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A Hundred Small Lessons
A Hundred Small Lessons | Ashley Hay
9 posts | 10 read | 13 to read
When Elsie Gormley falls and is forced to leave her Brisbane home of 62 years, Lucy Kiss and her family move in, with their new life - new house, new city, new baby. Lucy and her husband Ben struggle to navigate their transformation from adventurous lovers to new parents and both seek to smooth the rough edges of their present with memories of their past as they try to discover who their future selves might be. But the house has a secret life as well, and the rooms seem to share Elsie's memories and moments with Lucy. In her nearby nursing home, Elsie revisits the span of her life - the moments she can't bear to let go; the haunts to which she might return. Her memories of wifehood, motherhood, love and death are intertwined with her old house, and as the boundary between present and past becomes more porous for her, this seems to manifest in the lives now held inside that house as well. Through one hot, wet Brisbane summer, seven lives - and two different slices of time - wind along with the flow of the river, as two families chart the ways in which we come, sudden and oblivious, into each other's stories, and the unexpected ripples that flow out from those chance encounters. A Hundred Small Lessons is about the many small decisions - the invisible moments - that come to make a life. These richly intertwined lives spin a warm and intricate story of how to feel - deeply and profoundly - what it is to be human; how to touch the shared experience of being mother or daughter; father or son. It's a story of love, and of life.
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review
peacegypsy
Pickpick

I have no comprehensive verdict yet, but reading the first chapter made me contemplate my home, aging, and truthfulness in a deep, beautiful, and profound way that I‘m confident will remain with me for years.

4 likes1 stack add
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peacegypsy
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Up next.

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Mollyirene
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What a lovely book. A wonderful look at the difficulties of aging and becoming a mother from the viewpoint of two remarkable women. Beautiful writing and a surprise at the end. I will definitely put this on my wish list. I read a library copy but it‘s a keeper.

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TheSketchyReader
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ValerieAndBooks Love your artwork!! 7y
TheSketchyReader @ValerieAndBooks thank you so much! 7y
RebelReader I'm in awe of your artistic talent. Beautiful! Welcome to Litsy! 7y
18 likes3 stack adds3 comments
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DebinHawaii
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Character driven book about life's journeys--both the endings & beginnings and two women and their families living at different times in the same Brisbane house. Quiet and deeply beautiful writing, no big moments or drama but the author gives the small moments of life resonance and importance. With Herb-Grilled Prawns with Green Goddess Dressing for my blog book tour review + a Giveaway for a copy (US/Canada addresses). Link to post below.

SassyBookworm Food looks delish!! Yum 😋 7y
Bookzombie 🤤🤤 7y
See All 7 Comments
jbhops Those shrimp!! 😙 7y
Marchpane I need to get to this one, books set in my home town are rare 😊And the food pairing? 👌Perfect for Aussie Christmas BBQ! 7y
AmyG Ina's recipes are the best. Good review on your blog! 7y
hes7 That looks delicious! 7y
97 likes3 stack adds7 comments
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SilversReviews
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BookNAround
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Gatsby is snuggled into the couch with me while I read. #dogsoflitsy #schnauzersoflitsy

Melissa_J Awwww! 🐶 7y
Sassy_Steph Definitely the great gatsby!!! 7y
Reecaspieces Sweet baby, my schnauzers sassy and abby say hi! 7y
TricksyTails 😍🐶 Sweet! 7y
54 likes4 comments
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hes7
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Today's #bookmail, courtesy of a Goodreads giveaway. With two women at different stages in life and a house that connects them, this seems like a character-driven read I'll enjoy (when I have the time to read it...). #TBR

Marchpane Ooh, set in Brisbane! 7y
DivineDiana Congratulations! 👏🏻 7y
71 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Rhondareads
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Loving this beautiful book.A house lived in&loved by Elise for sixty years a house she lived in with her now deceased husband & her now elderly children,Elise collapsed one day&could no longer live in the house.Lucy&her husband&their small children purchase the house& their,lives begin.

quirkyreader I just love the vases. Are any of them Hull or Overbeck? 7y
Rhondareads Thanks they are Rookwood. 7y
12 likes2 comments