Propulsive and gripping, SALONIKA BURNING is a formidable work of historical fiction that illuminates not only the devastation of war but also the social upheaval of the times. It shows Gail Jones at the height of her powers.
SALONIKA BURNING
by Gail Jones
Text Publishing (Australia), November 2022
How he wished to paint it. The razed city. The human drama. He saw the old forms broken, shaped in new alignments, the destructible world abstracted in splendid innovations…Already he understood the power of derangement, and how a single window might contain an entire fate.
Greece, 1917. The great city Salonika is ravaged by an enormous fire as Europe is engulfed by war. Amid the destruction, there are those who have come to the frontlines to heal: surgeons, ambulance drivers, nurses, orderlies and other volunteers. Four of these people—Olive, Grace, Stella and Stanley—are at the centre of Gail Jones’ extraordinary new novel, which takes its inspiration from the wartime experiences of Australians Miles Franklin and Olive King, and those of British painters Grace Pailthorpe and Stanley Spenser.
Gail Jones is one of Australia’s most celebrated writers. She is the author of two short-story collections and nine novels, and her work has been translated into several languages. She has received numerous literary awards, including the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, the Age Book of the Year, the South Australian Premier’s Award, the ALS Gold Medal and the Kibble Award, and has been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the International Dublin Literary Award and the Prix Femina Étranger. Originally from Western Australia, she now lives in Sydney.
Dr. Nicholas Kardaras is at the forefront of researchers sounding the alarm about the impact of excessive technology on younger brains. In Glow Kids, he described what screen time does to children, calling it “digital heroin”. Now, in DIGITAL MADNESS, Dr. Kardaras turns his attention to our teens and young adults.
Cancel culture. Chances are you’ve heard about this a lot lately, but what really is it? Blacklisting celebrities? Censorship? Up until this point, this has been the general consensus in the media. But it’s time to raise the bar on our definition—to think of cancel culture less as scandal or suppression and more as an essential means of democratic expression and accountability. THE CASE FOR CANCEL CULTURE offers a fresh progressive lens in favor of cancel culture as a tool for activism and change. It will help readers reflect on and learn the long history of canceling (the Boston Tea Party was cancel culture); how the left and right uniquely equip it as part of their political toolkits; how intersections of society wield it for justice; and ultimately how it levels the playing field for the everyday person’s voice to matter. Why should we care? Because in a world where protest and free speech are being challenged by the most powerful institutions, those without power deserve to understand the nuance and importance of this democratic tool available to them. Rather than seeing cancel culture as a nasty byproduct of the digital age, it should be seen as a powerful instrument for change. Ernest Owens shows readers exactly how with examples from politics, pop culture, and his own personal experience. Readers will walk away from this first-of-its-kind exploration not despising cancel culture but embracing it as a form of democratic expression that’s always been leading the charge in liberating us all.
Twenty-two years ago, Naomi Shaw believed in magic. She and her two best friends, Cassidy and Olivia, spent that summer roaming the woods of Chester, Washington, imagining a world of ceremony and wonder—the Goddess Game. The summer ended suddenly, with Cass and Liv stumbling onto the road covered in blood. Naomi had been attacked, was nearly dead. But miraculously, Naomi survived her seventeen stab wounds, and lived to identify the man who had hurt her. The girls’ testimony put away a serial killer, wanted for murdering six women. They were heroes. And they were liars. The day she learns that Alan Michael Stahl has died in prison, Naomi gets a call from Olivia. For twenty-two years, the friends have kept a secret worth killing for: a skeleton in the woods that was the center of their rituals and imagined magic that summer. But now Olivia wants to tell, and Naomi is forced back to the town she’d escaped. When Olivia disappears, Naomi sets out to find out what really happened in the woods—no matter how dangerous the truth turns out to be. Naomi thought the Goddess Game was over. But it’s just beginning.
As Jacob lies dying, he begins to write a letter to his only son, Isaac. They have not met or spoken in many years, and there are things that Isaac must know. Stories about his ancestral legacy in rural Arkansas that extend back to slavery. Secrets from Jacob’s tumultuous relationship with Isaac’s mother and the shame he carries from the dissolution of their family. Tragedies that informed Jacob’s role as a father and his reaction to Isaac’s being gay. But most of all, Jacob must share with Isaac the unspoken truths that reside in his heart. He must give voice to the trauma that Isaac has inherited. And he must create a space for the two to find peace.