The World Without Us

(Paperback)

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WINNER OF THE VICTORIAN PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARD 2016
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CHRISTINA STEAD PRIZE FOR FICTION 2016
SHORTLISTED FOR THE STELLA PRIZE 2016
SHORTLISTED FOR THE VOSS LITERARY PRIZE 2016
LONGLISTED FOR THE MILES FRANKLIN LITERARY AWARD 2016
LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2017

It has been six months since Tess Mller stopped speaking. Her silence is baffling to her parents, her teachers and her younger sister Meg, but the more urgent mystery for both girls is where their mother, Evangeline, goes each day, pushing an empty pram and returning home wet, muddy and dishevelled.

Their father, Stefan, struggling with his own losses, tends to his apiary and tries to understand why his bees are disappearing. But after he discovers a car wreck and human remains on their farm, old secrets emerge to threaten the fragile family.

One day Tesss teacher Jim encounters Evangeline by the wild Repentance River. Jim is in flight from his own troubles in Sydney, and Evangeline, raised in a mountain commune and bearing the scars of the fire that destroyed it, is a puzzle he longs to solve.

As the rainforest trees are felled and the lakes fill with run-off from the expanding mines, Tess watches the landscape of her family undergo shifts of its own. A storm is coming and the Mllers are in its path.

Sometimes we must confront what has been lost so that we can know the solace of being found.

The World Without Us is a beautifully told story of secrets and survival, family and community, loss and renewal.

Reviews

The World Without Us was a revelation, a masterly story involving the refuge of silence, the fate of bees, and the shadows of old sins * Alberto Manguel, Australian Book Review Books of the Year *
Powerful and poetic The slow unfolding of the truth, layer after layer, is superbly done; though this novel is too classy to pigeonhole as a thriller, it has all the pace and invention of the classic thriller. What makes it unforgettable is Juchaus sensitive portrayal of a family poleaxed by grief * Kate Saunders, The Times *
Almost any page of this astonishing novel offers proof of a writer of great poetic power An extraordinarily vivid novel, elegant, convincing, intelligent and profoundly moving * Guardian *
Understated and calm, and yet thoroughly captivating. Meticulously researched and vividly described, The World Without Us is detailed and emotionally fraught, its portrait of love and loss possessing an almost timeless quality. Juchau confirms an eternal concept: when the past holds such pain, and the future such dread, sometimes all one can do is muddle through the present * Independent on Sunday *
A bright, bracing marvel of a book Her prose is a marvel of balance: witty and sensual, self-aware but not jaded, and capable of making poetry from anything * Australian *
I was captivated by Juchaus extraordinary insight She reminds us that life itself has a force that is difficult to suppress * Saturday Paper *
The strength and poise of Juchau's writing ... Shows hers is obviously, a formidable talent that is capable of performing literary alchemy * Sydney Morning Herald *
Juchau's writing is lilting and poetic. She has a painterly eye; her descriptions of the natural environment are as finely wrought as her observation of human interactions * Big Issue *
After reading The World Without Us you could turn the book over and start again. Its one of those novels that stays with you long after reading. Poignant and sad, yet poetic and uplifting, its truly a novel of its time * Better Reading *
In structuring its environmental themes around various mysteries, she creates constant suspense The achievement of The World Without Us lies in its suggestion that our relationship to a changed environment is todays rather than tomorrows story -- Luke Brown * Financial Times *
A haunting tale of climate change and the effect of industry on the environment. Beautiful and sad * Emerald Street *
Wonderfully vivid writing and powers of description ... Juchau has a lyrical style and a great appreciation of the natural world ... The world emerges as a vast and bracing place, one that goes on with or without us * Irish Times *
Elegantly poised and controlled * Times Literary Supplement *

Author Bio

Mireille Juchau is a critically acclaimed Australian novelist. The World Without Us is her third novel, published by Bloomsbury in Australia, the UK and forthcoming in the US. The World Without Us has won The Victorian Premiers Literary Award 2016, is shortlisted for The Stella Prize 2016, and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2016 and the Australian Book Industry Awards 2016. Mireilles second novel, Burning In, was shortlisted for four awards including the Prime Ministers Literary Award 2008. Her debut, Machines for Feeling, was shortlisted for the 1999 Vogel/Australian Literary Award. Described by The Guardian UK as a writer of great poetic power, Mireille is also known for her short fiction, essays and reviews and her international award winning play, White Gifts, was performed and published in the US.

@MireilleJuchau
mireillejuchau.com