The Details: On Love, Death and Reading

(Paperback)

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Description

Shortlisted for the 2021 Prime Minister's Literary Awards

A book about the connections we form with literature and each other

Tegan Bennett Daylight has led a life in books as a writer, a teacher and a critic, but first and foremost as a reader.

In this deeply insightful and intimate work, Daylight describes how her reading has nourished her life, and how life has informed her reading. In both, she shows us that its the small points of connection the details that really matter: what we notice when someone close to us dies, when we give birth, when we make friends. In lifes disasters and delights, the details are what we can share and compare and carry with us.

Daylight writes with invigorating candour and compassion about her mothers last days; her own experiences of childbearing and its aftermath (in her celebrated essay Vagina); her long admiration of Helen Garner and George Saunders; and her great loves and friendships. Each chapter is a revelation, and a celebration of how books offer not an escape from real life but a richer engagement with the business of living.

The result is a work that will truly deepen your relationship with books, and with other readers. The delight is in the details.

A superb writer... If you love reading, youll cherish this book for showing you why. Charlotte Wood, author of The Weekend and The Natural Way of Things

An intimate and wise celebration of the joy and solace we find in books.Books & Publishing

If you care about reading and writing, past, present and future, read this book. Stephen Romei, The Weekend Australian

The Details is a joyful and vital adventure alongside a sophisticated reader, and a timely reminder of the critical role of art in turbulent times. Justine Hyde, The Saturday Paper

A testament to the enriching power of reading. Thuy On, Sydney Morning Herald

An immersive and thought-provoking read, ideal for any bibliophile. The Monthly

Reviews

Daylight is simply a superb writer. Her prose is supple, discursive, funny, restrained and loving. On finishing The Details, I felt as I do at the end of every great book: washed clean and scoured out; unmade and remade. Like all great art, The Details is about many things at once: among them birth and death, laughter and misery, mothers and children, the body and the spirit and informing and transforming all this, of course, it is about reading and the creation of a sustaining inner life. It reminds us that in life as in writing, its the illuminating detail that reveals the truth of who we are. If you love reading, youll cherish this book for showing you why. -- Charlotte Wood, author of The Weekend and The Natural Way of Things
A book for readers and writers alike: an intimate and wise celebration of the joy and solace we find in books. * Books&Publishing *
If you care about reading and writing, past, present and future, read this book. -- Stephen Romei * The Weekend Australian *
The Details is a joyful and vital adventure alongside a sophisticated reader, and a timely reminder of the critical role of art in turbulent times. -- Justine Hyde * The Saturday Paper *
A testament to the enriching power of reading. -- Thuy On * Sydney Morning Herald *
An immersive and thought-provoking read, ideal for any bibliophile. * The Monthly *

Author Bio

Tegan Bennett Daylight is a writer, teacher and critic. Her books include the Stella Award shortlisted Six Bedrooms and the novels Safety and Bombora. She lives in the Blue Mountains with her husband and two children.