{"product_id":"fireweather","title":"Fireweather","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eFireweather\u003c\/i\u003e is a quietly radical novel about love, loss, and the wild wisdom of the non-human world.\" New York Times Style Magazine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSusan's Review\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eTwo years ago, I had the pleasure of reviewing Australian writer Miranda Darling’s dark comedy \u003cem\u003eThunderhead\u003c\/em\u003e, set in contemporary suburban Sydney, for the Lane Bookshop’s weekly newsletter. Initially wittily acerbic in tone, the novel gradually reveals the disturbing reality of a seemingly happy marriage. It ends with the main character and narrator, Winona Dalloway, dramatically fleeing with her two young children from a dangerously manipulative and controlling husband. Darling’s new novel \u003cem\u003eFireweather\u003c\/em\u003e takes up Winona’s story, and what an engrossing and moving one it is. Now divorced and fighting for custody of her children, Winona must contend with the continuing hostility of her former husband; a man she consistently refers to as He, a malignant embodiment of the patriarchy. Both He and the judicial, medical and law enforcement systems with which He has extensive contacts are determined to label Winona as “mad.” Irrational. Hysterical.  Unfit to be a mother. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut \u003cem\u003eFireweather\u003c\/em\u003e is more than the story of a woman escaping an abusive relationship: a disturbing experience that’s so often played out in real life, as well as in many notable works of literature (contemporary examples range from Jenny Erpenbeck’s complex political allegory \u003cem\u003eKairos\u003c\/em\u003e to Liane Moriarty’s gripping page-turner \u003cem\u003eBig Little Lies\u003c\/em\u003e). While both \u003cem\u003eThunderhead\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eFireweather\u003c\/em\u003e take us inside Winona’s head, allowing us to share her anxieties, self-doubt, determination and maternal love, this new sequel places her inner life in a wider social context. Winona’s anger against capitalism’s disregard for the preservation of the natural world is symbolised by the bushfires that ravaged the east coast of Australia from 2019 to 2020. She chillingly recalls those apocalyptic images many of us watched with alarm on TV: koalas screaming with the pain of burnt paws; homes torched, acres of land and flora destroyed; four thousand people running to the beach to escape the fires, only to be trapped between the ocean and the flames. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eWinona channels her anger at environmental devastation by caring for animals and plants. Her tenderness contrasts with a society driven by the narcissistic assumption of human superiority, while her desire for unity among all earthly creatures is in stark opposition to society’s competitive drive for money and power. In struggling to deal with such calamities, as well as courageously striving to find a wholeness and inner peace, Winona turns not to conventional therapy and medicine but to the voices in her head.  She names them The Poet, The Nanny, The Archer, representing different aspects of her psyche: the lyrical, the prudent, the cynical and the naive. She also speaks aloud to a creature called Bruce, a pony-sized dog with a keen interest in philosophy; their exchanges are variously profound and hilariously funny about the need to dissolve the barriers between self and other, self and the environment; to create a more just and humane society. Winona’s “madness” is thus represented as a sublime expression of sanity; the truly “mad”, Darling implies, are those who are either indifferent to or actively participate in a morally and spiritually bankrupt world. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThis radical shift in our “normal” perception of the world is evoked in \u003cem\u003eFireweather\u003c\/em\u003e by dissolving the boundaries between Winona’s personal narrative and philosophical and scientific essays; between poetry and prose; between magic realism and the use of “how-to” lists that offer simple solutions to seemingly intractable problems. Formally challenging and relatively sombre in tone, \u003cem\u003eFireweather\u003c\/em\u003e vividly captures a woman’s sense of helplessness against powerful men and institutions, and her anxiety about the future for her children and for herself:\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cem\u003eHe has so many documents and papers and reports – I wish I wish I wish\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cem\u003eI had known what to do.  (And I still don’t know.)  I wish I had not trusted\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cem\u003ethat the good would be seen and the children protected because surely,\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cem\u003esurely – my naivety was breathtaking, and I had not forgotten this lesson. \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cem\u003eI had no faith in a system that couldn’t protect us. \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eBut counterpointing Winona’s frustration and despair is the love of her children; her alertness to the beauty of birdsong; her witnessing and appreciation of acts of kindness. Such moments suggest that, like her namesake Mrs Dalloway in Virginia Woolf’s novel of the same name, she will ultimately affirm the value of life.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eDarling said in a recent interview that she plans to turn her duology – a novel and its sequel - into a trilogy; to keep following the life of a woman pierced by a ferocious love for her children and a longing for justice and respect for all living things. I can highly recommend \u003cem\u003eFireweather\u003c\/em\u003e, recently longlisted for the prestigious Stella Prize. It’s an intelligent, beautifully written and often unexpected novel that encourages us to reflect on a range of issues and ideas that matter; that should matter. I’m looking forward to discovering what Winona Dalloway might do next.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublishers Review\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIt all began when they started running away . . .\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLife for Winona Dalloway is not as it should be. Her husband is no longer her husband, her children are not at home with her, and the city in which she lives is besieged by fires. Black ash falls like snow, songbirds screech like dinosaurs, and the doctors are calling her mad ...\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn this looking-glass world, Winona is forced to prove she is a sane, rational human being. As the pronouncements of the professionals grow more insistent, so too do the voices crowding inside Winona's head. She seeks solace in the company of plants and animals, and begins to imagine an entirely other way of being - one that might make whole her broken heart.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e'\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eFireweather\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a quietly radical novel about love, loss, and the wild wisdom of the non-human world. It arrives like a storm breaking after the stillness of heat, charged with something electric, elemental and beautifully unnerving. At once searing and tender, this sixth offering from the Oxford-educated, genre-defying writer and poet feels less like a traditional novel and more like a meditation - on heartbreak, perception and what might be waiting for us just outside the edges of human comprehension ... the book reveals itself as both a love story and a subversive philosophical inquiry ... Darling weaves poetry, ecology, philosophy and quiet rage into a narrative that reads like Clarice Lispector in a climate crisis. It's darkly funny, often devastating, and paradigm-shifting.'\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e-Viola Raikhel,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Style Magazine- Australia\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e'Darling writes feminist fiction infused with wit, intertextuality and a poetic command of language, creating a compelling, intricate internal voice that stands, too, as a critique of institutional misogyny in psychiatry.'\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e-Cameron Woodhead,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Sydney Morning Herald\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e'Coupled with thought excursions into poetry, fiction, history, aphorisms, pop psychology and beyond, Darling explores the life of a mind, rendering the experience of being inside the head of another  - the self in the world - in a way that is both familiar and unfamiliar. This is at times not an easy read - nor should it be, given the depths of psychological revelation the author is portraying here, but Darling's vision and affection for Winona's journey and her attention to the way words settle on the page makes it a rewarding one.'\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e-Alison Huber,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eReadings\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Miranda Darling","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":62729413722271,"sku":null,"price":29.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0394\/7236\/5727\/files\/Fireweather_AU_UK_US.jpg?v=1773899149","url":"https:\/\/lanebook.com.au\/products\/fireweather","provider":"The Lane Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}