of Winona Dalloway. From the moment she wakes, stealing a few precious moments before her time is not her own, to the dinner party that looms over her calendar, the reader follows Winona as she tries simply to be herself…
Buy it for - Lovers of literary fiction who are looking for a gorgeously written, stimulating read
Sara Haddad’s The Sunbird
The Sunbird tells the story of Nabila Yasmeen. As a six year old she and her family were expelled from their village in Palestine. Now in her eighties and living in Sydney, Nabila stills feels the weight of this trauma in her daily life…
The Sunbird has been included in a reasoning pack being sent to Australian MPs by a group of authors including Tim Winton, Charlotte Wood, JM Coetzee, Anna Funder, Michelle de Kretser, André Dao and Rosie Batty. Their goal is to educate our leaders in the history of Palestine and the Israel/Gaza conflict
Buy it for - Anyone who wants (or needs) to learn a little more about Gaza
A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang
In the fractured kingdom of the Yue, Xishi is regarded as a peerless beauty.
Her beauty is famous across her homeland and leads her to be sought out by the advisor to the king. The Yue have suffered terrible defeats at the hands of the Wu. This humiliation and the threat of ongoing war has lead the king to try a desperate plan. With Xishi’s help they will infiltrate the Wu king’s court, win his heart and overthrow his tyrannical rule.
Thrust deep into the heart of the enemy Wu kingdom, Xishi must use all her skills, not only to survive but to bring justice for her people.
Buy it for - Lovers of historical fiction
Honourable Mention Emily Maguire’s Rapture
The Echoes by Evie Wyld
Max waits in the London flat he shares with Hannah. He’s had little to do but wait since he died. He’d never given much consideration to being a ghost and even still it’s not living up to the hype.
Buy it for - Lovers of Ghost Stories, humour and love alike
Sharlene Allsop’s The Great Undoing.
Scarlet Friday is a truth teller in a hyper connected world. Her job is to explore archives and provide context for the official narrative of history. But the past is never truly buried and outside Scarlett’s archives the rest of the world is teetering on the brink. As systems shut down around the world, Scarlet finds herself on the run. Unwelcome in England, she is now a refugee seeking safe passage back to Australia.
Buy it for - Lovers of Speculative Fiction
Honourable mentions Alice Robinson’s If You Go and Jordan Prosser’s Big Time
Siang Lu’s Ghost Cities
Xiang is working as a translator at Sydney’s Chinese Consulate when it’s discovered he really doesn’t speak much Chinese. This is considered a less than desirable outcome and Xiang is both fired and culturally shamed for his lack of national pride.
Xiang is quickly whisked off to the Ghost City of Port Man Tou, where he is set to star in the city wide production of Baby Bao’s simulation of reality. A movie within a city within a movie that is aiming to create an economy so circular it might just get vertigo.
Buy it for - Anyone with Eyes! Probably my book of the year -
The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.
These are the stories that make us who we are.
Emma Grey is a writer, novelist and photographer. Her novel the Last Love Note was a global bestseller and today she’s joining us with her new novel Pictures of You.
At sixteen years old Evie Hudson feels too young to be married, let alone a widow. And that’s the problem, Evie’s not sixteen but the accident that killed her husband Oliver also stole her memory.
Now she believes she’s a teenager. Thrown back to a time when she felt safe.
But safe from what?
Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
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Lech Blaine is the author of the memoir Car Crash and the Quarterly Essays Top Blokes and Bad Cop. His new work is Australian Gospel.
Australian Gospel has the subtitle ‘A Family Saga’. It takes only a cursory glance at the back cover synopsis to understand why Australian Gospel works to reassure readers that this is a very real, very true story. The story contained between the covers and the ride Lech Blaine is about to take you on, well if it wasn’t true, you absolutely would not believe it.
Lech Blaine was born in 1992 and by the time he came along the story of Australian Gospel was already many decades old.
Australian Gospel is the story of Lech’s siblings. It’s a big family and Lech’s mum and dad Tom and Lenore fostered five children in the years before Lech was born. Three of those children, Lech’s brothers and sisters, happen to be the biological offspring of Michael and Mary Shelley.
Michael and Mary Shelley were charismatic Christians, or itinerant and chronic god botherers. The definition really depended on which side of their charms you happened to find yourself on and whether you were standing between them and something they wanted.
