Things that take twenty years to complete

If you drive down the Pacific Highway, and I know it is a very long road, you can probably feel the pulse of excitement pumping through the Random House office. Frank Moorhouse has delivered the third novel in his League of Nations series and it is a CRACKER. Edith Campbell Berry and her ‘rules to live by’, first demanded readers attention in Grand Days in 1993, and as Bert and I discussed with Frank recently as we peppered him with questions, (all editorial meetings should take place in The Wine Library in Woollahra) Edith is the kind of character that is so vivid, perplexing, admirable, frustrating and real, that readers feel they own her. Quite a responsibility for the author!

Edith returned to us in Dark Palace in 2000 where she laboured to make the world a better place post-WWI and through WWII – what a time to be a ‘provincial’ Australian woman in Europe. In addition to helping create the Doctrine of Non-recognition, she also found time to explore the Diplomacy of Bibulation and contemplate Hen’s which do not Lay Eggs. I won’t spoil the plot but can’t wait for Cold Light to be released in November so that I can share the wonders of what is truly a great Australian character and novel with readers far and wide.

Something else that has us all excited is Water Under Water, a first novel by Peter Rix that we will publish in June. Peter has been thinking about writing a novel, this novel, for more than twenty years, but was a reasonably fast worker once he got started. Quite a few working writers, like Peter who has written a number of marketing text books, sign up to complete postgraduate writing degrees such as the courses at UTS or UWS to help realise their dream of focused writing time and encouragement. Kevin and I have simply loved every minute we have spent on this story about how a family forms and exchanges love. A proofreader just returned it with a note that said ‘what a gutsy and honest book – superb. Brilliant.’ Who am I to argue with that?

Meredith Curnow, Publisher – Knopf, Vintage