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Cold Enough for Snow

(Paperback)


Publishing Details

Full Title:

Cold Enough for Snow

Contributors:

By (Author) Jessica Au

ISBN:

9781925818925

Publisher:

Giramondo Publishing Co

Imprint:

Giramondo Publishing Co

Publication Date:

1st February 2022

Country:

Australia

Classifications

Readership:

General

Genre:
Fiction/Non-fiction:

Fiction

Physical Properties

Physical Format:

Paperback

Number of Pages:

112

Dimensions:

Width 148mm, Height 210mm

Description

The inaugural winner of The Novel Prize, an international biennial award established by Giramondo (Australia), Fitzcarraldo Editions (UK) and New Directions (USA). Cold Enough for Snow was unanimously chosen from over 1500 entries.

A novel about the relationshipbetween life and art, and betweenlanguage and the inner world howdifficult it is to speak truly, to know and be known by another, and howmuch power and friction lies in the unsaid, especially between a mother and daughter.

A young woman has arranged a holiday with her mother in Japan. They travel by train, visit galleries and churches chosen for their art and architecture, eat together in small cafs and restaurants and walk along the canals at night, on guard against the autumn rain and the prospect of snow. All the while, they talk, or seem to talk: about the weather, horoscopes, clothes and objects; about the mothers family in Hong Kong, and the daughters own formative experiences. But uncertainties abound. How much is spoken between them, how much is thought but unspoken

Cold Enough for Snow is a reckoning and an elegy: with extraordinary skill, Au creates an enveloping atmosphere that expresses both the tenderness between mother and daughter, and the distance between them.

'So calm and clear and deep, I wished it would flow on forever.' Helen Garner

'Rarely have I been so moved, reading a book: I love the quiet beauty of Cold Enough for Snow and how, within its calm simplicity, Jessica Au camouflages incredible power.' Edouard Louis

'The quiet intimacy of Jessica Aus novella is beautifully affecting, the unnamed narrators precise travelogue triggering reflections on home, childhood and relationships...It is melancholic and wistful, but Au finds grace and succour in the small act of observing people, places and art.' The Guardian

'Aus prose is elegant and measured. In descriptions of bracing clarity she evokes shaking delicate impressions of worlds within worlds that are symbolic of the parts of ourselves we keep hidden and those we choose to lay bare. Put simply, this novel is an intricate and multi-layered work of art a complex and profound meditation on identity, familial bonds and our inability to fully understand ourselves, those we love and the world around us.' Jacqui Davies, Books+Publishing

'Cold Enough for Snow is a sensory contemplation of knowledge, performativity, and the integral role of the present in shaping ones past. This book will resonate with solitary bonsai, daughters of mothers, and humans floating backwards through the stories of their lives.' ArtsHub

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