Close to Home Selected Writings

A brilliant collection from one of Australia's leading writers Close to Home brings together Alice Pung’s most loved writing, on topics such as migration, family, art, belonging and identity. Warm, funny, moving and unfailingly honest, this is Alice at her best – an irresistible pleasure for fans and new readers alike. In 2006, Alice Pung published Unpolished Gem, her award-winning memoir of growing up Chinese-Australian in Melbourne’s western suburbs. Since then, she has written on everything from the role of grandparents to the corrosive effects of racism; from the importance of literature to the legacy of her parents’ migration from Cambodia as asylum seekers. In all of this, a central idea is home: how the places we live and the connections we form shape who we become, and what homecoming can mean to those who build their lives in Australia. ‘Most people have an idea of home as a place of comfort and safety. But it is more than that. Your home is a place where your suffering can take shelter.’ —Alice Pung ‘A beautiful book brimming with rich thoughts and intimate details ... Pung’s writing celebrates who we are, where we’ve come from and the shape of things to come. ★★★★★.’ —The AU Review ‘A warm, wide-ranging selection ... Pung’s writing is crisp and colourful.’ —The Age ‘Mixes vivid personal stories with a sharply nuanced examination of Australia’s knotty, turbulent race history.’ —The Weekend Australian ‘Alice Pung is a gem. Her voice is the real thing.’ —Amy Tan