Cate Kennedy

Taking ordinary lives and dissecting their ironies, injustices, and pleasures, this collection possesses a humane eye and wry sense of humor. A young woman working as a maid in a hospital helps an elderly patient defy doctor's orders; a jilted lover manages to misinterpret her ex's new life; and a son accompanies his mother on a journey to scatter his father's remains, while lifelong resentments simmer in the background. This poignant compilation of short stories finds the beauty and tragedy in illness and mortality, life and love.

Like a House on Fire

The first American compilation of short fiction by the Australian author explores the hidden depths of the human psyche, as well as the conflict between our inner lives, the outside world, our secret motivations, and the traumas that transform our lives.

Dark Roots

Amanda Tattam

From busy urban hospitals to isolated villages in war zones, this collection describes profoundly emotional moments, the pain of adoption, complex clinical situations, life-or-death decisions and the way maternity care has changed over the decades.

Tales from the World of Midwives

Labour of Love

Once, Rich and Sandy were environmental activists, part of a world-famous blockade in Tasmania to save the wilderness. Now, twenty-five years later, they have both settled into the uncomfortable compromises of middle age - although they've gone about it in very different ways. About the only thing they have in common these days is their fifteen-year-old daughter, Sophie. When the perennially restless Rich decides to take Sophie, who he hardly knows, on a trek into the Tasmanian wilderness, his overconfidence and her growing disillusion with him set off a chain of events that no one could have predicted. Instead of respect, Rich finds antagonism in the relationship with Sophie; and, in the vast landscape he once felt an affinity with, he encounters nothing but disorientation and fear. Ultimately, all three characters will learn that if they are to survive, each must traverse not only the secret territories that lie between them but also those within themselves. 'Pitch perfect, an exquisite story . . . Cate Kennedy inhabits these characters so sensually and truly, exploring souls that feel like our own. If she doesn't touch your heart, it may be you don't have one.' DAVID FRANCIS 'The vast terrain of relationships and family ties proves to be as much uncharted territory as the Tasmanian wilderness described with such stunning clarity.' DEBRA ADELAIDE 'We come out of the Tasmanian rainforest exhilarated that we made the journey, marvelling all the while at Cate Kennedy's masterly storytelling.' HANNIE RAYSON

The World Beneath

The Taste of River Water New and selected poems by Cate Kennedy Disarming, warm and always accessible, Cate Kennedy's poems make ordinary experiences glow. Everything that suffuses her well-loved prose is here: compassion, insight, lyrical precision and the clear, minimalist eye that reveals how life can turn on a single moment. Musing on the undercurrents and interconnections between legacy, memory, motherhood and the natural world, the poems in this exhilarating collection begin on the surface and then take us, gracefully effortlessly, to a far more thought-provoking place. Grounded in lived experience, with all its mysteries and consolations they resonate with a passionate, sensuous honesty. Praise for Cate Kennedy's earlier poetry collections, Joyflight and Signs of Other Fires 'These poems are driven by Kennedy's instinct for story, character and place, but there's a moment when the poems suddenly open up, out of nowhere, and we find we're standing inside ourselves, in that pure, torn-open moment.' – BRONWYN LEA 'Sensory, rich and compelling. Kennedy gives us a new look at the familiar strangeness of place in which the sum of the parts forms a marvellous whole . . . This book is full of seamlessly constructed beautiful images that are hard to fault. These are poems of great hope and richness of spirit.' – MARK O'FLYNN

The Taste of River Water

Anthology of love stories written by Australians.

Australian Love Stories

Krissy Kneen

Five Australian authors take the personal and intimate craft of memoir and turn it over to the cut-and-paste transformation of remix culture, combined with a hint of old-fashioned parlour games. Edited by Simon Groth, Lost in Track Changes follows five stories as they are chopped, warped, and scattered, with hints of the changes tracked between.

Cate Kennedy

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