Belinda Castles won the Australian/Vogel's literary award for The River Baptists in 2006 and was one of the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Novelists for 2008. Her next novel, Hannah & Emil, won the Asher Literary Award for 2012-13. She has recently returned from teaching in the UK and is currently a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Sydney. Belinda lives with her husband and daughters on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.
'A tense, vividly drawn exploration of a family struggling to survive its secrets - Bluebottle cuts deeply through the veneer of Australian suburban life.' - Mark Brandi, author of Wimmera 'Bluebottle is a tour de force, utterly assured, intricately designed and brilliantly imagined. This is a remarkable portrait of family anguish, gradually unfolded: engrossing, suspenseful and deeply moving...' - Gail Jones, author of Six Bells and The Death of Noah Glass 'Castles transcends her subject matter with her insight into the way the ripples of childhood become the substance of an adult life, and she peels back the layers of behaviour and motivation until Lou, Jack and Phoebe are vulnerable before us...It's exquisitely touching and Bilgola is gorgeously described with all its moods and beauty...What matters is the humanity of Castles' people and how they imperfectly negotiate the waves of adults that buffeted their younger selves. Bluebottle is a wonderful novel and a likely turning point in Castles' career.' - The Saturday Paper