Edna O'Brien's novella August is a Wicked Month (1965) is a modern classic on the 1001 books you should read before you die list. Banned in several countries, including the author's homeland of Ireland, it would have been considered provocative at the time for portraying women as having sexual desire.
Ellen Sage longs for connection. Separated from her husband, she lives alone in London with her young son whom she adores. But at 28 she is not ready to give up the possibility of finding love again. She has a passionate encounter with a handsome man who is in another relationship and not truly available to her. So when her ex takes their son on a camping holiday to Wales, Ellen decides to go on an adventure of her own.
The French Riviera is a playground for the rich and famous, and here Ellen can transform into someone other than wife/mother. After her oppressive Irish Catholic upbringing, where the threat of ending up in the Magdalen Laundries ensured her sexual repression, she has flung off her faith and is seeking sexual freedom. From bellboys to violinists, opportunities for sex are everywhere, but when she finds them they are awkward, clumsy and unfulfilling. Plus, whenever she is propositioned or has the opportunity for sex, she suddenly thinks of her son and her maternal responsibilities.
During her stay there is a tragedy back home that she cannot bear to face, so she stays on in France to numb her grief and drain her limited resources. When she eventually goes home, will she return to her old life or will she be someone new?
While some of the situations Ellen finds herself in feel a bit contrived, O'Brien has created an authentic character. Flawed, dull and naive, Ellen makes some terrible choices in her quest to carve out a new identity for herself. There are some lovely moments, such as when she shops for 'honeymoon' clothes and takes delight in wearing trousers - Ellen is literally reinventing herself through changing her wardrobe for this trip. Indeed, this scene reminded me of Muriel Spark's The Driver's Seat (1970) where Lise buys new clothes for her holiday. While the two novellas both feature women on solo holidays, the two protagonists could not be more different.
August is a Wicked Month feels a bit dated now but one can imagine how controversial it would have been upon publication. Unfortunately sexual repression and double standards for women continue fifty years later. Reading this novel I regularly thought of Lisa Taddeo's Three Women (2019) and the unfulfilled sexual longings of the young women in that book, and how Ellen could have easily been one of the three.
Mere weeks after the Longlist was issued, the 2021 Stella Prize Shortlist has been announced! The twelve nominees have been whittled down to six finalists in the running for this important literary award.
In compiling this shortlist, the chair of the judging panel, Zoya Patel, says:
“The 2021 Stella Prize shortlist truly demonstrates the immensity of talent in Australian women and non-binary authors. This shortlist is varied, diverse, and reflects on urgent themes across the gamut of human experience. These books explore grief, loss, joy, hope, and anger. They feature strong and imposing women characters and authorial voices, and as diverse as they are in style, tone and topic, they are united by their expression of the Stella criteria of original, excellent and engaging.”
For more information and the complete judges comments, see the Stella Prize website.
When the longlist was announced, I predicted the shortlisted works would include McKay, Milligan, Riwoe, Simpson and Wyld. I got four of them right! I only wish there was more time to enjoy the longlist before the shortlist was announced.
The winner will be announced on 22 April 2021. I have read and loved Louise Milligan's compelling Witnessand I am cheering her on for the win. I have just started Evie Wyld's The Bass Rock and so far it is wonderful.
Station Eleven (2014), the gripping story by Emily St John Mandel set in the aftermath of a deadly pandemic, was one of the best novels I read last year. Mandel has such a creative way of building an interwoven story, with fascinating characters and beautiful settings.
Her latest novel, The Glass Hotel (2020), likewise weaves together many disparate threads in a story of a different kind of collapse. A Ponzi scheme (a la Madoff) crumbles, shattering the lives of investors, employees and families. Told in a non-linear way, we learn about many of these characters before, during and after the decline of the 'Kingdom of Money'.
Hotel Caiette, a glittering glass structure in a secluded outpost on Vancouver Island, is the anchor to this tale. Accessible only by water, its isolation in a natural wilderness attracts wealthy patrons seeking to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
Jonathan Alkaitis, CEO of an investment firm, is a regular. On one of his visits, the hotel's glittering majesty is shaken by graffiti written on the window - why don't you swallow broken glass. This act of vandalism disturbs guest Leon Prevant, is missed by Alkaitis, and leads to the departure of sibling hotel staff members Paul and Vincent. Vincent lands on her feet, as Jonathan's trophy wife, spending her days shopping in Manhattan and nights by the pool in Alkaitis' Connecticut mansion. Then the Ponzi scheme fails and she must reinvent herself again.
