Peta's Review

Winner of the TAG Hungerford Award, Papas’ debut novel explores the lasting effects an illness can have on a family. Set in Lake Clifton, WA, this is a thoughtful, engaging and beautifully written novel which feels grounded in experience.
 

Publisher Statements

Winner of the 2020 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award, Skimming Stones is Maria Papas's debut novel about the lasting effects an illness can have on a family. It's a heartfelt story full of hope and courage.

Grace first met her lover, Nate, as a teenager, their bond forged in the corridors and waiting rooms where siblings of cancer patients sit on the sidelines.

Now an adult, for Grace, nursing is a comforting world of science and certainty. But the paediatric ward is also a place of miracles and heartbreak and, when faced with a dramatic emergency, Grace is confronted with memories of her sister's illness.

Heading south to Lake Clifton and the haunts of her childhood, Grace discovers that a stone cast across a lake sends out ripples long after the stone has gone.