The Book Of Emmett
Shortlisted for the 2010 Miles Franklin Award and the 2010 Prime Minister’s Literary Award. Winner of the Dobbie Prize.
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Synopsis
A stunning first novel from a Melbourne author. The story of the Brown family will wrench at your heart and make you hug those you love ever tighter. Emmett Brown is as dark as Heathcliff, and as unpredictable. Sometimes he's an inspiration, but not often. He's a man of booze and obsessions: one of them is his 'System', an attempt to bend the laws of probability. But when the lottery numbers and horses fail him, so do love and reason, and he becomes an ogre to his wife and children. For the innocents - Louisa, Rob, Peter, Daniel and Jessie - the bonds formed hiding in hedges at the end of the street, waiting for the maelstroms to pass, are complex and unbreakable. Over the years, the consequences of Emmett's rages shape both their spirits and psyches, but as he lies dying they discover that love - however imperfect - is the best defence against pain. The Book Of Emmett is a novel about hope and love and surviving.
News & Blog
More News & Blog
THE BOOK OF EMMETT by Deborah Forster has been included in the shortlist for the Dobbie Award, shortly after being shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. The Dobbie Award, of $5000, is an encouragement award for first-time authors. The judges said: “[THE BOOK OF EMMETT] is a powerful and emotional debut novel from Deborah Forster which portrays the complex relationships in a broken family. Forster...
Deborah Forster has won The Dobbie Encouragement Award for her debut novel, THE BOOK OF EMMETT. The shortlist included: LITTLE WHITE SLIPS by Karen Hitchcock THE BOOK OF EMMETT by Deborah Forster THE NATURE OF ICE by Robyn Mundy Click here to read an extract of this novel.
Editorial Reviews
"“Deborah Forster’s debut novel, THE BOOK OF EMMETT is wonderful ... Immediately engaging, it tells with grace and humour, panache and simplicity the story of a broken family. ... This is a story not of how people are crushed, but the many ways in which they survived. With humour and pain in equal intensity, Forster rips through one family’s search for love and scceptance.”" - Jennifer Levasseur, The Sydney Morning Herald
"“Deborah Forster’s debut novel, THE BOOK OF EMMETT is wonderful ... Immediately engaging, it tells with grace and humour, panache and simplicity the story of a broken family. ... This is a story not of how people are crushed, but the many ways in which they survived. With humour and pain in equal intensity, Forster rips through one family’s search for love and scceptance.”" - Jennifer Levasseur, The Sydney Morning Herald
"Beginning with a fractious funeral ceremony on a hellishly hot day in Melbourne's west, The Book of Emmett - the first novel by Deborah Forster - patiently and painfully traces the lives to this point of an ordinary family. The father, Emmett Brown, is by turns cruel, capricious and charming. Forster analyses the physical and psychological damage that this combination of qualities causes Emmett's wife and children, as well as the bonds that they are compelled to form with each other. The novel's prose is elegiac. Its scenes of domestic life are jaggedly vivid. Forster has created an insightful anatomy of suburban Australia." - Judges 2010 Prime Minister's Literary Awards
"Beginning with a fractious funeral ceremony on a hellishly hot day in Melbourne's west, The Book of Emmett - the first novel by Deborah Forster - patiently and painfully traces the lives to this point of an ordinary family. The father, Emmett Brown, is by turns cruel, capricious and charming. Forster analyses the physical and psychological damage that this combination of qualities causes Emmett's wife and children, as well as the bonds that they are compelled to form with each other. The novel's prose is elegiac. Its scenes of domestic life are jaggedly vivid. Forster has created an insightful anatomy of suburban Australia." - Judges 2010 Prime Minister's Literary Awards
"This is a powerful and emotional debut novel. Forster beautifully portrays the fear and shame experienced by this family but also the love and courage that sustains them." - Professor Robert Dixon, Chair Australian Literature, University of Sydney
"This is a powerful and emotional debut novel. Forster beautifully portrays the fear and shame experienced by this family but also the love and courage that sustains them." - Professor Robert Dixon, Chair Australian Literature, University of Sydney
"The central story is not new: a family growing up under the overwhelming shadow of domestic violence, and the generational legacy that entails. But the inventiveness of the telling, the dark seductiveness of the language, and the prickly complexity of the characters make this most familiar of stories original and surprising." - Jo Case, The Age
"The central story is not new: a family growing up under the overwhelming shadow of domestic violence, and the generational legacy that entails. But the inventiveness of the telling, the dark seductiveness of the language, and the prickly complexity of the characters make this most familiar of stories original and surprising." - Jo Case, The Age
"A first novel of subtle achievement, The Book of Emmett stands out from a flood of tales on domestic abuse. Written with no-nonsense poise and leavened by wry humour, it never shies from the stunting consequences on the lives of those affected of the trauma of emotional and physical violence. Despite this, it is a poignant story of survival with memorable characters - a salute to tenacity and a touching marker of lost potential." - Miles Franklin Award judges
"A first novel of subtle achievement, The Book of Emmett stands out from a flood of tales on domestic abuse. Written with no-nonsense poise and leavened by wry humour, it never shies from the stunting consequences on the lives of those affected of the trauma of emotional and physical violence. Despite this, it is a poignant story of survival with memorable characters - a salute to tenacity and a touching marker of lost potential." - Miles Franklin Award judges
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