Helen Garner

De flesta svenskar, också de hyggligt belästa, får lätt något panikslaget i blicken om de ombeds nämna en enda australiensisk författare, skriver Jan Arnald i förordet till Australien berättar som är en antologi med ett brett urval av samtidsförfattare från denna ofta förbisedda kontinent. Den aboriginska urbefolkningen har den längsta obrutna kulturhistorien av jordklotets alla folkslag, men ur ett västerländskt perspektiv är den australiensiska litteraturen i stort sätt nyfödd. I denna antologi finns såväl aboriginska som icke-aboriginska författare representerade. På olika sätt förhåller de sig till det australiska; dess samhälle såväl som dess säregna mytologi. Inte minst bearbetar flera av författarna på olika sätt sin egen historia. Först i februari 2008 bad den australiensiska staten officiellt om ursäkt för sin förtryckarpolitik gentemot aboriginerna. Australien berättar fyller en lucka i den bokliga allmänbildningen i Sverige, genom att ge läsare möjligheten att bekanta sig med noveller som sträcker sig från det komiska till det tragiska, från det underhållande till det reflekterande mer sällan än inte på en och samma gång. Australien berättar utkommer i Tranans uppskattade berättarserie, som presenterar framstående novellistik från hela världen, inte sällan av författare som aldrig tidigare kommit ut på svenska. Hittills har tretton volymer utkommit, senast med noveller från Lettland och Egypten.

Helen Garner has kept a diary for most of her adult life. Now she is widely recognised as one of the greatest writers of our age. But, of all her books, it is her diaries that she likes best. Collected for the first time into one volume, these inimitable diaries show Garner like never before: as a fledging author in bohemian Melbourne, publishing her lightning-rod debut novel while raising a young daughter in the 1970s; in the throes of an all-consuming love affair in the 1980s; and clinging to a disintegrating marriage in the 1990s. How to End a Story reveals the inner life of a woman in love, a mother, a friend and a formidable writer at work. Told with devastating honesty, steel-sharp wit and an ecstatic attention to the details of everyday life, it offers all the satisfactions of a novel alongside the enthralling intimacy of something written in private and just for pleasure. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY LESLIE JAMISON

In October 1997 a clever young law student at ANU made a bizarre plan to murder her devoted boyfriend after a dinner party at their house. Some of the dinner guests - most of them university students - had heard rumours of the plan. Nobody warned Joe Cinque. He died one Sunday, in his own bed, of a massive dose of rohypnol and heroin. His girlfriend and her best friend were charged with murder. Helen Garner followed the trials in the ACT Supreme Court. Compassionate but unflinching, this is a book about how and why Joe Cinque died. A prizewinning masterwork from one of Australia's greatest writers, Joe Cinque's Consolation probes the gap between ethics and the law; examines the helplessness of the courts in the face of what we think of as 'evil'; and explores conscience, culpability and the battered ideal of duty of care. A W&N Essential

In the autumn of 1992, two young women students at Melbourne University went to the police claiming that they had been indecently assaulted at a party. The man they accused was the head of their co-ed residential college. The controversial book that Helen Garner wrote about the resulting Ormond College sexual harassment case caused a social media storm. Prominent feminists were outraged at Garner's perceived support for the man involved, but many saw her approach a necessary and much welcome nuance towards the power dynamic between men and women. Either way, The First Stone sparked a raging debate about sexual harassment in Australia, making it easy to see why even now, thirty years on, the book is no less sharp, no less relevant and no less divisive. A W&N Essential

In July 2023, in a quiet Australian country town, Erin Patterson - stay-at-home mother and true crime devotee - invited her husband's devoutly Christian family to lunch. Within days, three of her guests were dead and the fourth was in a coma. They had all been poisoned by death cap mushrooms. Two years later, Patterson stood trial, accused of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. The court case gripped the nation and fascinated people all over the world. Among those drawn into the drama were three renowned Australian writers: Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein. Together, they joined the daily media scrum at the Latrobe Valley Law Courts and spent long days immersed in the case's sinister and complex themes: love, hate, jealousy, revenge, marriage, money, mycology and murder. The Mushroom Tapes is a true crime book like no other - a uniquely enlightening study of Erin Patterson and our collective obsession with her strange and terrible crime.

