Description
'I love Ashley Hay's writing . . . it's so poised and beautiful.' Guardian 'A moving and lyrical story of marriage, motherhood and age. Highly recommend.' Cari Rosen, author of The Secret Diary of a New Mum (Aged 43 1/4) When Elsie Gormley leaves the Brisbane house in which she has lived for more than sixty years, Lucy Kiss and her family move in, eager to establish their new life. As they settle in, Lucy and her husband Ben struggle to navigate their transformation from adventurous lovers to new parents, taking comfort in memories of their vibrant past as they begin to unearth who their future selves might be. But the house has secrets of its own, and the rooms seem to share recollections of Elsie's life with Lucy. In her nearby nursing home, Elsie traces the span of her life-the moments she can't bear to let go and the places to which she dreams of returning. Her beloved former house is at the heart of her memories of marriage, motherhood, love, and death, and the boundary between present and past becomes increasingly porous for both her and Lucy. Over the course of one hot Brisbane summer, two families' stories intersect in sudden and unexpected ways. Through the richly intertwined narratives of two ordinary, extraordinary women, Ashley Hay uses her lyrical prose, poetic dialogue, and stunning imagery to weave an intricate, bighearted story of what it is to be human.
About the Author
Ashley Hay’s new novel,A Hundred Small Lessons, was published in Australia, the US and the UK and was shortlisted for categories in the 2017 Queensland Literary Awards.Set in her new home city of Brisbane, it traces the intertwined lives of two women from different generations through a story of love, and of life. It takes account of what it means to be mother or daughter; father or son and tells a rich and intimate story of how we feel what it is to be human, and how place can transform who we are.Her previous novel,The Railwayman’s Wife, was published in Australia, the UK, the US, and is heading for translation into Italian, French and Dutch. It won the Colin Roderick Prize (awarded by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies), as well as the People's Choice award in the 2014 NSW Premier's Prize, and was also longlisted for both the Miles Franklin and Nita B. Kibble awards.Her first novel,The Body in the Clouds(2010), was shortlisted for categories in the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the NSW and WA premier’s prizes, and longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.Her previous books span fiction and non-fiction and includeGum: The Story of Eucalypts and Their Champions(2002),Museum(2007; with visual artist Robyn Stacey), andBest Australian Science Writing 2014(as editor)sA writer for more than 20 years, her essays and short stories have appeared in volumes including theGriffith Review,Best Australian Essays(2003),Best Australian Short Stories(2012), andBest Australian Science Writing(2012), and have been awarded various accolades in Australia and overseas. In 2016, she received the Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing.
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