Overview

A dazzlingly original and bleakly funny debut novel that follows one harried working mother before and after a devastating weather event, capturing the everyday wonders and infuriating indignities of mothering in a time of ecological crisis. Thea spends her days among stubborn animals, many of which are massive or in pain, but they're not really what's causing her to feel overwhelmed. A vet at a midsized rural practice, she's been called back from her maternity leave early to find herself awash in meetings, family mealtimes, farm visits, her boss's search for legal loopholes and the constant care of her much-loved children, Eli and Lucy. Her husband would like to know what he should get his mother for her birthday, which she's had to remind him is next week--Calm down, she tells the reader, I'm not going to have an affair. This is a woman who knows intimately what it is to tend to a small child's fever in the small hours of the night while The Bachelor glows silently from her phone. And then, suddenly, in the time it takes to drive home from a rare evening out, everything is upended. Nothing is constant, now, except for the ash, and Thea is left marveling at the things that change and the ones that don't at what may very well be the end of the world. Propulsive and poetic, Ash is a novel that burns with rage and joy at once. Remarkably lithe and multidimensional, it celebrates the small miracles that thrive even in motherhood's darkest moments.

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Louise Wallace is the author of four collections of poems, including This Is a Story About Your Mother. She is the founder of Starling, an online journal showcasing the work of young writers from Aotearoa New Zealand, and the editor of Orongohau Best New Zealand Poems 2022. She is a recipient of the Biggs Prize for Poetry and a Robert Burns fellow. Ash is her first novel. Saskia Maarleveld is an experienced voice-over actress and Earphones Award-winning narrator. Raised in New Zealand and France, she is highly skilled with accents and dialects, and many of her books have been narrated entirely in accents other than her own. In addition to audiobooks, her voice can be heard in animation, video games, and commercials. Natalie Beran is a voice-over artist, actor, and international radio announcer/producer with a radio career spanning over fifteen years. Her voice has been featured in commercials for iHeart Radio, NZ Lotto, Les Mills, McDonald's, and Southern Comfort. She has narrated many audiobooks, including Menticide: The Awakening, Small Acts of Kindness, Tears Are Only Water, Pet, and Paper Cage, to name a few. She has voiced for video games including Warhammer 40K: Darktide, Sherlock Holmes, Robocop: Rogue City, and Blasphemous II, plus game titles soon to be released. She plays series regular Katherine Hillard in Power Rangers: The Audio Drama, along with narrating Haunting of Selene and Easthaven Eight. Her animation work includes Milo the Mechanic and Homebird, along with various ADR and film projects. Natalie is a graduate of the AMDA NY, a Globe International Actors fellow, BAFTA member, and SOVAS Voice Arts Award nominee.

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