June is the month of glittering prizes!
June is a month of glittering prizes, miracles small and large. Books that will warm your heart and soul in the cold months ahead.
Well hello!
June sees the release of not one but three works that were winners or shortlisted for major prizes. On June 20, the winner of the 2023 Australian/ Vogels prize was announced. Immaculate by Anna McGahan is a standout novel and definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year. This issue also features the winner of the 2022 Penguin Literary Prize, On a Bright Hillside in Paradise. The author of this fine novel, Annette Higgs, is our guest in this month’s Meet the Author segment. And, for the first time, we feature non-fiction with a review of the stunning memoir The House With All the Lights On by Jessica Kirkness, which was shortlisted for the 2021 Richell Prize for Emerging Authors.
Of course there are reviews and giveaways plus a slightly different Newbie News for budding authors and avid readers and listeners alike. It’s a veritable feast of fabulous new books!
Happy publication day!
There are so many wonderful debut novels out this month. In this new section, we give a shout out, filled with love and good wishes, to all the new stories that are coming our way in the next few weeks.
Mistakes and Other Lovers Amy Lovat (11 July)
El O'Reilly is exceptionally good at making mistakes. Mistakes like falling in love with the charismatic youth pastor, Mace, while engaged to her high school boyfriend. Breaking up with her fiancé the night before Valentine's Day. Walking out on her family and dropping out of uni with no plan B. But when Mace proposes to someone else, El's world finally breaks. Will she go back to the safe love she's always known, will Mace realise that she's the one, or will El forge her own path into the unknown? Maybe making mistakes will be the best thing she’s ever done.
Preorder here
Night in Passchendaele Scott Bennett (25 July)
France, 1919. One year after the guns fell silent across the Western Front, Lieutenant Wilfred Rhodes receives his final classified mission before he can return to Australia. He must end the command of Captain Charlie Kingsley, the unhinged radical leader of the Graves Recovery Unit. Still haunted by the loss of his platoon in the Battle of Passchendaele, Rhodes infiltrates Kingsley's unit and works with the war-weary men to exhume the Australian dead. As the peaceful French countryside begins to heal Rhodes, he realises those behind his assignment are hiding something from him about that fateful night in Passchendaele.
Preorder here
Books to Love
Immaculate by Anna McGahan
Published 20 June 2023
Frances is recently divorced from her pastor husband, Lucas, and they share joint custody of their four-year-old daughter, Neve. At two, Neve was diagnosed with incurable cancer and now she is dying. Lucas considers Frances an unfit mother, not only because she has left the church and her faith but also because she is struggling to define a life that involves the loss of her only child. The only way she can keep her church-owned home, is to take in a heavily pregnant homeless teenager, Mary, and her dog. Mary is defiant in asserting her pregnancy is the result of immaculate conception and that her son, for she is sure it is a son, is a new saviour. But what starts as a burden is also the beginning of Frances finding answers to all her suffering. For Mary is the bringer of miracles, just not the sought one usually expects.
Told from varying perspectives, Immaculate is a blend of emails, text messages, police transcripts and Gospels according to Frances and Mary. It explores the questions surrounding how to hold faith in the midst of deep suffering. What is divine intervention and what form does it take? Immaculate weaves stories of great loss and trauma into an unexpected narrative that is as transformative for the reader as it is for the vast cast of richly realised characters. Overflowing with warmth, humour and a kind of humility, McGahan creates an almost fairy-tale reality that ultimately gives Frances the hope and redemption she seeks in the midst of tragedy.
It’s easy to see why Anna McGahan’s debut novel is the 2023 winner of the Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award, a prize for an unpublished manuscript by an author under the age of 35. Immaculate is an absolute joy.
A little bit about the author …
Anna McGahan is the author of Metanoia and the collection of poetry, Skin. She is an actor, playwright and screenwriter, and has written essays for The Griffith Review, The Guardian and other publications. Anna lives in Meanjin (Brisbane), with her two daughters.
Find Anna McGahan
Instagram: @annamcgahan
Website https://www.annamcgahan.com/
Buy the book or read an extract here
House of Longing by Tara Calaby
Published 30 May 2023
1890s. Charlotte Ross has grown up in her father’s stationery store in Melbourne. She is happy with this life because, while women her age are supposed to yearn for marriage and motherhood, these social aspirations have never called to her. Her only dream is to takeover the business once her father retires and lead an independent and contented life. That is, until she meets the gorgeous and stylish Flora Dalton. Charlotte’s head is turned and she experiences feelings for Flora that transcend the bounds of the polite version of womanhood. When one sharp grief follows another, Charlotte is unmoored and ends up an inmate at Kew Lunatic Asylum. Here she meets women from all walks of life, some mad, some interred to allow husbands to stray but most victims of a society that can think of no better way to deal with ‘hysterical’ women. But amongst the injustices, deprivation and grief, she also finds love, laughter and the strength to follow her heart’s desires.