Stories brings together in one volume the short fiction of Australian literary legend Helen Garner

True Stories brings together in one volume the short non-fiction of Australian literary legend Helen Garner

A finely etched collection of short stories from the "generous, category-defying imagination" (New York Times Book Review) of Helen Garner, one of Australia's most beloved writers A woman sends postcards to a former lover from the idyllic Gold Coast. A chorus of hometown voices gossip about a wayward friend returned. A young girl discovers a hidden box of horrors. Helen Garner is best known for her frank, unsparing, and intricate portraits of Australian life. Now, in Stories, comes the collected short fiction of a singular literary voice. These stories delve into the complexities of love and longing, of the pain, darkness, and joy of life, and all told with Garner's characteristic sharpness, honesty, and humor. Each one is a perfect piece, but together they showcase a rare talent and a master of many literary forms.

In July 2023, in a quiet Australian country town, Erin Patterson - stay-at-home mother and true crime devotee - invited her husband's devoutly Christian family to lunch. Within days, three of her guests were dead and the fourth was in a coma. They had all been poisoned by Death Cap mushrooms. Two years later, Patterson stood trial, accused of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. The court case gripped people all over the world. Among those drawn into the drama were three renowned Australian writers: Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein. Together, they joined the daily media scrum at the Latrobe Valley Law Courts and spent long days immersed in the case's themes: love, hate, jealousy, revenge, marriage, money, mycology and murder. The Mushroom Tapes is a true crime book like no other - a uniquely enlightening study of Erin Patterson and our collective obsession with her strange and terrible crime.

In July 2023, in a quiet Australian country town, Erin Patterson - stay-at-home mother and true crime devotee - invited her husband's devoutly Christian family to lunch. Within days, three of her guests were dead and the fourth was in a coma. They had all been poisoned by death cap mushrooms. Two years later, Patterson stood trial, accused of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. The court case gripped the nation and fascinated people all over the world. Among those drawn into the drama were three renowned Australian writers: Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein. Together, they joined the daily media scrum at the Latrobe Valley Law Courts and spent long days immersed in the case's sinister and complex themes: love, hate, jealousy, revenge, marriage, money, mycology and murder. The Mushroom Tapes is a true crime book like no other - a uniquely enlightening study of Erin Patterson and our collective obsession with her strange and terrible crime.

I'm trying to write about footy and my grandson and me. About boys at dusk. A little life-hymn. A poem. A record of a season we spend together before he turns into a man and I die.It's footy season in Melbourne, and Helen Garner is following her grandson's under-16s team. She not only goes to every game (give or take), but to every training session too, shivering on the sidelines at dusk, fascinated by the spectacle.She's a passionate Western Bulldogs fan with an imperfect grasp of the rules, who loves the epic theatre of AFL football. But her devotion to the under-16s offers her something else. This is her chance to connect with her youngest grandchild, to be close to him before he rushes headlong into manhood. To witness his triumphs and defeats, to fear for his safety in battle, to gasp and to cheer for his team as it fights for a place in the finals.With her sharp eye, generous wit and warm humour, Garner documents this pivotal moment, both as part of the story and as silent witness. The Season is an unexpected and exuberant book: a celebration of the nobility, grace and grit of team spirit, a reflection on the nature of masculinity, and a tribute to the game's power to thrill us.

