Velocity
By (Author) Mandy Sayer
Allen & Unwin
A & U House of Books
1st November 2012
Australia
General
Winner of South Australian Premier's Award for Non-Fiction 2006 (Australia)
Paperback
312
Width 153mm, Height 227mm
396g
Velocity tells the moving, painful but often hilarious story of Mandy Sayer's childhood and adolescence, a life lived on the edges - of society, of poverty, of certainty, of love. Filled with beautifully realised descriptions of life seen through a child's eyes - a child who gradually comes to realise her adored parents are all too tragically flawed and broken - Velocity packs the emotional impact of Angela's Ashes with the surreal humour and razor-sharp observations of Running With Scissors. Against a vivid backdrop of smoky jazz bars, steamy beer gardens and a succession of lino-floored dosshouses, Sayer brings into focus those moments when the child's world and the adult world intersect, when illusions are shattered and understanding begins. Unflinchingly honest, startlingly brave and written with a clear-eyed, lyrical grace, Velocity is an ultimately uplifting story of struggle and faith against terrifying odds.
Mandy Sayer won the Australian-Vogel Award at age 26 for her first novel, Mood Indigo. She is the author of the memoirs Dreamtime Alice and Velocity. Her most recent work of non-fiction is Coco: Autobiography of my Dog.