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New release
First Nations

Edenglassie
by Melissa Lucashenko

In this epic novel set in Brisbane when First Nations people still outnumber the colonists, award-winning Goorie author Melissa Lucashenko tells two extraordinary stories set five generations apart.

A$32.99

(Trade paperback)

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Overview
Details
Awards
Reviews

Overview

When Mulanyin meets the beautiful Nita in Edenglassie, their saltwater people still outnumber the British. As colonial unrest peaks, Mulanyin dreams of taking his bride home to Yugambeh Country, but his plans for independence collide with white justice.

Two centuries later, fiery activist Winona meets Dr Johnny. Together they care for obstinate centenarian Granny Eddie, and sparks fly, but not always in the right direction. What nobody knows is how far the legacies of the past will reach into their modern lives.

In this brilliant epic, Melissa Lucashenko torches Queensland’s colonial myths, while reimagining an Australian future.

Details

ISBN

9780702266126

Binding

Paperback C

Pages

320

Release Date

3/10/2023

2023-10-03T00:00:00+10:00

Rights Held

World

Awards

Winner, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2024 – Fiction

Winner, Indie Book Awards 2024

Winner, 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards – Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year

Shortlisted, 2024 Prime Ministers’ Literary Award – Fiction

Winner,2024 Queensland Literary Awards – Queensland Premier’s Award for a Work of State Significance

Shortlisted, 2024 Queensland Literary Awards – The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award

Shortlisted, 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards – Audiobook of the Year (Audible Australia)

Winner, 2024 BookPeople Book of the Year – Adult fiction

Shortlisted, 2024 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award

Shortlisted, 2024 Barbara Jefferis Award

Shortlisted, 2024 Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award

Longlisted, 2024 Miles Franklin Literary Award

Longlisted, 2024 Stella Prize

Reviews

‘Gripping, political, horny, moving and very, very funny. Make it into a film already.’ Imogen Dewey, The Guardian

‘A literary epic ... The tragedy, injustice and brutality of the British invasion are made visible in the historical setting as well as in the contemporary one, where we see its impact on the present-day characters, but Edenglassie also portrays deep hope, resistance and reverence, and is fierce in its commitment to building a rich life swelling with love.’ Books + Publishing

‘In a starry year for First Nations writing, Melissa Lucashenko’s mesmerising Edenglassie (UQP) brilliantly illuminates a slice of history that was largely obscure to me. Expertly twining a contemporary narrative and a historical one, Edenglassie is wrenching at times, very funny at others, and always arresting. Lucashenko is an exhilarating writer, and this generous book is her most remarkable to date.’ Michelle de Kretser

‘[Melissa's] bashed out a space for herself in our literary culture with work that’s both demotic, funny, and uncompromising.’ Tim Winton

‘A haunting new epic novel from one of our finest storytellers.’ Australian Women's Weekly

‘Edenglassie paints a nuanced picture of the complex weave of relationships between the colonists and Goorie people, as well as bearing witness to terrible acts committed on country – massacres, stolen children – but it retains a grim humour, a lightness of foot, and a palpable commitment to never giving up on the ongoing struggle for recognition and respect. It is a rage-informed, joyful, rollicking, straight-talking yarn of the strength and persistence of Goorie people in Brisbane since the coming of the Dagai.’ Readings

‘Brimming with unforgettable characters and love in all its guises, Edenglassie is as heart-warming as it is heart-breaking. A voice for our times, Lucashenko shows us how to look to the future while holding the past close.’ Cheryl Akle, The Weekend Australian

‘Edenglassie moves in a great concentric arc with many ripples, like those in the river that is central to the action; and which is an ancient, unbroken vein that pulses life from past to present to future in a continuous cycle. Despite horrific colonial injustices meted out to Goories, this is a story of strength and love. It is an accumulation of all times – a testimony to the continuation of Aboriginal storytelling, value systems, intellectualism, scientific and technological literacy, and understandings of time, non-human agency, and Country.’ Australian Book Review

‘Edenglassie - an early name for Brisbane - slides deftly between past and present and eyes a future for all.’ The Age

