A Constant Hum

Awards:   Long-listed for Booktopia Favourite Australian Book 2020 (Australia) Long-listed for Debut Fiction, Indie Book Awards, Leading Edge 2020 (Australia) Short-listed for Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction 2019 (Australia) Short-listed for University of Southern Queensland Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection, Queensland Literary Awards 2020 (Australia) Winner of Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian Novelist Award 2020 (Australia)
Author:   Alice Bishop
Publisher:   Text Publishing
ISBN:  

9781925773842


Pages:   224
Publication Date:   02 July 2019
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
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A Constant Hum


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Awards

  • Long-listed for Booktopia Favourite Australian Book 2020 (Australia)
  • Long-listed for Debut Fiction, Indie Book Awards, Leading Edge 2020 (Australia)
  • Short-listed for Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction 2019 (Australia)
  • Short-listed for University of Southern Queensland Steele Rudd Award for a Short Story Collection, Queensland Literary Awards 2020 (Australia)
  • Winner of Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian Novelist Award 2020 (Australia)

Overview

It’ll all be okay, my mother said, and I remember the way her familiar face scrunched, afterwards – reflected back at me, in the fogged bathroom mirror, when she thought I couldn’t see. Before the fire – before the front of flames roars over the hills—the ridge is thick with gums. After the fire, all the birds have gone. There is only ash and melted metal, the blackened husks of cars. And the lost people: on the TV news in borrowed clothes, in temporary accommodation on the outskirts of the city, or remembered in small offerings outside the town hall. A Constant Hum grapples with the aftermath of bushfire with an eye for the telling detail. Some of these stories cut to the bone; others are empathetic tales of survival, even hope. All are gripping and stunningly written, heralding the arrival of a vital new voice in Australian fiction.

Full Product Details

Author:   Alice Bishop
Publisher:   Text Publishing
Imprint:   The Text Publishing Company
Dimensions:   Width: 15.30cm , Height: 1.70cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.298kg
ISBN:  

9781925773842


ISBN 10:   1925773841
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   02 July 2019
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

Reviews

`A Constant Hum is a beautiful book-often understated, but all the more devastating for this. The stories are delicate and keenly observed, exploring the difficult territories of grief and loss, homesickness and fear, and an enduring human resilience that always comes at a cost. Bishop is an elegant and lyrical writer, and these are finely wrought and tender stories, always pulsing with empathy and a lingering hope, even in the face of extremity and great pain.' * Fiona Wright * `These kaleidoscopic visions of fire, trauma and loss twist into a closely observed chronicle of people and place-of humanity and hope. Dazzling writing, acutely attentive to simple truths.' * Jonathan Green *


`We witness the full impact of the fires...and while the characters change, we're always mindful of their context. A Constant Hum's other strength is at the sentence level, and Bishop's descriptions have both an otherworldly and strong, realistic typicalness to them...It's easy to take a cynical view of the connected short-story collection [but] Bishop's collection takes a much more successful route, a collection linked together in tone.' * Readings * `A Constant Hum brings the reality of bushfire to life and should be compulsory reading for all Australians, especially city-dwellers.' * Books+Publishing (starred review) * `In this resonant collection, Bishop gives both scope and startling immediacy to one of Victoria's darkest days. These are indelible lives, and A Constant Hum is an essential, intimate charting of the farthest reaches of devastation and hope.' * Josephine Rowe * `A Constant Hum is a remarkable work of fiction, producing a suite of stories dealing with the fundamental human concerns of love, grief and recovery. Alice Bishop has the capacity to convey such emotions with tenderness, a lightness of touch and true craft. She is a writer of the highest quality.' * Tony Birch * `A Constant Hum is a beautiful book-often understated, but all the more devastating for this. The stories are delicate and keenly observed, exploring the difficult territories of grief and loss, homesickness and fear, and an enduring human resilience that always comes at a cost. Bishop is an elegant and lyrical writer, and these are finely wrought and tender stories, always pulsing with empathy and a lingering hope, even in the face of extremity and great pain.' * Fiona Wright * `These kaleidoscopic visions of fire, trauma and loss twist into a closely observed chronicle of people and place-of humanity and hope. Dazzling writing, acutely attentive to simple truths.' * Jonathan Green *


`A Constant Hum brings the reality of bushfire to life and should be compulsory reading for all Australians, especially city-dwellers.' * Books+Publishing (starred review) * `In this resonant collection, Bishop gives both scope and startling immediacy to one of Victoria's darkest days. These are indelible lives, and A Constant Hum is an essential, intimate charting of the farthest reaches of devastation and hope.' * Josephine Rowe * `A Constant Hum is a remarkable work of fiction, producing a suite of stories dealing with the fundamental human concerns of love, grief and recovery. Alice Bishop has the capacity to convey such emotions with tenderness, a lightness of touch and true craft. She is a writer of the highest quality.' * Tony Birch * `A Constant Hum is a beautiful book-often understated, but all the more devastating for this. The stories are delicate and keenly observed, exploring the difficult territories of grief and loss, homesickness and fear, and an enduring human resilience that always comes at a cost. Bishop is an elegant and lyrical writer, and these are finely wrought and tender stories, always pulsing with empathy and a lingering hope, even in the face of extremity and great pain.' * Fiona Wright * `These kaleidoscopic visions of fire, trauma and loss twist into a closely observed chronicle of people and place-of humanity and hope. Dazzling writing, acutely attentive to simple truths.' * Jonathan Green *


Author Information

Alice Bishop grew up in Christmas Hills, Victoria. Her writing has been published by Meanjin, Overland, Australian Book Review, Lip Magazine and the Wheeler Centre. Her debut book, a short story collection, is called A Constant Hum.

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