CHARLOTTE WOOD
  • Books
    • The Weekend
    • The Natural Way of Things
    • The Writer's Room
    • Love & Hunger
    • Animal People
    • Brothers & Sisters
    • The Children
    • The Submerged Cathedral >
      • Book club notes
    • Pieces of a Girl
  • Bio & photo
  • MEDIA
  • Podcasts
  • for writers
  • Contact
Picture
PIECES OF A GIRL

'I was a glutton for my mother's life, she tells me. Nestled there inside her I took hold and sucked the very blood from her.'

Throughout her childhood Ivy is punished for the theft of her mother’s life. Then Victor arrives suddenly one suburban Sydney summer, and stays, bringing with him the possibility of a father – but also the terrible danger that he might discover June and Ivy’s secret. Twenty years later, when Ivy is uneasily married to Linford, she searches out Victor. In his house by the beach, past and present collide.

Pieces of a Girl is out of print, but secondhand book stores or Ebay sometimes have copies.
















PRIZE LISTINGS 

  • Winner, 1998 Jim Hamilton Award
  • 2000 Dobbie Award, shortlist 
  • 2000 Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelists, commended

REVIEWS

'A novel of genuine wit and intelligence ... by turns funny, weird, playful and sad, but it is, most of all, charming, witty, and beautifully written.'
- James Bradley, Australian Book Review

'Atmospheric and stylish writing, compressed and highly focused.'
- Debra Adelaide, Sydney Morning Herald

'Lean and emotive, mysterious and yet immediate'
- The Sun Herald 

'A teasing fiction that credibly images the confusions and fixations of a woman who comes late to taking possession of her own life … a neat twist on linear depictions of gender bending.'
- The Australian 

'There is something unmistakably edgy about Pieces of a Girl; a moody, atmospheric tension that manages to pervade this dreamscape of a book from the very opening page.… A highly recommended debut.'
- Australian Style 

'Immaculately polished style and lush, inventive imagery'
- Who Magazine 

'Haunting, memorable, highly original.'
- Adelaide Advertiser 

'A promising first novel ... a writer to watch.'
- The Bulletin 

'Charlotte Wood’s debut novel marks her as a fine Australian talent … impressive in her control of mood and voice.'
- The Canberra Times 

'A compelling read, and although the material it deals with is sometimes disturbing, it is made easier for Wood’s lyrical writing and her fascinatingly bizarre characters.'
- Australian Bookseller & Publisher

  • Books
    • The Weekend
    • The Natural Way of Things
    • The Writer's Room
    • Love & Hunger
    • Animal People
    • Brothers & Sisters
    • The Children
    • The Submerged Cathedral >
      • Book club notes
    • Pieces of a Girl
  • Bio & photo
  • MEDIA
  • Podcasts
  • for writers
  • Contact