PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK --- Layla Barnes is at a point of complete and utter exhaustion. It's approaching Christmas. She's an anaesthetist in a busy hospital, and has made a fatal mistake that threatens her career. Her underemployed husband doesn't pull his weight in the home and constantly resents her busyness, even though his financial incompetence is one of the reasons she has to work so hard. Their two children are responding to the household tensions in differing ways, none positive. She has a lover who shares her passion for astronomy but is becoming possessive. The aunt she looks out for is 'acting up,' her sister is dismissive and unreachable, and then her mother - who Layla has never really understood, and who she blames for her much-loved and adored father's death - has yet again threatened suicide. This time Layla thinks she really is serious, because her mother has said she will reveal something she has kept secret all these years. On the point of breaking, Layla heads to the remote Tasmanian town to finally confront her mother… A powerful novel of a complicated woman who has to break apart before she can get herself together. Absorbing and lyrically written. Lindy
Megan Rogers began her working life as an editorial assistant at Allen & Unwin, before moving to the State Library of Victoria, in Marketing. In 2014 Megan finished a PhD in Creative Writing at RMIT, which resulted in the book, Finding the Plot, A Maternal Approach to Madness in Literature published by feminist publisher Demeter Press. She also has a Bachelor of Arts/Science (Monash), a Diploma of Professional Writing & Editing (RMIT), a Graduate Diploma in Professional Communication (Deakin), and a Masters of Marketing (Monash). Megan lives in the Mornington Peninsula outside Melbourne. The Heart is a Star is her first novel. Instagram: @megan_rogers_writer meganrogerswriter.com
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK --- Layla Barnes is at a point of complete and utter exhaustion. It's approaching Christmas. She's an anaesthetist in a busy hospital, and has made a fatal mistake that threatens her career. Her underemployed husband doesn't pull his weight in the home and constantly resents her busyness, even though his financial incompetence is one of the reasons she has to work so hard. Their two children are responding to the household tensions in differing ways, none positive. She has a lover who shares her passion for astronomy but is becoming possessive. The aunt she looks out for is 'acting up,' her sister is dismissive and unreachable, and then her mother - who Layla has never really understood, and who she blames for her much-loved and adored father's death - has yet again threatened suicide. This time Layla thinks she really is serious, because her mother has said she will reveal something she has kept secret all these years. On the point of breaking, Layla heads to the remote Tasmanian town to finally confront her mother… A powerful novel of a complicated woman who has to break apart before she can get herself together. Absorbing and lyrically written. Lindy