House of Longing is a delightful debut. It is clear Tara Calaby has gone to great lengths to understand the workings of the now decommissioned Kew Lunatic Asylum and she has populated her fictional version with so many fascinating women. Both Charlotte and Flora are well-drawn characters and the battle they face, independently and together, to forge their own path in society is what presses the narrative on. Peppered with crimes, some petty, some appalling, House of Longing is a rich and atmospheric novel that asks questions about how hard it can be to be true to oneself and the price extracted when one fails to meet expectations — both society’s and our own.
A little bit about the author …
Tara Calaby lives in Gippsland with her wife and far too many books. She is currently a PhD candidate at La Trobe University, researching the social worlds of women in Victorian lunatic asylums. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, attempting to learn Danish, and patting other people’s dogs. House of Longing is her debut novel.
Find Tara Calaby
Instagram: @tara_calaby
Website: https://taracalaby.com/
Buy the book or read an extract here
The House With All the Lights On by Jessica Kirkness
Published 4 July 2023
Jessica Kirkness grew up with two deaf grandparents. While deafness is often considered a loss and a condition that earns our pity, Jessica’s grandparents showed her a rich life lived with love and meaning. She explores what it is like to grow up deprived of one sense but with others sharply honed, the history of sign language, once banned for much of the twentieth century, and the rise of Deaf politics and Deaf Gain.
This memoir sparkles with compassion and humour. Kirkness brings her grandparents to life and explores what their lives were like growing up in a world that didn’t understand them and where they often struggled to make themselves understood. She takes the reader with her on the journey as she talks to research audiologists, retraces their history in England and reveals how much deafness, their deafness, has been misunderstood. The House With All the Lights On is a thought-provoking read and one written with such sensitivity and warmth.
A little bit about the author …
Jessica Kirkness is a writer and researcher who lives in Sydney on Cammeraygal land. Her work has been published in Meanjin and The Conversation, among other outlets. In 2021, her manuscript was shortlisted for the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. In the same year, she also received a commendation for the Peter Blazey Fellowship, awarded to writers in the field of Life Writing. Earning her PhD in 2019, her research investigates the value of life writing and creative nonfiction in animating the 'hearing line': the invisible boundary between Deaf and hearing cultures. She currently teaches nonfiction writing at Macquarie University. The House With All The Lights On is her first book.
Find Jessica Kirkness
Instagram: @jesskirkness
Website: https://www.jessicakirkness.com/
Preorder the book or read an extract here
Meet the Author
Annette Higgs was born and grew up in Tasmania, leaving on her 18th birthday to study literature and law at the Australian National University in Canberra. She has lived, worked and studied in Sydney, London and Italy, and holds a Doctor of Arts from the University of Sydney. A Pushcart nominee, her short work has appeared in literary journals and anthologies in Australia, the USA, the UK and India. Her novel On a Bright Hillside in Paradise won the 2022 Penguin Literary Prize.
A little bit about the book …
Told from five different points of view, On a Bright Hillside in Paradise, tells the story of a family of convict descendants in the back-blocks of Tasmania, on a farm in a place called Paradise. They lead hard-scrabble lives. The drama begins when strangers arrive, Christian Brethren evangelists who hold big revival meetings in local barns. On a Bright Hillside in Paradise tackles big questions of faith and family but remains grounded in the dreams and strivings of its beautifully drawn characters. Avoiding the myth of the ‘frontier pioneer’ On a Bright Hillside in Paradise instead shows how these convict descendants wanted nothing more than to retreat to the bush to heal from their trauma, developing a deep love of the landscape in the process.
Can you tell us a little about the inspiration behind this story?
The story is loosely based on my own family. Eliza Wise was a real person, as was her convict husband Benjamin Walters. One of their daughters married a farmer and settled under Mount Roland in the Kentish district of Tasmania and raised a large family. They were living there when Christian Brethren evangelists arrived in 1874 and swept the people up in enthusiasm for revivals and creek baptisms. The family became strong ‘Gospel Hall’ adherents — except one son. All that happened, and I thought there was a story in it. I think the curious goings-on in those far-off days had been waiting at the back of my mind ever since I first heard about them, many years ago.
