First published 1996
The narrator returns to Sydney to face unresolved tensions within her family circle. Old grievances surface as relatives gather for what should be a celebration. Her mother's expectations clash with her own choices about marriage and career. Conversations reveal decades of misunderstanding between generations. The protagonist must decide whether to maintain distance or rebuild these fractured relationships. Each family member carries their own version of past events. St John captures the weight of obligation that pulls adult children back into childhood patterns. The story moves between present confrontations and remembered wounds. Small gestures become loaded with meaning as characters struggle to connect across years of silence.
Genres: literary-fiction, 20th-century, adult-fiction, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, fractured-relationships, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Sydney
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
233 pages · Hardcover · Fourth Estate