From the beloved master of Australian letters Helen Garner comes a brand new work of nonfiction, exploring boyhood, football, and the quotidian joys of family life. Helen Garner is one of the most "prodigiously gifted" writers of our time (The New York Times Book Review), best known for her intricate portraits of "ordinary people in difficult times" (New York Times). In The Season, she trains her keen, journalistic eye on the most difficult time of all: adolescence. Garner and her grandson Amby are deep in the throes of a shared obsession with Australian football--or "footy"--as Amby advances into his local club's Under-16s. From her trademark remove, Garner documents the camaraderie and the competition on the field: the bracing nights of training, the endurance of pain, the growth of a gaggle of laughing boys into a formidable, focused team. The Season is part dispatch on boyhood, chronicling the tenderness between young men that so often scurries away under too bright a spotlight, and part love letter to parenthood and family, as Garner becomes enmeshed in the community that gathers to watch their boys do battle. The Season finds Garner rejoicing in the later years of her life, surprised to discover their riches--a bright, generously funny, exuberant book from one of our great living writers.

A BBC "100 Books That Shaped the World" " Helen Garner's] novels give the impression of being in sharper focus than most."--New Yorker The novel that launched the career of one of Australia's greatest writers, following the doomed infatuations of a young, single mother, enthralled by the excesses of late-70s Melbourne Set in Australia in the late 1970s, Monkey Grip follows single mother and writer Nora as she navigates the tumultuous cityscape of Melbourne's bohemian underground, often with her young daughter Gracie in tow. When Nora falls in love with the flighty Javo, she becomes snared in the web of his addiction. And as their tenuous relationship disintegrates, Nora struggles to wean herself off a love that feels impossible to live without. When it first published in 1977, Monkey Grip was both a sensation and a lightning rod. While some critics praised the upstart Garner for her craft, many scorned her gritty depictions of the human body and all its muck, her frankness about sex and drugs and the mess of motherhood, and her unabashed use of her own life as inspiration. Today, Monkey Grip is considered a modern masterpiece. A seminal novel of Australia's turbulent 1970s and all it entailed--communal households, thrumming clubs, friendships, children, love, drugs, and sex--Monkey Grip now makes its long-overdue American debut.

Athena og Dexter Fox er lykkelige. De elsker hverandre. De er venner. Sammen med sine to sønner bor de i et i et sparsomt møblert hus i Melbourne. Det er sprekker i veggene, gulvene er skjeve, og dørene henger løst på hengslene. Det står et piano på kjøkkenet En dag støter Dexter på Elizabeth, en gammel venn fra studietiden. Med seg inn i Dexter og Athenas liv tar hun musikerkjæresten Philip, og den 17 år gamle søsteren Vicki. Litt etter litt tøyes båndene som holder familien samlet - helt til de plutselig står i fare for å ryke for godt. Bach for barn er en lavmælt, glitrende studie av dragningen mellom frihet og familie. Romanen ble hyllet da den først ble utgitt i 1984, og finner i dag nye lesere som en moderne australsk klassiker. «... dette er en bok ingen forlater før en har fått merker av den. (...) «Bach for barn» er ingen umiddelbar hitlåt, men noen få bøker fortjener en ny sjanse. Jeg blar tilbake til første side og begynner forfra igjen. Og nå, ja nå, svinger det!» Gabriel Michael Vosgraff Moro, VG (Terningkast 5)

'I revere Helen Garner's writing, and it's in her diaries that she's at her acute, rigorous, pitch-perfect best' Nigella Lawson'I come back again and again to Garner's diaries and always find something new to admire. Her wit and observations are brilliant and her thoughts on writing are a guide' Daisy Johnson'I love Helen Garner's diaries. I would read her grocery lists' Fatima Bhutto'The diaries are the apotheosis of Helen Garner's entire career, and the most exciting thing she has ever published . . . Beautiful, riveting, formally electrifying' Lit HubLooking out the window at the two big gum trees, as it gets dark, I think: the only way I can go on keeping a diary - the bits about myself, anyway, i.e. most of it - is to conceive of it as a record of soul. Helen Garner has kept a diary for most of her adult life. Now she is widely recognised as one of the greatest writers of our age. But, of all her books, it is her diaries that she likes best.Collected for the first time into one volume, these inimitable diaries show Garner like never before: as a fledging author in bohemian Melbourne, publishing her lightning-rod debut novel while raising a young daughter in the 1970s; in the throes of an all-consuming love affair in the 1980s; and clinging to a disintegrating marriage in the 1990s.How to End a Story reveals the inner life of a woman in love, a mother, a friend and a formidable writer at work. Told with devastating honesty, steel-sharp wit and an ecstatic attention to the details of everyday life, it offers all the satisfactions of a novel alongside the enthralling intimacy of something written in private and just for pleasure.

