Archives par étiquette : Wolf Literary Services

THE WATER TAKES de Sarah Walker

An unimaginable apocalypse. A scared young girl. A stubborn old woman. Neither will survive without the other.

THE WATER TAKES
by Sarah Walker
Summit/Simon & Schuster Australia, March 2026
(via Wolf Literary)

Pam is in her mid-seventies, widowed and hiding from the world behind a caustic sense of humour. Her health is declining, and she’s afraid of dying alone, but her most pressing concern is complaining to the council about her waterlogged garden.

When Pam’s ten-year-old neighbour, Charlotte, is foisted upon her, a tentative friendship begins to unfurl, cracking open Pam’s hard exterior.

But the puddles in the garden become pools, and then sinkholes. Nowhere seems safe. With no help coming, Pam and Charlotte can only shelter in place for so long – eventually, they know they must attempt to navigate a catastrophically altered world.

THE WATER TAKES is a work of astonishing literary imagination with the urgent page-turning propulsion of a thriller. Full of surprises and revelations, with a sense of humanity that is never clichéd or sentimental, The Water Takes will make you laugh and cry – and it will stay with you forever.

‘What do you do when the world starts drowning? THE WATER TAKES is haunting, terrifying and still somehow hopeful. Seventy-something Pam is one of the most vivid characters I’ve ever encountered – she made me laugh and roar and weep. I am in awe of Sarah Walker and this book.’ – Kate Mildenhall

‘The Water Takes is a beautifully written blend of looming menace and sharp humour, along with a tender and timely reminder that connection is what saves us when catastrophe hits. This is dystopian fiction that feels as real, as human, as anything I’ve read. A dizzyingly good debut.’ – Jacqueline Bublitz

Sarah Walker is a Naarm/Melbourne-based writer and artist. Her first book, The First Time I Thought I Was Dying, a collection of non-fiction essays about the unruly body in late capitalism, won the 2021 Quentin Bryce Award. She was runner-up in the 2019 Calibre Essay Prize and received the 2020 ABR Victorian Rising Star award. Her work has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, the Walkley Awards, the Hammond House International Short Story Prize, the Nillumbik Prize, the Disquiet Literary Contest, the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize and the Darebin Mayor’s Writing Award. She has been published in The Monthly, Overland, Meanjin, Island Magazine, Kill Your Darlings, the ABR, the AFR, and The Guardian. She is also an award-winning photographer and fine artist, whose work has been commissioned across multiple countries. She is a PhD candidate at RMIT.

NORMAL WOMEN d’Ainslie Hogarth

In this darkly comic story about how we value female labor—and don’t—a new mother becomes embroiled in danger when her friend, a controversial entrepreneur, goes missing.

NORMAL WOMEN
by Ainslie Hogarth
Vintage, October 2023
(via Wolf Literary Services)

When her daughter Lotte was born, Dani had welcomed the chance to be a stay-at-home mother. To be good at something, for once. But now Dani can’t stop thinking about her seemingly healthy husband, Clark, dropping dead. Not because she hates him (not right now, anyway) but because it’s become abundantly clear to Dani that if he dies, she and Lotte will be left destitute.

And then Dani discovers The Temple. Ostensibly a yoga center, The Temple and its guardian, Renata, are committed to helping people reach their full potential. And if that sometimes requires sex work, so be it. Finally, Dani has found something she could be good at, even great at; meaningful work that will protect her and Lotte from poverty, and provide true economic independence from Clark.

Just as Dani is preparing to embrace this opportunity, Renata disappears. And Dani discovers there might be something else she’s good at: uncovering secrets.

Ainslie Hogarth is the author of the novels Motherthing, The Lonely and The Boy Meets Girl Massacre (Annotated). She lives in Canada with her husband, kids, and little dog.

THE NUDE de C. Michelle Lindley

Cerebral and escapist, THE NUDE blends the moody atmosphere of Katie Kitamura’s A Separation and the complex gender dynamics and traumas of Lisa Taddeo’s Animal.

THE NUDE
by C. Michelle Lindley
Atria, June 2024
(via Wolf Literary Services)

THE NUDE opens as art historian Elizabeth Clarke arrives on a remote island in Southern Greece, sent to acquire a rare female nude sculpture for a Los Angeles collection. Disoriented by time zones, migraines, and the suspicious details surrounding the figure’s discovery, she’s dependent on her flirtatious but guileless translator. The last thing she expects is to be so pulled to his wife, Theo, a subversive artist who has amassed a small following for her provocative self-portraits, which seek to deconstruct the objectification of the female form.

As Elizabeth immerses herself in the island’s cobblestoned mazes and sumptuous cuisine, and falls deeper into an infatuation with Theo—and Theo’s art—she starts to question her role in the acquisition of cultural artifacts. And when, after a hazy night out, both Elizabeth and the nude are violated in divergent but damaging ways, Elizabeth begins to see a parallel between the sculpture and herself. What does it mean for a woman to navigate morally complicated negotiations of property in a male-directed world? What other kinds of ownership—or self-ownership—might be possible?

THE NUDE questions the exploitative transactions between art museums and nations, between institutions and the individual, and between men and women. While the plotting is taut, the reading experience is lush and full-sensory.

C. Michelle Lindley’s work can be found in Conjunctions, The Georgia Review, The Masters Review, Meridian, and elsewhere. She was accepted to Tin House’s 2022 summer workshop (but unable to attend), and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University and a BA from the University of Berkeley in English and Art History.

THE PARENTHOOD DILEMMA de Gina Rushton

Should we become parents?

THE PARENTHOOD DILEMMA
Procreation in the Age of Uncertainty
by Gina Rushton
Astra House, September 2023
(via Wolf Literary Services)

When journalist Gina Rushton, afflicted with endometriosis, admitted she had little time left to make this decision, the magnitude of the choice overwhelmed her. Her search for her own “yes” or “no” only uncovered more questions to be answered. How do we clearly consider creating a new life on a planet facing catastrophic climate change? How do we reassess the gender roles we have been assigned at birth and by society? How do we balance ascending careers with declining fertility? How do we know if we’ve found the right co-parent, or if we want to go it alone, or if we don’t want to do it at all?

To seek clarity on these questions, Rushton spoke to doctors, sociologists, economists, and ethicists, as well as parents and childless people of all ages and from around the world. Here, she explores and presents policies, data, and case studies from people who have made this decision—one way or the other—and shows how the process can be revelatory in discovering who we are as individuals.

Gina Rushton is a multi-awarded reproductive rights and women’s health reporter and editor whose work has been published in BuzzFeed News, The Guardian, Vogue, Associated Press, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Monthly. This is her first book.