If you love your literature with a homegrown Aussie bent, then you’re going to love what I’m about to reveal. The Miles Franklin Literary Award 2020 longlist has landed. And it’s good news for lovers of Australian literature looking for their next better-than-good read.
The award, first presented in 1957, celebrates the very best writing from the very best Australian authors that tells a story about Australian life. This year, 10 books make up the Miles Franklin 2020 longlist, with stories including harrowing indigenous experiences of loss and the secrets and terrors that haunt our most ordinary suburbs.
Judge Richard Neville, from the State Library of NSW, says a mix of established and newer Australian authors are in the running to win the $60,000 prize.
“Their novels give voice to a diversity of Australian characters whose common feature is their location on the margins, whether geographical, familial or societal,” he says.
“They explore the ripples and repercussions of childhood trauma, the healing power of friendship, and the unshakeable presence of the past.”
Keep on reading to find out more about all 10 of the Miles Franklin 2020 longlisted books.
Miles Franklin 2020 longlist
1. The White Girl
It’s the 1960s and Odette Brown is raising her granddaughter, Sissy, on the outskirts of a small country town. When authorities start taking fair-skinned Aboriginal children from their families, Odette tried to stay under the radar. But when a new policeman arrives in town to enforce the law, Odette must risk everything to save Sissy and protect the child she loves.
The White Girl by Tony Birch, University of Queensland Press.
2. Room for a Stranger
Meg has lived on her own ever since her sister died, with only a parrot for company. But after a man armed with a knife breaks into her home, she decides it might be time for some company. Enter Andy, a uni student tight on cash who moves into Meg’s house to save some rent money. But Andy soon discovers that living with an elderly woman is harder than he expected.
Room for a Stranger by Melanie Cheng, Text Publishing.
3. Islands
A portrait of a family in crisis from Melbourne writer Frew, it’s about Helen and John who are too caught up in making a mess of their marriage to see the toll it’s taking on their kids. So when 15-year-old Anna doesn’t come home one night, Helen doesn’t panic – yet. That sets in three days later when her rebellious daughter is still missing.
Islands by Peggy Frew, Allen & Unwin.
4. No One
Part road movie, part love story, part crime story, John Hughes’ latest novel centres on a man who hits something as he drives past Redfern Station. There’s a dent in his car – and blood – but no apparent victim. This is a story that looks at modern Australia’s fraught relationship with its indigenous past
No One by John Hughes, UWA Publishing.
5. Act of Grace
An aspiring pianist in Iraq who gets on the wrong side of Saddam Hussein and his psychopathic son. A father who returns from the Iraq War and inflicts terror on his own son. Another man whose father has dementia, bringing the guilt and pain of the past into the present. This is a compelling story of how one generation can pass its damage onto the next.
Act of Grace by Anna Krien, Black Inc.
6. A Season on Earth
A Season on Earth finally brings together four parts of a hilarious story that Gerard Murnane first wrote back in the 1970s. Only the first two parts of this new book were ever published, as A Lifetime of Clouds back in 1976. Finally, Murnane gets to deliver to readers a complete picture of 16-year-old Adrian Shard as he grows up in 1950s Melbourne, from fantasies about orgies with American film stars and unrealistic visions of suburban marital bliss to his struggles with his Catholic faith.
A Season on Earth by Gerald Murnane, Text Publishing.
7. The Returns
Odd couples, even odder encounters and life’s many ironies are at the centre of Salom’s novel. Book editor Elizabeth is looking for a housemate and posts a ‘room for rent’ note in Trevor’s bookshop. She’s surprised when Trevor answers the ad himself. His marriage has fallen apart and he’s looking for a change – and maybe a chance to revive his artistic career.
The Returns by Philip Salom, Transit Lounge.
8. Exploded View
From multi-award winning author Tiffany comes a book that’s both powerful and poetic. It’s about a girl growing up in the outer burbs in 70s Australia and the sinister man who joins her family. This man, who threatens her family, runs an unlicensed mechanic shop on their block. The girl fights him through the only object that seems to draw and centre his emotions – the engine of a Holden car.
Exploded View by Carrie Tiffany, Text Publishing.
9. The Yield
The Yield weaves the Wiradjuri language into a story that celebrates and reclaims indigenous culture while also lamenting how that culture came to be dispossessed. August Gondiwindi has returned home after the death of her grandfather and walks into a fight to save her family’s land from a mining company. It’s a quest that sends her into the past, reconnecting with her grandather’s story, her people and her language.
The Yield by Tara June Winch, Penguin Random House.
10. The Weekend
A book about growing old and growing up, The Weekend tells the story of four women and the lifelong friendship that shifts when one of them dies,
The three survivors – Jude, a once-famous restaurateur, Wendy, an acclaimed public intellectual, and Adele, a renowned but now out-of-work actress gather for Christmas at Sylvie’s beach house to clean it out before it is sold. But without Sylvie, frustrations set in and long-buried hurts rise to the surface, threatening to end their now-fragile friendship for good.
The Weekend by Charlotte Wood, Allen & Unwin.
The Miles Franklin shortlist will be announced on 17 June 2020 and the winner revealed a few weeks later, on 16 July 2020.
Love a good awards book list? Then take a look at the longlist for the 2020 Indie Book Awards or the 2020 International Booker Prize shortlist. And come follow TCWR on Facebook for all the latest book awards news.
I Think the Cover Was Red ... 