Elspeth is full of inexpressible longings: to leave behind her beginnings in a small wheatbelt town, and a secret she scarcely comprehends. After migrating from Singapore, Francis just wants to make a life for himself that is not determined by the colour of his skin or the judgement of others. Told by their only child, Eva, this is a novel about falling in love, and falling apart the beautiful, sad story of a shared history that never ends.
Simone Lazaroo was born in Singapore and migrated with her bicultural family to Western Australia when she was a young child. Her award-winning novels and most of her short stories have explored individuals struggling for survival and meaning at the juncture of culture. Her fiction has been taught in Australian, North American and European schools and universities. Her short fiction has been published in Australia, the United States, England, Spain, Portugal and Cuba, and her The Australian Fiancé is currently optioned for film. She has a PhD in Writing and is an honorary research fellow at Murdoch University, after teaching creative writing there for sixteen years. She is currently mentoring emerging writers, working with a Spanish group researching cosmopolitanism in literature, and writing about tourist locations in Europe. Her next book will be about a middle-aged Western Australian beachgoer and their travels in Europe to spread their parents ashes after the third wave of the pandemic. She lives near Fremantle, Western Australia.
"A stunningly wise and tender memoir of migration, and a mothers quiet rebuilding of her early life in old age. Lovingly conceived, and written with wisdom and tenderness. I loved it." -- Liz Byrski
"A tender memorial to a mother who gave her daughter an understanding of hidden cruelties and the great gift of surmounting them." -- Brenda Walker
"This story will leave you with a renewed thirst for deepening connections with those you love. An astonishingly powerful work." -- Julienne van Loon
