AustLit

'At forty-four, Lara Winters discovers that Brock, her husband of twenty-one years, has been cheating on her. Devastated and desperate, she flees her home in London, England and heads for the furthest place she can find from her old, blinkered life: Australia.

'On her first day in the laid-back town of Byron Bay, Lara almost runs over the red-haired, slightly raddled Ruby in a car park. Relieved to be still alive, the warm-hearted Aussie leases Lara a small cottage on her semi-rural property where Lara’s journey of self-discovery begins.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The future of work and jobs has become a critical policy area and a frequently heard rallying cry during election campaigns. Politicians and lay public commonly propose simple solutions to the problems of unemployment, underemployment, labour underutilization, mismatch between available skill-sets and job requirements and so on. Globalisation/outsourcing, globalism and foreign labour are increasingly targeted as the main cause of job shortages. Also targeted are international organizations and ‘lobbies’ as well as (allegedly) incompetent local politicians. There is, however, one significant variable frequently missing in these debates: Automation. This provocation looks at the implications of automation on the futures of work. It offers hints and clues as to the dilemmas ahead, it also takes a deliberately normative approach to questions of ‘jobs’, ‘employment’ and ‘work’ as a good provocation works best with clear and accepted categories.'  (Publication abstract)

'Inherited trauma is passed down through generations in a variety of ways. My biographical memoir, Whisperings in the Blood (2016), demonstrates through practice-led research how turning life into art and using metaphor as the vehicle to transmit emotional truth can result in emotional healing across generations. Using a fiction writer’s techniques, I explore the idea of employing intergenerational motifs as extended metaphor in order to grapple with the concept that ancestral wounds can be passed down as ‘whisperings in the blood’, or what I call ‘soul dispositions’. The effect of this practice-led research, which required that I had in-depth discussions with my dying father, my uncle and my dying great-uncle, resulted in the emotional healing of some of these relationships, as well as prompting a new level of empathy and understanding of my relatives, their stories, their parents’ stories. This led to profound insights on the role of shared nonfiction narratives in connecting a writer of memoir to both living and deceased ancestors and effecting degrees of emotional healing across the generations.' (Publication abstract)

During the terrifying years of Apartheid in South Africa, Shelley Davidow’s family was a crime. At a time when it was illegal for black and white people to live together, Shelley’s social activist parents took in Rosie, an abandoned black three-year-old. Rosie grew up as a beloved daughter and sister in a white household. Against the backdrop of racist laws and ever-present threats of violence, Shelley’s parents did all they could to provide a safe, happy home for their five children. But when Rosie was sixteen, devastating truths came to light, shattering the family’s understanding of the past.

In this haunting memoir, Shelley Davidow unravels the memories of her early life, searching for truth and reconciliation. Shadow Sisters leaves us with a deeper understanding of family love – but what if, sometimes, love is not enough?

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Lithuania,1913. Haunted by memories of the pogroms, Jacob Frank leaves his village in the hope of a better life, and boards a ship bound for New York. Twenty-five years later, his daughter Bertha sets sail for South Africa to marry a man she has never met, unaware of the tumult that lies ahead. In time, her granddaughter Shelley, following those very steps in reverse, flees the violence of apartheid to live in America, before at last finding home in Australia.

'These immigrant voyages, repeated from one generation to the next, form the heart of this richly layered memoir. Drawing on her grandmother’s diary and letters,Shelley Davidow tells her family’s stories in vivid detail, recounting their experiences of love and loss alongside her own. As she learns about the past,Shelley discovers that her aspirations and fears, her dreams and nightmares,echo those of her forebears as ancestral whisperings in the blood.

'Spanning four continents and one hundred years, this extraordinary book explores the heartache and emotional legacies of those who leave their homelands forever.' (Publication summary)

'Lucy Wright, sixteen and a paraplegic after a recent car accident that took her mother's life, lives in Queensland on a 10,000 acre farm with her father. When Lucy investigates strange lights over the creek at the bottom of the property, she discovers a mystery that links the lights to the science of cymatics and Scotland’s ancient Rosslyn Chapel.

'But beyond the chapel is an even larger mystery. One that links the music the chapel contains to Norway’s mysterious Hessdalen lights, and beyond that to Saturn and to the stars. Lucy’s discoveries catapult her into a parallel universe connected to our own by means of resonance and sound, where a newly emerging world trembles on the edge of disaster. As realities divide, her mission in this new world is revealed and she finds herself part of a love story that will span the galaxy.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.