Like Station Eleven, part of the appeal of this novel for me is the familiarity of many of the places. When Paul goes clubbing in Toronto in the 1990s, I was immediately transported to my hometown, to a place and time I have such fondness for. The scenes in Vancouver and Vancouver Island, New York and beyond, utterly transported me to a past life and strong memories of places I love and long to see again.
I really enjoyed The Glass Hotel. There were so many moments where Mandel's brilliance shone through - Jonathan's imagining of his 'counter-life', the eerie emptiness of the hotel without guests, the final days of Alkaitis' firm - and in reading there was a sense of putting pieces together in a large puzzle. As a reader, there is so much joy in immersing yourself in the story, finding clues to storylines that pull you back and push you forward. It was delightful to be reacquainted with characters Leon and Miranda from Station Eleven, but you do not need to read that novel to enjoy this one. Ultimately, I preferred Station Eleven, perhaps because it felt more urgent and timely. I can't wait to see what Emily St John Mandel comes up with next.
The Glass Hotel was shortlisted for the 2020 Giller Prize.
On 10 March 2021, the longlist for this year's Women's Prize was announced with 16 nominees. I have a stack of these books at hand, and a couple of others on reserve from my local library. I look forward to exploring these titles.
The 2021 longlist is as follows:
Brit Bennett - The Vanishing Half (USA)
Identical twin sisters grow up in a small southern black community. They run away at age sixteen and follow different paths. Ten years later, one sister is back in their hometown with her black daughter. The other is secretly passing as white, with her husband oblivious to her past. What will happen when the twins' children meet? Bennett is the critically acclaimed author of The Mothers (2016). This novel is on my 'to be read' pile.
Clare Chambers - Small Pleasures (UK)
South East London, 1957, and Jean Swinney is a journalist writing for a local newspaper. She is contacted by a woman who claims to have given birth despite her virginity. Sceptical Jean investigates and becomes intwined in the lives of this family. Chambers is the author of nine novels.
Susanna Clarke - Piranesi (UK)
Piranesi lives alone in a house with infinite rooms and corridors. Twice weekly he is visited by The Other, who seeks help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. A rich, fantasy novel from the author of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I bought myself this book for Christmas and am looking forward to a quiet, rainy weekend to read it.
Amanda Craig - The Golden Rule(UK)
A modern retelling of Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, Hannah and Jinni agree to kill each other's husbands. But when Hannah meats the husband she is supposed to kills, she is not certain that Jinni has been truthful about why he deserves to die. This is Craig's ninth novel. Her previous novel Hearts and Minds (2009) was long listed for the Bailey Women's Prize for Fiction.
Naoise Dolan - Exciting Times (Ireland)
Twenty-two year old Ava leaves Ireland for a gap year abroad. She finds herself in Hong Kong teaching English to wealthy children, moving in with a British expat banker and striking up a relationship with local lawyer Edith. Ava ponders her identity and questions of race, class and privilege. This is Dolan's debut novel.
Avni Doshi - Burnt Sugar(USA) 'I would be lying if I said my mother's misery has never given me pleasure' - with that opening line, Doshi sets the scene for a novel about a fraught mother-daughter relationship. Tara was a bit of a wild child, running away from her affluent family to pursue a life in a free-love ashram. She dragged her young daughter with her, ambivalent about her role as a parent. Now the daughter is grown and the two women have to reconcile their relationship. This is Avni Doshi's debut novel, and it was published in India as Girl in White Cotton. Burnt Sugar was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize.
Dawn French - Because of You (UK)
Comedian Dawn French is the author of four novels and two memoirs. Her latest novel is a tearjerker about two women who give birth in a London maternity ward on 1 January 2000. While Hope leaves with her daughter Minnie, Anna's child was stillborn. Anna returns home heartbroken to her pompous MP husband. Later, the two women's lives become interwoven.
Claire Fuller - Unsettled Ground (UK)
Fifty-one year old twins Jeanie and Julius, still live with their mother Dot in an isolated, rural home. When their mother dies, their lives unravel as Dot's secrets surface. This is a story of rural poverty, marginalisation and isolation, yet also a tale of resilience and perseverance. Fuller is the author of three previous critically acclaimed novels.
Yaa Gyasi - Transcendent Kingdom (USA)
Gifty grew up in a Ghanian family in Alabama. She is now a medical student at Stanford, determined to understand the addiction and depression that has afflicted her mother and brother. She struggles to reconcile her evangelical faith with her understanding of science. Gyasi's first novel, Homegoing (2016) was critically acclaimed. This is her second novel.
