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Butterfly on a Pin: A memoir of love, despair and reinvention

(Paperback, Paperback)


Publishing Details

Full Title:

Butterfly on a Pin: A memoir of love, despair and reinvention

Contributors:

By (Author) Alannah Hill

ISBN:

9781743794258

Publisher:

Hardie Grant Books

Imprint:

Hardie Grant Books

Publication Date:

1st May 2018

Edition:

Paperback

Country:

Australia

Classifications

Readership:

General

Fiction/Non-fiction:

Non Fiction

Main Subject:
Other Subjects:

Fashion and textile design

Dewey:

746.92092

Physical Properties

Physical Format:

Paperback

Number of Pages:

352

Dimensions:

Width 153mm, Height 234mm

Description

'Raw and real and funny and sad I could not put this book down' Jane Kennedy

'You might expect fluff and fashion ... what you get is harrowing, full-strength, funny and deeply satisfying' Zo Foster Blake

Unflinching, funny, shocking, inspiring and tender: this is a story like no other.

Alannah Hill, one of Australias most successful fashion designers, created an international fashion brand that defied trendswith ornamental, sophisticated elegance, beads, bows and vintage florals. But growing up in a milk bar in Tasmania, Alannahs childhood was one of hardship, fear and abuse. At an early age she ran away from home with eight suitcases of costumes and a fierce determination to succeed, haunted by her mothers refrain of Youll never amount to anything, you cant sew, nobody likes you and youre going to end up in a shallow grave, dear!

At the height of her success, Alannah walked the razors edge between two identities the good Alannah and the mongrel bastard Alannah. Who was the real Alannah Hill Reprieve came in the form of a baby boy and the realisation that becoming a mother not only changes your life, but completely refurbishes it, forever.

Yet 'having it all' turned out to be another illusion. In 2013 Alannah walked away from her eponymous brand, a departure that left her coming apart at the seams. She slowly came to understand the only way she could move forward was to go back. At the heart of it all was her mother, whose loveless marriage and disappointment in life had a powerful and long-lasting effect on her daughter. It was finally time to call a truce with the past.

This extraordinary book is the fierce and intelligent account of how a freckle-faced teenage runaway metamorphosed into a trailblazer and true original.

Reviews

'Not since singer Marianne Faithfull published her bestselling, no-holds barred biography,has a high profile womans memoir had the power to move us to laughter and tears asButterfly on a Pin,the remarkable memoir of Australian designer Alannah Hill.Butterfly on a Pinis empowering, entertaining, and insightful. It resonates with readers both familiar and not with Alannahs fashion career, dealing with bigger subjects such as family, estrangement, self-reinvention, and the limitlessness of the imagination.' -- Jack Cameron Stanton * Better Reading *
'The book (Butterfly On A Pin) is like a multi-layered blanket of stream of consciousness, enveloping you in its vivid tales and gallery of characters. At times it feels as if youre in a scene from Charles Dickens with urchins aplenty and unspeakable mendacity behind every door; only this is not fiction, its incredibly real.'

-- Juliet Rieden * The Australian Woman's Weekly *
a beautifully written book -- Richard Glover * ABC Radio Sydney *
'Hill's raw intelligence and "dark absurd, slightly berserk sense of humour" (a trait she attributes to her mother) blend in prose that chops from free-rangingly florid, to astonishingly simple, beautiful and poetic...It makes for a ripping, inspirational yarn, this story she ached so long to tell.'

-- Janice Breen Burns * The Age *
'Alannah Hills memoir is like her fashion creations layered, compelling and memorable.' -- Megan Miller * The Herald Sun *
'Raw and real and funny and sad I could not put this book down' Jane Kennedy

-- Jane Kennedy

Author Bio

Alannah Hill is a designer, author and stylist. For seventeen years she was the founder and creative director of the brand Alannah Hill, one of Australias mosticonic fashion houses. In 2013 Alannah left her eponymous brand and in 2015 launched her new fashion brand, Louise Love. Alannah lives in Melbourne with her sixteen-year-old son and her beagle dog, Jack.

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