Synopsis
WINNER OF THE 2009 CHRISTINA STEAD AWARD FOR FICTIONMaya de Jong, an eighteen-year-old country girl from the West, comes to live in Melbourne and starts an affair with her boss, the enigmatic Maynard Flynn, whose wife is dying of cancer. When Maya's parents, Toni and Jacob, arrive to stay with her, they are told by her housemate that Maya has gone away and no one knows where she is.As Toni and Jacob wait and search for Maya in Melbourne, everything in their lives is brought into question. They recall the yearning and dreams, the betrayals and choices of their pasts - choices with unexpected and irrevocable consequences.With Maya's disappearance, the lives of all those close to her come into focus, to reveal the complexity of the ties that bind us to one another, to parents, children, siblings, friends and lovers. Pacy and enthralling, The Good Parents is at once a vision of contemporary Australia and a story as old as fairytales: that of a runaway girl.
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Exciting news! Random House Australia is thrilled to announce that three incredible local authors are on the 2009 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards shortlists. Richard Flanagan’s WANTING and Joan London’s THE GOOD PARENTS in fiction and Don Watson’s AMERICAN JOURNEYS. To view the entire shortlist books click here There is, as yet, no date known for the announcement of the winners, we expect...
On winning The Christina Stead Prize for Fiction at last night's NSW Premier's Literary Awards Dinner - London, 60, from Fremantle, said she had wanted to write about parenthood for a long time. "As a parent you are constantly thinking about this process, whether you are doing the right thing," she said. THE GOOD PARENTS, Joan London’s most recent novel, was published in April 2008 to wide acclaim....
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