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Bernadette Jiwa
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Bernadette Jiwa
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Praise

An absorbing, brilliantly paced book; I didn't want it to end.

- Roddy Doyle

The Making of Her sucked me in from the very first page, and didn’t let up until I’d turned the last. Heart-warming and heart-breaking, it is an exquisite examination of the secrets that haunt us. I cried several times. A stunning debut.

- Sally Hepworth

Bernadette Jiwa writes with compassion and grace about what it means to be a mother, a daughter and a sister.

- Pip Williams

Oh how I love this novel! Once I started reading I never looked away, except when my eyes filled with tears. The Making of Her renders its characters so perfectly, and with so much compassion, they feel like dear friends after only a few chapters. Bernadette Jiwa has written a beautiful tribute to what our lives can become when shame is forgotten, and love is reclaimed.

- Nina de Gramont

Bernadette Jiwa’s moving fiction debut, The Making of Her, explores the impact of secrets, the magnitude of our choices, and the tenuous binds of family. Set in Dublin and shifting between past and present, this deeply evocative novel is a masterful study into what it really means to love, and to forgive. The Making of Her is ultimately a story about the plight and power of women, and is not to be missed.

- Karma Brown

THE MAKING OF HER is a compelling and tender exploration of the unattainable expectations of women, the shame and guilt inherent in motherhood, and the reverberations of the hardest choices we make. Jiwa gives us a beautifully crafted, thought-provoking novel that ultimately celebrates the strength of women. A true pleasure to read.

- Ashley Audrain

About the Book

THE MAKING OF HER is a page-turning mother-daughter love story, spanning three decades from the 1960s to 1990s, charting one woman’s journey to escape the legacy of the society that shaped her.

‘An absorbing, brilliantly paced book; I didn’t want it to end.’ Roddy Doyle

People were forever telling her how lucky she was. But what did people know?

Dublin 1966. When Joan Quinn, a factory girl from the Cranmore Estate, marries Martin Egan, it looks like her dreams have come true. But all is not as it seems.

Joan lives in the shadow of a secret – the couple’s decision to give up their first daughter for adoption only months before.

For the next three decades, Joan’s marriage and her relationship with her second child Carmel suffer as a consequence.

Then one day in 1996, a letter arrives from their eldest daughter. Emma needs her birth parents’ help; it’s a matter of life and death. And the fragile facade of Joan’s life finally begins to crack.

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Available June 2022

Australia

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Imprint : Bantam Australia
Pages : 352
ISBN : 9781761045004
ISBN-10 : 1761045008
Publisher : Random House Australia
Category : Historical fiction , General Fiction

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The perfect long weekend read, the brilliant @sall The perfect long weekend read, the brilliant @sallyhepworth’s latest novel #darlinggirls.

Not only is Sally a prolific author, she is the most generous champion of female writers I know. 

Happy publication week, Sally! 💛✨🎉💚
Precious snail mail from my @varunawritershouse si Precious snail mail from my @varunawritershouse sister, poet and firestarter @alicobbyeckermann 🔥🧡🔥
Hard to beat the view from Circular Quay train sta Hard to beat the view from Circular Quay train station. 💙
A comfy chair, a cup of tea, a patch of sun and an A comfy chair, a cup of tea, a patch of sun and another @thebookerprizes long listed book for company. 

Paul Harding said the gorgeous prose in #thisothereden was written mostly on PostIt notes. 

Here’s to all the ways we get to do the work of bringing stories to the world.
It’s here! I’ve been waiting to get my hands o It’s here! I’ve been waiting to get my hands on a copy of @ashleyaudrain second novel since it was released. I read her first, The Push in a day. It was THAT good. 

Carley Fortune says: ‘Nobody writes the secret lives of women like Ashley Audrain.’ 

I couldn’t have said it better. And will read everything and anything she writes.
The energy of a place is created by the people who The energy of a place is created by the people who inhabit it. I’ve been posting photos of the special place that is #varunawritershouse this past week. Today, easing back into the work alone at my desk, I’m tapping into the kind, creative energy of my fellow writers. Here’s to fire starters, whale whisperers, happy pants, love letters and the glue of friendship. @heather_gallagher_author @lmarti_journo @chloe_writes.baby @alicobbyeckermann & Manisha.
A writer’s dream. Tea and quiet. Cosy couches an A writer’s dream. Tea and quiet. Cosy couches and community. Books and a sunny spot to read. #varunawritershouse
The quiet corners at Varuna The quiet corners at Varuna
Garden glimpses at Varuna, The Writers’ House Garden glimpses at Varuna, The Writers’ House
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