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Stone Yard Devotional

£9.99

A woman abandons her city life and marriage to return to the place she grew up, finding solace in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of the Monaro. She does not believe in God, doesn’t know what prayer is, and finds herself living this strange, reclusive life almost by accident. As she gradually adjusts to the rhythms of monastic life, she ruminates on her childhood in the nearby town. She finds herself turning again and again to thoughts of her mother, whose early death she can’t forget. Disquiet interrupts this secluded life with three visitations. First comes a terrible mouse plague, each day signalling a new battle against the rising infestation. Second is the return of the skeletal remains of a sister who left the community decades before to minister to deprived women in Thailand – then disappeared, presumed murdered.

In stock

Description

? SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024 ?

The new novel by the bestselling author of The Weekend

A Book of the Year for the Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald and ABC

‘The fact that Stone Yard Devotional not only stays aloft but soars would seem to deny the laws of literary physics’ Ron Charles, Washington Post

‘A beautiful, mature work that does not flinch from life’ Sunday Times

‘Exquisite, wrenching’ New York Times

‘I have rarely been so absorbed by a novel’ Guardian

‘exquisite… a heartening and consoling force’ Sigrid Nunez, The New Yorker

‘It leaves the reader feeling kinder, more brave, enlarged’ Anne Enright

Burnt out and in need of retreat, a middle-aged woman leaves Sydney to return to the place she grew up, taking refuge in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of rural Australia.

But disquiet soon interrupts this secluded life. First, the skeletal remains of a sister who disappeared decades before are returned to the monastery, resurfacing years of grief and pain. And then, an unexpected and troubling visitor plunges the narrator further into her past…

? Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award
? Shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year
? Shortlisted for the ABIA Award for Literary Fiction
? Longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award

Additional information

Weight 0.223 kg
Dimensions 19.4 × 12.8 × 3.2 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

306

Language

English

Edition

1st paperback ed

Dewey

823.92 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K