How far will someone go to protect the ones they love? Louise Le Nay explores a heroic story of a grandmother’s determination to save the children in Edenhope.
Divorced 63-year-old Marnie is downwardly mobile and living in the granny flat behind a stranger’s house. When her daughter, Eleanor, brings Marnie’s grandkids to visit, Marnie attempts to shield the children – despite the interference of Eleanor’s repellent boyfriend.
As the situation gets desperate and dangerous, Marnie makes a choice: supporting her daughter through an intractable habit, or protecting her grandchildren.
With endearing decency and quiet, practical heroism, Marnie shows us how people might support those closest to them through devastating addiction, and perhaps how they might create new connections along the way.
Louise Le Nay is a proud resident of country Victoria. Edenhope celebrates the connections that can be forged within tight-knit communities, and is an affecting story of the sanctuary and solace that can be found in Australian country towns.
Louise graduated from NIDA in 1978 and worked in theatre, TV and film, including a stint as Sandy Edwards in 1980s Australian classic soap, Prisoner. Louise has also taught screenwriting and editing at RMIT, and was the short story judge for the Fellowship of Australian Writers annual national competition for 15 years.
Edenhope’s tenderness, harrowing truth and everyday beauty makes it one of the must-read fiction books of the year.
Edenhope is published by Text Publishing and available from all good book sellers including Booktopia.
Image: Edenhope – courtesy of Text Publishing