Cherie Jones - How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House(Barbados)
The story of three marriages set in Barbados which begins with a cautionary tale, told by a Grandmother, as a message about disobeying one's parents. Lala doesn't heed the warning of this tale and marries the wrong man. Against the backdrop of a tropical tourist paradise, this story tells of the gritty reality the tourists never see. Jones is an award winning writer, and this is her debut novel.
Raven Leilani - Luster (USA)
Edie is a twenty-three year old black woman working in an all-white office. She meets Eric, a man in an open marriage. When Edie finds herself unemployed, she moves in with Eric, becomes friends with his wife and bonds with Akila, the couple's adopted black daughter. Luster is Leilani's debut novel. I picked it up late last year but haven't read it yet. (Update: read review)
Patricia Lockwood - No One is Talking About This (USA)
A woman famed for her social media posts travels around the world to meet her followers. She shares her insights while travelling, blurring the virtual and real worlds. Suddenly, she is summoned home by her mother due to a family tragedy and finds the real world is demanding more of her attention. American novelist, essayist and poet Patricia Lockwood is perhaps best known for her memoir Priestdaddy (2017). This is her debut novel.
Annabel Lyon - Consent(Canada)
Twins Saskia and Jenny may look alike, but are completely different. Saskia is an academically minded grad student, while Jenny is a thrill-seeking designer. After an accident, Saskia has to care for Jenny. Elsewhere Sara has to care for her disabled sister Mattie. Through these parallel lives, the author explores themes of familial responsibility, guilt and regret.
Kathleen MacMahon - Nothing But Blue Sky(Ireland)
David thinks his twenty year marriage to Mary Rose is perfect. When she dies David loses himself, untethered from what he knew, not certain of his identity without her. As he reflects back on their life together, he realises that their relationship may not have been as perfect as he thought.
Torrey Peters - Detransition, Baby (USA)
This provocative debut novel has appeared on many recent 'must read' lists. It is the story of three women (transgender and cisgender) whose lives are upended with an unexpected pregnancy. Reese and Amy are a transgender couple who have it all. Amy then decides to detransition and becomes Ames, bringing their relationship to an end. Ames wants Reese back, but then his cisgender lover Katrina gets pregnant. Can Ames convince the three of them to form a new kind of family?
Ali Smith - Summer (UK)
The final novel in Smith's seasonal quartet, Summer focuses on teenage siblings Sacha and Robert, whose plans have been interrupted by COVID-19. The live with their mother Grace and their father Jeff lives next door. In this culmination of her series, Smith brings back characters from previous seasons. Ali Smith won the Women's Prize in 2015 for How to be Both.
Well, looks like 'twins' are the key theme in this year's titles! I have not read any of these titles yet, but I have copies of The Vanishing Half, Pirenesi, Summer, and Luster on my bedside table ready to read.
If I had to pick a shortlist, I would bet on Bennett, Leilani, Peters, Smith and Doshi. The shortlist will be announced on 28 April 2021 and the winner will be revealed on 7 July 2021. Happy reading!
Watch Bernardine Evaristo and the 2021 judges announce the Longlist.
The 2021 Stella Prize longlist has been announced! The annual literary award celebrating women and non-binary writers of both fiction and non-fiction is named after Australian author Stella Miles Franklin. Past winners include:
Claire Wright for The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka (2014)
Carrie Tiffany for Mateship with Birds (2013)
I credit the Stella Prize with introducing me to many authors that I would not have otherwise read.
On 4 March 2021, the longlist for this year's Stella Prize was announced with 12 nominees. I have already read one of the books - Louise Milligan's brilliant Witness - so far. Many of the books and authors are unknown to me so I look forward to exploring these titles.
The 2021 longlist is as follows:
Rebecca Giggs - Fathoms: The World in the Whale
Blending natural history, science and philosophy, Fathoms explores the impact of climate change on whales. The judges described this book as a 'haunting piece of narrative non-fiction that asks pertinent questions about how globalisation, consumption and our obsession with convenience is threatening the environment in connected and devastating ways.' Hailing from Perth, WA, Giggs' writings have appeared in numerous publications. Fathoms is her first book.
SL Lim - Revenge: Murder in Three Parts
Two siblings experience different upbringings in the same household. Yannie is smart and savvy, but her ambitions are quashed by her brother Shan, whom their parents favour. Yannie rages against the pigeonhole her family, their community and others try to place her in. As she begins to find her voice, she seeks retribution. Lim is also the author of Real Differences.
