My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A searing and honest look at women’s friendships and the unseen baggage carried. A mirror that can’t be looked away from, this novel richly deserves its Stella Prize nomination. When I started it I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it as much as The Natural Way of Things and while it is different, there is a familiarity about the care Wood shows in crafting her brittle and flawed characters. Happily, amongst the devastation eventually wreaked, there is a uplift of hope in the final paragraphs, and a show of resilience that all women will recognise. Charlotte Wood is a potent force in Australian contemporary literature. More please.
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