Ache

Book excerpt: The much anticipated new novel - about how a family, and a rural community, recover from a terrible bushfire - from a stunning young Australian writer, Eliza Henry Jones. A year ago, a devastating bushfire ripped Annie's world apart - killing her grandmother, traumatising her young daughter and leaving her mother's home in the mountains half destroyed. Annie fled back to the city, but the mountain continues to haunt her. Now, drawn by a call for help from her uncle, she's going back to the place she loves most in the world, to try to heal herself, her marriage, her daughter and her mother. A heart-wrenching, tender and lovely novel about loss, grief and regeneration, Ache is not only a story of how we can be broken, but how we can put ourselves back together. Eliza Henry Jones' remarkable debut novel, In the Quiet, was shortlisted for the 2015 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Award and longlisted for the ABIA and Indie Awards. PRAISE FOR ACHE 'Eliza Henry Jones' second novel demands that you slow down, take a breath and settle in ... This beautifully written novel ... is recommended for those who loved Stephanie Bishops' The Other Side of the World or Alice Munro's short stories. Ache is the perfect account of a woman on the edge, moving towards peace. It is an extraordinary creation from a young novelist.' Bookseller+Publisher ' Henry-Jones divines unconventional familial relationship and loss of place with a wand of love. Elementally moving.' Australian Women's Weekly 'Moving without being sentimental; Henry-Jones has trained as a grief and trauma counsellor, and her characters ring impressively true in their actions and reactions' Sydney Morning Herald 'A tender tale, suggesting we can always fix what's been broken.' Yours 'Insightful, thoughtful ... clever and rich ... Eliza Henry-Jones's gift for close observation and emotional nuance is undeniable.' The Saturday Paper PRAISE FOR IN THE QUIET 'Eliza Henry-Jones is a young author (only twenty five) and she writes with remarkable maturity... I fell in love with it slowly, over the course of many chapters. It’s a quiet book (appropriately named) and an utterly lovely one' Readings 'Henry-Jones, in her debut novel, has structured a glorious book that will make you cry, guaranteed. But it's also uplifting and tender. A surprise find' Sydney Morning Herald 'You will weep, and marvel, and pass this book on, and on, to your friends' Nikki Gemmell