AustLit

'One morning, the residents of a coastal small town wake to discover the sea has disappeared, leaving them 'landlocked'. However, the narrator has been seeing visions of this cataclysm for years. Is she a prophet? Does she have a disorder that skews her perception of time (the 'Dyschronia' of the title). Or is she just a liar?

'Mills' novel takes contemporary issues of resource depletion and climate change and welds them to one young woman's migraine-inducing nightmares. Her narrator's prevision anticipates a world where entire communities are left to fend for themselves: economically drained, socially fractured, trapped between a hardscrabble past and an uncertain future.' (Publication summary)

'Endorsed by Cate Kennedy, this is an eagerly awaited first story collection from an acclaimed young writer.

'The award-winning stories in The Rest is Weight reflect Mills’ years in Central Australia, as well as her travels to Mexico, Russia and China. The collection displays a confident diversity of narrative voices and a brevity in style.

'In 'The wind and other children', a girl searches for her lost grandmother while her parents quarrel at home; in 'Extra time', a man contemplates inertia after toxic contamination changes life in a remote Australian town; a woman imagines a mother’s love for her autistic son in 'The air you need'; and in 'Hello, Satan', a boy awaits his destiny at a roundabout at midnight, on the edge of a small town.

'In exploring the human, Jennifer Mills deftly weaves themes of longing, alienation, delusion, resilience, and love. Sometimes dreamy and hypnotic, sometimes comic and wry, these stories leave their mark. Collected or on their own, Mills’ fiction is both a joy and a wonder to read.' (Publication summary)