Welcome to Litsy!

This novel is an exquisite meditation on grief and mental illness. It is dark and sometimes difficult to read as a result, but so beautifully written. I highly recommend it, but don‘t read it if you‘re pregnant—wait until later. Her publishers need to get her some foreign distribution rights post-haste!

“Across the road an old woman bent like a paperclip over a line of upright roses. She wore gardening gloves in pink floral that matched her secateurs, and her hair was wrapped into a grey bun, as though thrown there by the wind.”

I am loving the language in this book. (FYI secateurs = one-handed pruning sheers)

I received this from @TheSloanRanger for #SecretSantaGoesPostal last year, so it‘s about time I got to it! I missed the signups this year because of my trip with no WiFi (which was blissful), so hopefully everyone enjoys their shopping and receiving.

Thank you so, so much to @picklebacksandpaperbacks for my #SecretSantaGoesPostal book and bookmarks! The book looks very interesting and I love the authentic Aussie nature of this gift! If you told me I'd be opening a secret Santa gift from Australia this time last year, I never would have believed you. @BookishMarginalia you have truly outdone yourself setting this all up. You should have a permasmile today!

An astonishing Australian debut. When a young woman has a miscarriage, it triggers childhood memories of her absent, mentally ill mother. Despite imperfect, loving support, the protagonist goes to some very dark places. Moving, with both light and heavy moments, it's ultimately a hopeful tale. The occasionally uneven prose is dotted with, to paraphrase Bohumil Hrabal, many sentences so luscious I wanted to pop them in my mouth and suck on them.

Today's bookish mail. I'm not going to lie, this really is a case of buying a book for its beautiful cover (well, that and @shawnmooney posting about it). I read the first chapter before I even threw the packaging away, and so far it's amazing. But I'm setting it aside because heartbreak isn't my friend this time of year.

Wow, this book is achingly real and honest. It's centered around a woman who's grieving a very real loss, but along with it comes unresolved parts of her childhood and dealing with a mother who suffered from mental illness and her death, which affects her own journey. The writing is beautiful and mirrors the feelings she's experiencing. The cover is absolutely beautiful and perfectly fitting as well.

"In the deep emptiness of night, when even the darkest of creatures had hung up their boots, I forced myself against the bed and tried not to listen. Tried not to hear the creak in the floor; the whisper in the next room; the chatter in the garden."

Hearing great things about this one

A new purchase