The Shelley’s wrought havoc across Australia and the Tasman throughout the 70’s right through till the 2000’s. Thanks to the kindness and good heart of his parents, Lech and their extended family find themselves in the Shelley’s crosshairs as they seek to reclaim the children who were removed for their safety.
Australian Gospel is a wild ride. In his prologue Lech hints at the mammoth task of research an interviews he undertook to bring the story to the page. As a result we are transported to an Australian growing out of the post war period and transforming into the modern country that likes to think it can take on the world (and most of the time can at least give it a shot in sports).
Lech’s prose is spare and as such is able to embrace the competing interests of a sprawling historical narrative and tense domestic fare. It’s a remarkable feat that the narrative can seamlessly jump between a bush prophet’s screed and a domestic drama with nary a blink.
And that could be it for this review; Australian Gospel is worth your time for its fascinating story and Lech’s engaging style. This is a cracking yarn, but it’s also more than just a cracking yarn.
Brimming beneath the surface of Australian Gospel and cleverly hinted at in its title is another, perhaps deeper reason to pick up a copy. Between the fanatical Michael Shelley preaching his own narcissistic version of the bible and Tom and Lenore Blaine’s quiet (and sometimes loud) search for the great Australian idyll, Australian Gospel gives us competing views of what the so-called lucky country could be.
Where Shelley derides Australia’s love of beer and sport, Tom Blaine embraces these as part of life’s purpose. Where Shelley coaxes and gulls all and sundry to get them to see him as the second coming, Tom Blaine gets on with the job and finds himself quietly adored by his children and community alike.
This is a fascinating book about a bizarre chapter in Australian history told through the eyes of a child (now man) who knows it as his family’s story. It’s a story about fear and hope that goes to the heart of who we are and how we love the people around us so that they feel more of the latter.
It is a family saga and in the telling it’s about the triumph of that family and the incredible story that got them there. -
The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love.
These are the stories that make us who we are.
Peter FitzSimons is a journalist and writer, former Wallaby and a member of the order of Australia. Peter is celebrated for his history and biography writing and today he's joining us with his new book The Legend of Albert Jacka.
Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople
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Esther Campion hails from Cork, but has made the North West of Tasmania her home. She is the author of Leaving Ocean Road and The House of Second Chances. Esther’s new novel is called The Writing Class.
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We’d all like to believe we’re the authors of our own story, but when Vivian’s husband Dave abandons her, she learns the hard way there are some twists she wouldn’t have plotted for herself.
Back home in Tasmania, Vivian is at a loss for what to do with herself until a chance encounter sees her teaching a writing class. Amidst the diverse students Vivian discovers that everyone has their own battles to fight…
Marilyn always dreamed of more but when she got married to an older man it quickly became kids and looking after her pensioned husband. Marilyn always knew her husband was mean but as she comes to know the members of her writing group she discovers he’s also a racist and is holding her back with his insular ideas.
Oscar has always been ashamed of his difficulty with reading and writing. It’s held him back from visiting his son in Japan and may have even cost him his marriage. He’d always believed literacy just wasn’t a skill he’d learn but soon Oscar learns there’s lots he can achieve with the right support.
Sienna was barely out of high school when Cole whisked her off her feet and down to Tasmania. Now with a new baby, Sienna must face up to the fact that Cole is not the man she thought her was. He’s gaslit her into thinking she’s worthless but with the help of The Writing Class she might finally be able to pursue her dreams and escape Cole’s clutches.
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The Writing Class is simultaneously feelgood and very much the emotional rollercoaster. The ensemble cast are brought together to lift each other up but we are also privy to their lives and the obstacles they must overcome.
The Writing Class doesn’t shy away from dealing with issues and I’d acknowledge that this novel explores a range of heavy topics including sexuality, abuse and coercive control. Each of these stories moves the characters towards realising their true selves even as they fight back against the forces that have worked to keep tied to their old sense of self.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Writing Class as both a page turner that gave me the strong character arcs I expected but also for its ability to surprise and challenge me with hard left twists.
At its heart is the notion that we can realise our dreams but that this is not some fantasy but involves real work. Through each of the characters we see that what has taken them from their path is that someone else has tried to tell their story and only when they take back control of the narrative, only when they start to write their own stories can they truly live. - Näytä enemmän