For the first time ever, collected here are all three volumes of the diaries of Helen Garner, inviting readers into the world behind the novels and nonfiction of a literary force. "This is one for the introverts -- the wary and the peevish, the uncertain of their looks, taste, talent and class status . . . . Garner's] prose is clear, honest, and economical; take it or leave it."--Dwight Garner, New York Times Book Review The name Helen Garner commands near-universal acclaim. A master of many literary forms, Garner is best known for her frank, unsparing, and intricate portraits of "ordinary people in difficult times" (New York Times). But the inspiration for it all was her extensive collection of diaries--fastidiously kept, intricately written, and delightfully dishy, unspooling the inner lives of her insular world in bohemian Melbourne. Now, for the first time, all three volumes of Garner's inimitable diaries are collected into one book. Spanning more than two decades, each finely etched volume reveals Garner like never before: a fledgling author publishing her lightning-rod debut novel in the late 70s; in the throes of a consuming affair in the late 80s; and clinging to a disintegrating marriage in the late 90s. And all the while, they bear witness to one of the world's great writers hard at work. Devastatingly honest and disarmingly funny, How to End a Story is a portrait of loss, betrayal, and the sheer force of a woman's anger--but also of resilience, quotidian moments of joy, the immutable ties of motherhood, and the regenerative power of a room of one's own.

The New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice - The engrossing true-crime classic from "a master anatomist of ordinary people in difficult times" (New York Times), that follows a man and his broken life, a community wracked by tragedy, and the long and torturous road to closure On the evening of Father's Day, 2005, separated husband Robert Farquharson was driving his three young sons back to their mom's house when the car veered off the road and plunged into a dam. Farquharson survived the crash, but his boys drowned. Was this a tragic accident, or an act of revenge? The court case that followed became a national obsession--a macabre parade of witnesses, family members, and the defendant himself, each forced to relive the unthinkable for an audience of millions. In This House of Grief, celebrated writer Helen Garner tells the definitive and deeply absorbing story of it all, from crash to final verdict. Through a panoply of perspectives, including her own as a member of the public, Garner captures the exacting procedure and brutal spectacle of Australia's criminal justice system. The result is a richly textured portrait--of a man and his broken life, of a community wracked by tragedy, and of the long and torturous road to closure. Considered a literary institution in Australia, Helen Garner's incisive nonfiction evokes the keen eye of the New Journalists. Brisk, candid, and never dismissive of its flawed subjects, This House of Grief is a masterwork of literary journalism.

The New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice - Now in a new edition with a foreword by Rumaan Alam, a modern classic from one of Australia's greatest writers - "It's high time American readers knew her generous, category-defying imagination."--New York Times "The Children's Bach is Garner's] masterpiece."--Public Books Set in suburban Melbourne in the early 1980s, The Children's Bach centers on Dexter and Athena Fox, their two sons, and the insulated world they've built together. Despite the routine challenges of domestic life, they are largely happy. But when a friend from Dexter's past resurfaces and introduces the couple to the city's bohemian underground--unbound by routine and driven by desire--Athena begins to wonder if life might hold more for her, and the tenuous bonds that tie the Foxes together start to fray. A literary institution in Australia, Helen Garner's perfectly formed novels embody the tumultuous 1970s and 1980s. Drawn on a small canvas and with a subtle musical backdrop, The Children's Bach is "a jewel" (Ben Lerner) within Garner's revered catalogue, a beloved work that solidified her place among the masters of modern letters, a finely etched masterpiece that weighs the burdens of commitment against the costs of liberation.