Laura Jean McKay - The Animals in that Country
Jean is a grandmother who prefers the company of animals to people. She works as a guide at an outback wildlife park, and has formed an attachment to a dingo named Sue. When a pandemic spreads across the country, people begin to lose their minds. Fearing for the safety of her granddaughter, Jean and Sue take off on a road trip to find her. The Animals in that Country won the 2021 Victorian Prize for Literature and the Victorian Premier's Literary Award.
Louise Milligan - Witness
Investigative journalist Louise Milligan's brilliant book centres on the devastating impact the judicial system can have on victims of sexual abuse. She interviews victims, lawyers, social workers and judges for multiple perspectives, and makes recommendations for how the legal system can be overhauled to reduce trauma and encourage victims to come forward. I read this book earlier this year and was enthralled by the calibre of the research, quality writing and courageous challenge to an entrenched, archaic system. My review explores this incredible book in more detail.
Cath Moore - Metal Fish, Falling Snow
Fourteen-year-old Dylan is grieving for her mother when she embarks on a journey with her late mother's grieving boyfriend Pat across Australia. She is struggling with grief, her teenaged emotions, and a feeling that she doesn't fit in as she struggles to accept her Guyanese heritage. The Stella Prize judges call this book 'an outstanding young adult novel about family, grief and identity'. Moore is a freelance writer and teacher of creative writing at the University of Melbourne.
Intan Paramaditha - The Wandering
Written in a 'choose your own adventure' style, The Wandering begins with the Devil offering the narrator a pair of red shoes that will allow her to travel around the globe. Where to go? The destinations chosen will turn the traveller into a tourist, an undocumented migrant, a nomad or find a home. Paramaditha, author of Apple and Knife (short story collection), currently teaches media and film studies at Macquarie University. Intrigued, I have just ordered this at my local library. (Update - April 2021: Read Review)
Miranda Riwoe - Stone Sky Gold Mountain
Set in the gold-rush era, this is the story of two siblings who leave China for Australia to seek their fortune. They find work in a town near the goldfields and begin to form relationships in the community. But when a crime is committed, all outsiders are considered suspects. Riwoe was previously shortlisted for the Stella Prize for her novel The Fish Girl. Stone Sky Gold Mountain won the Queensland Literary Award for Fiction and the ARA Historical Novel Prize.
Elena Savage - Blueberries
The judges describe Savage's 'exquisite' work as 'a challenge to the world to discard preconceptions about the form and structure of an essay or memoir'. This is a memoir of sorts, written as a collection of essays blending form. Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, this is Savage's debut collection. Another book I have reserved at the library.
Nardi Simpson - Song of the Crocodile
Darnmoor is the home of three generations of the Billymil family, who reside on the outskirts of a rural town. Over the years they experience the impacts of racism, violence, dispossession and colonialism and the intergenerational trauma that endures. The judges describe the Song of the Crocodile as 'a novel that contributes to a deeper understanding of Australia's history, and tells the stories of First Nations people in a voice and tone that has for so long been missing from our literary canon.' Simpson is a musician, playwright and Yuwaalaraay storyteller. This novel was shortlisted for the 2021 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and Indie Book Awards.
Elizabeth Tan - Smart Ovens for Lonely People
Tan has produced a witty collection of short stories. The judges write 'food scarcity, environmental destruction, capitalist bureaucracy and misogyny are just some of the ideas explored in the collection - in tales that feature mermaids, devious cats, and mangled 90s ballads. Impressively, Tan never loses sight of the characters at the heart of these stories...' Tan's collection won the 2020 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction.
Jessie Tu - A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing
Jena Lin was a child violin prodigy but at 22 she is a washed-up has-been. Struggling to reconcile her potential and reality, Jena travels to New York to take up an internship at the Philharmonic. Is this the second chance she needs? Tu is a classical violinist turned journalist. This debut novel is described by the judges as 'fresh, contemporary and bold - and has been crafted with verve...'
Evie Wyld - The Bass Rock
This novel weaves together the lives of three women across four centuries. The Bass Rock sits off the coast of Scotland and these three women are linked to this place and each other. Sarah is accused of being a witch in the early 1700s, Ruth moves into a new house after WWII, six decades later Viv catalogues Ruth's belongings. Evie Wyld won the Miles Franklin Award (and countless others) for her 2014 novel All The Birds, Singing. I bought this book late last year and look forward to reading it.
In compiling this longlist, the judges have chosen books that 'span the gamut of human enterprise and experience'. For more information and the complete judges comments, see the Stella Prize website.
The Shortlist will be announced on 25 March 2021. While I am terrible at predicting these things, my bet on for shortlisted works would include McKay, Milligan, Riwoe, Simpson and Wyld. Happy reading!