Tasmania has become a popular setting for so many novels in recent years. You, of course, are a born and bred Tasmanian. What is it about your home state that makes it such a perfect place in which to set a novel?
In the case of my story, the setting is specifically the district under Mount Roland, on the north-west coast of Tasmania. That mountain has a special aura, whether you are a local or a visitor. People who were born and grew up in the district — such as my mother — never forget it. I can’t explain it, but I’ve felt it. I believe that landscapes can shape people, just as people try to shape landscapes. Such an evocative landscape as this glorious Tasmanian mountain makes it a terrific setting for a novel.
The story is told from five different points of view. That is a mammoth task at the best of times! Did it feel the natural or ‘right’ way to tell the story from the start or did that unfold in subsequent drafts?
The structure definitely evolved after many false starts. Eventually, I realised that there was one core event at the centre of the story — a big revival in a barn on a hillside — and I decided to begin with that, and explore how it affected different characters differently. These characters are all in the same family, yet each person notices different things, or reacts differently, or comes to different conclusions. I think this this how things are.
What have you learned about our writing process now that you have a real live book in your hands?
I’ve learnt that publishing — as distinct from writing — is a hugely collaborative process, with many people with lots of different skills involved in bringing the story to readers.
The manuscript for On A Bright Hill in Paradise won the 2022 Penguin Literary Prize. Congratulations! How does it feel to press ‘submit’ and then what happens next?
I wrote the novel for a doctoral project at the University of Sydney, and for the whole three years it took to write it, I believed that no-one would ever want to read it. However, it was the story I wanted to write and I was committed to it. When I submitted it to the prize, I had faint hopes but no expectations, and was overjoyed when it was short-listed. The short-listing alone was hugely validating, for my story and my writing. To subsequently win the prize felt amazing and unreal. To have this story launched into the world, and with such recognition, is the culmination of all my dreams for it.
Find Anne Higgs
Instagram: @brighthillside
Website: https://www.ahiggswriter.com/
Preorder the book here
Freebies!
Thanks to the lovely folks at Penguin Random House, we have copies of A Bright Hillside in Paradise to giveaway. To win a copy all you have to do is send a reply email with the answer to this oh-so-difficult question.
Where is On a Bright Hillside in Paradise set?
Thanks to the super people at Text Publishing, we have three copies of House of Longing. If you would like to win a copy, send a reply email with the answer to this question.
What is the name of the institution where Charlotte is sent?
The fine print: Giveaways are currently only open to subscribers and you must reside within Australia to be eligible to win (postage!) The winners will be picked at random and will be emailed on 21 July 2023. Good luck!
Newbie News
While we’re on the subject of glittering prizes, Michelle See-Tho has won the 2023 Penguin Literary Prize for her novel, Jade and Emerald. Chosen from nearly 300 submissions, Jade and Emerald is the story of a lonely girl who forms an unlikely bond with a rich hedonistic socialite. The friendship strains her already-fraught relationship with her strict mother.
Judge, Alison Huber from Readings bookstores, said, ‘Michelle See-Tho’s vibrant writing style stood out to me immediately as a fresh new Australian voice. The story she tells in Jade and Emerald explores family, desire, and class in imaginative and innovative ways, and I’m excited to see this work in print.’
Jade and Emerald to be published by Penguin Random House Australia in 2024. And if you are hard at work on a manuscript, the next round of submissions for the PRH Literary Prize will open later this year.
Writes4Women Podcast
I had the chance to chat with Naima Brown, author of The Shot for the Writes4Women podcast this month. Naima is a great person to chat to, not only about her marvellous debut novel but about her life and the inspiration for her writing. If you’d like to jump in and listen to this episode or browse , here’s the link or wherever you listen to your pods!
The Goodreads Trap
I read this fascinating article in the Counter Craft newsletter entitled ‘GoodReads has no incentive to be good.’ It explores the damaging effect of one-star reviews, trolling and spam, with real-life consequences for books and especially debut authors. Personally, I’m not a believer in one or two-star reviews, if I hate the book that much, it’s far better to starve it off oxygen than promote it — even in the negative. My publisher is always telling its authors to ignore Goodreads and especially not to read the (bad) reviews but I wonder what you think? Do you use Goodreads simply to catalogue your reading for the year, to discover new authors, or as a platform to connect with other readers? Or is it hard enough to find time to read, let alone write a review. Over to you!
The End
I hope you enjoyed this jam-packed issue of New Voices Down Under. Please leave a comment, follow us on socials and come back again next month where there will be more bookish news, reviews, interviews and freebies. See you soon!
Don’t forget, you can always catch up with us on Instagram @newvoicesdownunder