The Golden Book

Kate Ryan

‘An exquisite study of the liminal space between words and acts, and the necessary redrafting of our life stories. This is a golden book.’

Myfanwy Jones, author of Leap

‘A gorgeous evocation of the wildness of youth, and of what it takes to find love after disaster. Kate Ryan writes from the heart. Earthy, lovely, and profound. A beautiful, resonant book.’

Peggy Frew, author of Islands

View all reviews

‘Kate Ryan has constructed a superb literary novel, but one that is also written in an absorbing, immersive prose. The storytelling is direct and often visceral, concerned with telling the truth of the human condition … An assured debut from a writer who has honed her craft and written something genuine and true.’

Chris Saliba, North Melbourne Books

‘The Golden Book is well paced and well plotted.’

Annie Condon, Readings

‘[The Golden Book] is a tightly woven and compelling story about the incorruptibility of childhood friendships, the bitterness of teenage rivalry and the impact of childhood trauma as it unfurls over time … Ryan reveals Ali's past with tantalising slowness, expertly interspersing Ali's adult life with visceral memories from her childhood … The Golden Book is the rare novel you will want to read in one session and not put down.’

Raphaelle Race, The Big Issue

‘[The Golden Book] is strongly grounded in disquieting ideas about the relationship between writing and truth.’

Kerryn Goldsworthy, The Sydney Morning Herald

‘The Golden Book is an original, ambitious and engaging debut. Ryan shows her writerly virtuoso in the sophisticated way she tells this story, ultimately offering readers insights into the nature of power, memory and forgetting, and the nature of ambivalence — ‘the safety and the sinking’ — that characterises all intimate relationships.’

H C Gildfind, Good Reading, starred review

‘[An] accomplished début … The Golden Book moves seamlessly across time. Ryan's language is direct and unshowy; she paces the story with admirable restraint … The result is a thoughtful and unassuming novel that raises questions about guilt, blame and the fickleness of memory.’

Polly Simons, Australian Book Review

‘The Golden Book is a quietly beautiful debut from Kate Ryan that asks profound questions about responsibility, blame and, ultimately, love … [This] is an exquisite and deeply resonant literary novel that captures the nostalgia of youth.’

Cheryl Akle, The Weekend Australian

Jessie had said they should go at midnight. 'It’s the gods’ time,' she said, narrowing her eyes dramatically. 'Anything could happen.’

It’s the 1980s, and in their small coastal town, Ali and her best friend, Jessie, are on the cusp. With ‘The Golden Book’, a journal of incantation and risk taking as their record, they begin to chafe at the restrictions put on them by teachers, parents, each other. Then Jessie suffers a devastating accident, and both their lives are forever changed.

When Ali is an adult, with a young daughter herself, the news of Jessie’s death brings back the intensity of that summer, forcing her to reckon with her own role in what happened to Jessie so many years ago.

As this stunning debut moves back and forth in time, and Ali’s secrets are forced into the light, Kate Ryan asks profound questions about responsibility and blame, and, ultimately, about love.

‘An exquisite study of the liminal space between words and acts, and the necessary redrafting of our life stories. This is a golden book.’

Myfanwy Jones, author of Leap

‘A gorgeous evocation of the wildness of youth, and of what it takes to find love after disaster. Kate Ryan writes from the heart. Earthy, lovely, and profound. A beautiful, resonant book.’

Peggy Frew, author of Islands

View all reviews

Chris Saliba, North Melbourne Books

‘The Golden Book is well paced and well plotted.’

Annie Condon, Readings

Raphaelle Race, The Big Issue

‘[The Golden Book] is strongly grounded in disquieting ideas about the relationship between writing and truth.’

Kerryn Goldsworthy, The Sydney Morning Herald

H C Gildfind, Good Reading, starred review

Polly Simons, Australian Book Review

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 210mm × 135mm

Extent:256pp

ISBN (13):9781922310088

RRP:$29.99

Pub date:3 Aug 2021

Rights Held: World

High-res cover:Download Image

BOOK CLUB NOTES:Download PDF

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AUTHOR

Kate Ryan

Kate Ryan writes fiction and nonfiction and her work has appeared in publications including New Australian Writing,The Sleepers Almanac, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, the Griffith Review, and Best Australian Stories. Her picture books were published by Penguin and Lothian. She won the Writers Prize in the 2015 Melbourne Prize for Literature and the novella category in the 2017 Lord Mayor’s Creative Writing Awards. Her work has been recognised in others including the Josephine Ulrick, Calibre, Elizabeth Jolley, and Boroondara awards. The Golden Book is her first novel. As well as writing, she works as an editor, teacher, manuscript assessor, and writing mentor.

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