PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- A multi-generational novel set at the Tinaroo Dam in far north Queensland, this fine and beautifully rendered novel explores the trauma of bad parenting and toxic masculinity with sensitivity and quiet intensity. Frank and his family have gathered at the dam for his daughter's wedding because she has happy memories of the place. Frank doesn't - his father Joe was a tyrant who made his life hell. But Joe is dead and Frank has yet to come to terms with the loss, which is greater than he acknowledges. Joe didn't start as a hard and furious man, but his father Victor was a vicious monster who terrorised his family whilst presenting a congenial front to the small town that has sprung up around the construction site of the dam. Victor however, is a returned soldier, and the things he saw in New Guinea killed any softer nature and the treatment since returning - promises broken by the government - have transformed him. The novel doesn't excuse the violence and emotional damage, but shows how it can start and be passed on - and how it can be changed by men wanting not to be their own fathers... An outstanding read. Lindy
Myfanwy Jones is the author of Leap, shortlisted for the 2016 Miles Franklin Literary Award, and The Rainy Season, finalist for the 2009 Melbourne Prize for Literature's Best Writing Award. She also co-wrote the bestselling Parlour Games for Modern Families, awarded the 2010 ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children. Her short stories and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including most recently Split: true stories of leaving, loss, and new beginnings. Myfanwy works as an editor and writing mentor, and lives beside a creek in Melbourne/Naarm. www.myfanywajones.com
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- A multi-generational novel set at the Tinaroo Dam in far north Queensland, this fine and beautifully rendered novel explores the trauma of bad parenting and toxic masculinity with sensitivity and quiet intensity. Frank and his family have gathered at the dam for his daughter's wedding because she has happy memories of the place. Frank doesn't - his father Joe was a tyrant who made his life hell. But Joe is dead and Frank has yet to come to terms with the loss, which is greater than he acknowledges. Joe didn't start as a hard and furious man, but his father Victor was a vicious monster who terrorised his family whilst presenting a congenial front to the small town that has sprung up around the construction site of the dam. Victor however, is a returned soldier, and the things he saw in New Guinea killed any softer nature and the treatment since returning - promises broken by the government - have transformed him. The novel doesn't excuse the violence and emotional damage, but shows how it can start and be passed on - and how it can be changed by men wanting not to be their own fathers... An outstanding read. Lindy
