A Short History of Longans
by Mirandi Riwoe

From the award-winning, bestselling author of Stone Sky Gold Mountain comes the story of an Irish-Chinese family over four generations in Australia.

A$34.99

Ships on 14/07/2026

Overview

‘They said you were a murdering bushranger.’

It’s the winter of 2049 and Daniel is elderly and long isolated. After yet another devastating storm, this time destroying his beloved longan tree, he finds his fragile peace threatened by a growing friendship with a widowed neighbour and the appearance of a young reporter digging into a shameful event buried deep in his past.

Across the autumn of 2000, the summer of 1949 and the restless springs of the mid‑nineteenth century, the tangled roots of Daniel’s family tree unfurl – to the moment an Irish orphan finds her fate entwined with that of a Chinese bushranger.

Intriguing and beautifully written, this dazzling novel spanning centuries and generations unravels the secrets and memories of one Irish-Chinese family to explore what it means to belong – to place, to ancestors, to ourselves.

Details

Siang Lu

‘Gorgeously kaleidoscopic and a deft reckoning of Australian identity. A Short History of Longans is a multigenerational jewel that traces the roots and bloodlines of one family across centuries in ways only Mirandi Riwoe can.’

Shankari Chandran

‘A Short History of Longans is a profoundly tender, intricately crafted novel about ancestry, longing and the fragile threads that bind one life to another. Mirandi Riwoe moves across generations with extraordinary grace, revealing how memory – kept, lost, inherited – shapes who we dare to become. This is storytelling of great compassion and quiet power. Luminous, compassionate and beautifully wrought – Mirandi Riwoe has written a deeply humane and exquisitely moving novel.’

Emily Maguire

‘An exquisitely written multi-generational story about memory and loss, longing and belonging. Mirandi Riwoe writes with immense empathy and razor-sharp attention, creating a work that feels both startlingly intimate and gloriously expansive. A Short History of Longans is a novel that will continue to unfold in your mind long after you’ve finished reading.’’

Mirandi Riwoe

Mirandi Riwoe is the author of Stone Sky Gold Mountain, which won the Queensland Literary Award – Fiction Book Award and the inaugural ARA Historical Novel Prize, and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Her second novel, Sunbirds, was set in wartime Java during World War II and was shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis Award. Her debut novella, The Fish Girl, was also shortlisted for the Stella Prize and the Queensland Literary Award – Fiction Book Award. Her work has appeared in Best Australian Stories, Meanjin, Review of Australian Fiction, Griffith Review and Best Summer Stories. Mirandi has a PhD in Creative Writing and Literary Studies and lives in Brisbane