Summary
Lenny Marks is good at not remembering.
She has spent the last twenty years not thinking about the day her mother left her when she was still a child. Her stepfather’s parting words, however, remain annoyingly unforgettable: ‘You did this.’
Now thirty-seven, Lenny prefers contentment and order over the unreliability of happiness and the messiness of relationships. She fills her days teaching at the local primary school, and her nights playing Scrabble with her pretend housemat…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781761048043 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 176104804X |
| Author: | Kerryn Mayne |
| Publisher: | Random House Australia |
| Imprint: | Bantam Australia Original |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 352 |
| Release Date: | 21 February 2023 |
| Weight: | 470g |
| Dimensions: | 1mm x 1mm x 1mm |
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Critics Review
Fiona Hardy: In the lush, comforting Dandenongs, east of Melbourne, primary school teacher Lenny Marks is living a very organised life. She rides her bike to work, has dutifully polite conversations with her colleagues, buys groceries at McKnights General Store, pretends to know the TV shows that handsome Ned at the checkout talks about, and her sole weekend interaction is with the driver that delivers her chicken pad Thai on Saturdays. Once a fortnight, she visits her foster mother. And Lenny absolutely, resolutely, does not think about what happened in her childhooduntil the day a letter from the parole board arrives. What this unleashes in Lenny will be her undoing, unlesswith the help of those she doesnt yet realise she can count onit will be a liberation. Lenny is an occasionally frustrating, entirely endearing unreliable narrator, one to root for with almost painful force. The reader does not get the full picture of what happened to Lenny Marks back when she was Helena Winters, but the ripples of her childhood pain are still being felt as she grapples with every social interaction and finding the right people to trust. Lennys journey is both harrowing and a balm. It is for those who loved the emotional resonance of Gail Honeymans Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine or the suburban Australian beauty and darkness of Holly Throsbys Clarkeand dont mind a little canine thievery on the side. Fiona Hardy is a childrens author and a bookseller at Readings. Books+Publishing is Australias number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.
About The Author
Kerryn Mayne
Kerryn Mayne is an ex-wedding photographer, current police officer and terrible (but enthusiastic) tennis player. When not at work attempting to solve crime, she is writing about it or preparing an endless stream of snacks for her four children. Kerryn lives in the bayside suburbs of Melbourne with her husband, children and a highly suspect lovebird. She only owns 11 copies of The Hobbit (for now).
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