Echolalia: Longlisted for the 2022 Miles Franklin Award

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Longlisted for the 2022 Miles Franklin Award What might drive a mother to do the unthinkable What could drive a mother to do the unthinkable Before- Emma Cormac married into a perfect life but now she's barely coping. Inside a brand new, palatial home, her three young children need more than she can give. Clem, a wilful four year old, is intent on mimicking her grandmother; the formidable matriarch Pat Cormac. Arthur is almost three and still won't speak. At least baby Robbie is perfect. He's the future of the family. So why can't Emma hold him without wanting to scream Beyond their gleaming windows, a lake vista is evaporating. The birds have mostly disappeared, too. All over Shorehaven, the Cormac family buys up land to develop into cheap housing for people they openly scorn. After- The summers have grown even fiercer and the Cormac name doesn't mean what it used to. Arthur has taken it abroad, far from a family unable to understand him. Clem is a young artist who turns obsessively to the same dark subject. Pat doesn't even know what legacy means now. Not since the ground started sinking beneath her. Meanwhile, a nameless woman has been released from state care. She sticks to her twelve-step program, recites her affirmations, works one day at a time on a humble life devoid of ambition or redemption. How can she have an after when baby Robbie doesn't

Author Bio

Briohny Doyle is the author of Echolalia, Adult Fantasy and The Island Will Sink. Her books have been recognised on lists for The Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and The Melbourne Prize for Literature. Her writing has appeared in The Monthly, The Guardian, Meanjin, The Griffith Review, and The Age. She is a lecturer in creative writing at The University of Sydney, and a former Fulbright scholar.