Maggie

As soon as I swam past the first phrase I was in, in a world, past yet present, old yet eternally young, a world I did not want to leave. A story of abuse, yes, a story of betrayal, yes, but above all a work of high literature that was as gripping as it was meaningful. I read till one in the morning. The characters are all sharply defined, the narrative voice powerful, mesmerising. The language is unerringly beautiful and poised, but so natural, you are there - immediately, standing in the garden, in the cities she describes. This is the story of a woman’s near annihilation and her recovering the scattered atoms of her life - as if she were finding her way back to a lost garden that was there before everything happened. - Catherine de Saint Phalle, Stella-Prize shortlisted author of Poum and Alexandre

Catherine Johns has taught English and French in Melbourne secondary schools, and English in TAFE. Her short stories have been published in Meanjin and Island Magazine. One of these was shortlisted for The Age short story competition. Maggie is her first novel. Catherine lives and writes in Melbourne.