A Constant Hum

(Paperback)

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Description

Itll all be okay, my mother said, and I remember the way her familiar face scrunched, afterwards reflected back at me, in the fogged bathroom mirror, when she thought I couldnt see. Before the fire before the front of flames roars over the hillsthe ridge is thick with gums. After the fire, all the birds have gone. There is only ash and melted metal, the blackened husks of cars. And the lost people: on the TV news in borrowed clothes, in temporary accommodation on the outskirts of the city, or remembered in small offerings outside the town hall. A Constant Hum grapples with the aftermath of bushfire with an eye for the telling detail. Some of these stories cut to the bone; others are empathetic tales of survival, even hope. All are gripping and stunningly written, heralding the arrival of a vital new voice in Australian fiction.

Reviews

UnflinchingThe prose is clear-eyed and forensic. Theres none of the sensationalism of tabloid journalism, which is not to say that Bishop is dispassionateThe further the reader moves through the pages, the more intense the storiesConfronting and poetic. * Age *
[A Constant Hum is] empathetic, eloquent and nuancedBishop lays bare the emotional and psychological consequences of one of the worst fires in Australias modern historyThis is a deeply humane collection, capturing trauma and grief as well as love and healing. Most importantly, it is a beautiful read. Some pieces are only one or two sentences long. Yet those sentences deserveand in fact demandto be savoured. As you read, put the book down and reckon with the words. Bishop and her family lost their home in Christmas Hills that day, and that personal experience informs the writing, but the stories do not offer a single narrative or perspectiveThis collection writes the Black Saturday Fires into Australian literatureFor all of us, it is a robust reminder that we live in one of the driestand most prone to bushfirecountries on the planetIn the decade since Black Saturday, Bishop has honed her writing craftOne hopes she has more workperhaps a novelon the way. * Age *
Alice Bishops debut collection of stories packs an emotional punchWe step into the lives of those who survived, physically at least, the tragic and calamitous firesIt is refreshing and pleasing that Bishop spends more of her time exploring the impact of the bushfires through the emotionality of her characters and getting at their inner drives and motives. * Saturday Paper *
Extremely well measuredA heartbreakingly beautiful book that is both uncomfortable and essential reading. * Kill Your Darlings *
Shows us Australia in all its brutal intensityThe stories portray people in both their complexity and their ordinarinessbecause they could easily be any of us. * Herald Sun *
These kaleidoscopic visions of fire, trauma and loss twist into a closely observed chronicle of people and placeof humanity and hope. Dazzling writing, acutely attentive to simple truths. * Jonathan Green *
A Constant Hum is a beautiful bookoften understated, but all the more devastating for this. The stories are delicate and keenly observed, exploring the difficult territories of grief and loss, homesickness and fear, and an enduring human resilience that always comes at a cost. Bishop is an elegant and lyrical writer, and these are finely wrought and tender stories, always pulsing with empathy and a lingering hope, even in the face of extremity and great pain. * Fiona Wright *
A Constant Hum is a remarkable work of fiction, producing a suite of stories dealing with the fundamental human concerns of love, grief and recovery. Alice Bishop has the capacity to convey such emotions with tenderness, a lightness of touch and true craft. She is a writer of the highest quality. * Tony Birch *
In this resonant collection, Bishop gives both scope and startling immediacy to one of Victorias darkest days. These are indelible lives, and A Constant Hum is an essential, intimate charting of the farthest reaches of devastation and hope. * Josephine Rowe *
A Constant Hum brings the reality of bushfire to life and should be compulsory reading for all Australians, especially city-dwellers. * Books+Publishing (starred review) *
We witness the full impact of the firesand while the characters change, were always mindful of their context. A Constant Hums other strength is at the sentence level, and Bishops descriptions have both an otherworldly and strong, realistic typicalness to them...Its easy to take a cynical view of the connected short-story collection [but] Bishops collection takes a much more successful route, a collection linked together in tone. * Readings *
A gripping short story collection detailing the fallout of a natural disaster thats very specific to our nation: bushfire. * Happy Mag *
[Alice Bishops] gripping stories pay homage to the people lost and those left behind with sentences crafted as deftly as if they were oil paintingsall manage to bring beauty, poise, depth and light to the darkest of days. * Adelaide Review *
Amazing, beautiful, important. * Final Draft, 2SER *
BeautifulIts incredible. * Radio NZ Nine to Noon *
Tenderly written portraits of heartache. * 3CR *
Hope prevails over horror and human tragedy in each beautifully written tale. * Sunday Age *
Possibly the most quintessentially Australian book Ive ever read. It hums with vernacular, cultural referencesmodels of cars, brands of ice-cream, the names of TV showsflora and fauna that are only found on this island continentAll [the stories] are written with a forensic eye for detail, often focused on finding beauty in griefThe picture that builds is emotionally intenseThis is not a book to plow through, but one to savour, to cogitate on, to mull over[Bishop writes with] care, kindness and great authenticity. * Reading Matters *
Completely, hauntingly, divinestunningThis collection feels both assured and vulnerable, a hard and hurting reading but necessary and so very, very fulfilling. I loved it. * Alpha Reader *
'Every word counts... While some of the stories in this collection describe astonishing and exhilarating acts of survival, most concern resilience and less dramatic moments that are not usually discussed. How do people survive after a life changing event How do they find a new normality' * Sydney Review of Books *
Hugely impressiveA major contribution to the growing body of work about the Black Saturday bushfires, and, not coincidentally, to the literature of environmental precarity. Highly recommendedI really loved itIts so cleverly positioned in the way it looks back by bearing witness, but simultaneously reimagines the present and prefigures the future. And it's so beautifully observed. * James Bradley *
An immersive reading experienceStopped me in my tracks. * Garret *
Alice Bishop may be the dbut writer of the year. * Astrid Edwards, ABR *
A remarkable approach to the physical, emotional and spiritual impact of the Black Saturday firesblessed with a tender, compassionate aesthetic.' * Sydney Morning Herald *
Completely, hauntingly divine. * AlphaReader *
Perhaps Bishops A Constant Hum should be the next book recommended for our federal parliamentarians nightstands. * Justine Hyde *
So accomplished and so easy in its prose. * No Cartridge Audio *
[A] shimmering treasureBeauty, darkness, grief, humanness and hopeExquisite. * Holly Ringland *
Some pieces are only a sentence or two, but even those snippets pack an emotional punch, and I found the varying story lengths built a sense of collective griefand hope. A Constant Hum brims with Aussie cultural references, making it hard to imagine the events in any other setting. But it also pokes at bigger questionshow do people change after a life-changing event how does one rediscover normalitythat many of us are asking these days. * New York Times *

Author Bio

Alice Bishop grew up in Christmas Hills, Victoria. Her writing has been published by Meanjin, Overland, Australian Book Review, Lip Magazine and the Wheeler Centre. Her debut book, a short story collection, is called A Constant Hum.