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After Story
by Larissa Behrendt

When a mother and daughter take the overseas trip of a lifetime, they discover that the past is never quite behind them.

A$32.99

(Paperback)

Available. Dispatched 2-3 business days

Overview

When Indigenous lawyer Jasmine decides to take her mother, Della, on a tour of England’s most revered literary sites, Jasmine hopes it will bring them closer together and help them reconcile the past.

Twenty-five years earlier the disappearance of Jasmine’s older sister devastated their tight-knit community. This tragedy returns to haunt Jasmine and Della when another child mysteriously goes missing on Hampstead Heath. As Jasmine immerses herself in the world of her literary idols – including Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters and Virginia Woolf – Della is inspired to rediscover the wisdom of her own culture and storytelling. But sometimes the stories that are not told can become too great to bear.

Ambitious and engrossing, After Story celebrates the extraordinary power of words and the quiet spaces between. We can be ready to listen, but are we ready to hear?

Details

Awards

Reviews

Media

Kate Grenville

‘A moving story of going far away to find home again – a beautiful, hopeful book.’

Rachel Griffiths

‘A literary tour that speaks to the imagination, connecting the canon of English literature to the lives of a mother and daughter whose own stories have been untold, Larissa weaves an exquisite tapestry that talks to our common humanity that lives within the stories we collect, treasure and share.’

Tony Birch

‘After Story is a work of great originality. It is a tale of discovery and understanding, envisioned through the shared experiences of Della and Jasmine on a journey to the "old country", a place that is not theirs. Through Della and Jasmine we come to understand the depths of familial love, with poignancy, humour and true storytelling.’

Readings

‘An extraordinary novel ... sprawling, cerebral and compassionate.’

Shankari Chandran

‘After Story has everything I want in a book: a lawyer who loves literature; the norms, falsehoods and shame created by our colonised histories (including the literature of the coloniser); and the messy, messy love that ties families together. It's painful, warm and utterly beautiful.’

Clare Wright

‘A gorgeous, clever novel of mother/daughter love and loss, ambitious in conception and masterful in execution.’

Helen Garner

‘I loved it.’

Bri Lee

‘Tell everyone you know how great After Story is.’

Hayley Scrivenor

‘There are insightful meditations on justice, race, shame and love, and it's a touching story about mothers and daughters that features a literary tour of England. You simply can't go wrong.’

Larissa Behrendt presents After Story for NSW Public Libraries

Larissa Behrendt discusses After Story with ABC News Breakfast

Larissa Behrendt

Larissa is the author of three novels: Home, which won the 2002 David Unaipon Award and the regional Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book; Legacy, which won the 2010 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; and After Story. She has published numerous books on Indigenous legal issues; her most recent non-fiction book is Finding Eliza: Power and Colonial Storytelling. She was awarded the 2009 NAIDOC Person of the Year award and 2011 NSW Australian of the Year. Larissa wrote and directed the feature films, After the Apology and Innocence Betrayed and has written and produced several short films. In 2018 she won the Australian Directors’ Guild Award for Best Direction in a Documentary Feature and in 2020 the AACTA for Best Direction in Nonfiction Television. She is the host of Speaking Out on ABC radio and is Distinguished Professor at the Jumbunna Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.