‘It is always such a pleasure to read Melissa Lucashenko’s writing. The interwoven timelines are seamless, the research is impeccable and nothing feels needlessly included because it was learned, the brutality is there but never gratuitous, and my heart sang and wept in equal measure.’ Lexie, Better Read than Dead

‘I could barely breathe towards the end of Edenglassie. Lucashenko bridges the gap between past and present in a way that’s utterly devastating… and also, somehow, she’s very funny. I don’t know how she does it, but she does it so well. I think this novel is brilliant.’ Jane, The Bookshop Bowral

‘Melissa Lucashenko is our poet laureate of ratbags’ Michael Williams, Read This podcast

‘Because it's Miles Franklin Award-winning Goorie writer Melissa Lucashenko taking us into this complex moment, there's humour as well as toughness, a distinct voice with dry asides layering up the banks and valleys and swamps and expanding landscape of Brisbane, once briefly called Edenglassie.’ Kate Evans, ABC Arts

‘In a place of biblical beauty, 'Edenglassie', the latest epic by Miles Franklin-winner Melissa Lucashenko, reflects a luminous spectrum of Aboriginal experience over five generations. Powered by a tidal rhythm that both enamours and smashes the heart, two life stories expand into a universe of meaning.’ The Saturday Paper

‘This novel is a gift to all who pick it up and journey with the stories it holds.’ The Conversation

‘Melissa Lucashenko's new novel is a myth busting tour de force’ InQueensland

‘Lucashenko’s meticulously researched novel speaks to a deep-seated violence not just in the past, but in the way our colonial history continues to be represented. Edenglassie forms part of an essential conversation about our shared heritage; its urgent and modest request is that we listen.’ The Sydney Morning Herald

‘Melissa Lucashenko’s Edenglassie (UQP) is a wonderfully expansive exploration of Queensland’s past and projected future, its voices immaculately inhabited. Extraordinary.’ Lucy Treloar

‘Both a ripper riff on the historical genre and a brilliant manual for decolonisation in action – I’ll never see Magandjin the same way again.’ Jennifer Mills

‘Lucashenko gives an Aboriginal voice to a colonial historical record from which we were often excluded.’ Raelee Lancaster, Kill Your Darlings

‘Lucashenko skewers white guilt and blows up colonial myths with a good dose of dark humour. She challenges us to not look away from the violence of the past while inviting us to imagine a better future.’ Justine Hyde, The Saturday Paper

‘The Queensland writer won the Miles Franklin for her last novel, Too Much Lip, and at the time said she was ready to write her “big book”. Well, here it is, and it lives up to her billing, dealing – after significant research – with the days when colonialists hadn’t quite outnumbered the Indigenous population in Brisbane, and the violence the former inflicted on the latter ... It’s a book that yearns for respect and honesty between black and white.’ Jason Steger, The Age

‘Edenglassie is Lucashenko at her best. There's a feisty female lead, romance, suspense, wit and intrigue. It's an ambitious novel that is beautiful, boisterous, and deeply moving - a lens on Australia's past that inspires you to think about how we might shape a more equitable future.’ Sarah Malik, SBS

‘With Edenglassie, Lucashenko further cements herself as one of the most interesting and important contemporary authors.’ ArtsHub

‘This is an epic novel. Lucashenko shows the interconnectivity between the past and the present. There is much going on in this book, and its stories can be read as a treatise on colonialism and its impact on the history of modern Australia. It is almost a shock to read Lucashenko’s acknowledgements at the end and realise that this is a work of fiction, it is so deeply informed by her research.’ Newtown Review of Books

‘Searing and necessary literature for everyone. It is also incredibly gutsy and funny.’ Karen Leong, RUSSH

Melissa Lucashenko

Melissa Lucashenko is a Goorie (Aboriginal) author of Bundjalung and European heritage. Her first novel was published in 1997 and since then her work has received acclaim in many literary awards. Her sixth novel, Too Much Lip, won the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Queensland Premier’s Award for a work of State Significance. It was also shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Stella Prize, two Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, two Queensland Literary Awards and two NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Melissa is a Walkley Award winner for her non-fiction, and a founding member of human rights organisation Sisters Inside. She writes about ordinary Australians and the extraordinary lives they lead. Edenglassie has won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Indie Book Award for Fiction and the BookPeople Adult Fiction Book of the Year.