$24.99 AUD

‘There is a pleasingly frosty quality to this debut … Elegant, biting writing.’

Sian Cain, The Guardian

Diving, Falling

$24.99 AUD

Diving, Falling

Overview

It’s never too late to rewrite your own story.

For years, Leila Whittaker has been the mediator in her family. She smoothes ruffled feathers between her sons; endures the volatile moods of their father, the acclaimed Australian artist Ken Black; and even swallows the bitter pill of Ken’s endless affairs. All this, for the quiet hum of creative freedom her marriage provides. Or so she tells herself.

When Ken dies, leaving his artist’s estate to their two sons, and the pointed amount of sixty-nine thousand dollars to his muse, Anita, Leila decides she’s had enough. It’s time to seek some peace (and pleasure) of her own …

Diving, Falling is an elegant, exhilarating journey through grief, betrayal, and the intoxicating rediscovery of joy. Ripe with wickedly wry observations, unashamedly bold and sexy, it examines the calculations and sacrifices women make to keep the peace, escape their pasts, and find the agency to pursue their own passions.

Details

Format
Paperback
Size
198mm x 129mm
Extent
256 pages
ISBN
9781761382086
RRP
AUD$24.99
Pub date
5 January 2027
Rights held
ANZ & NA
Other rights
Jenny Darling

Categories

Praise

‘I just loved it … Bravo, Kylie. What a marvellous debut.’

Caroline Overington, Weekend Australian

‘There’s much that’s new and very charming about Mirmohamadi’s approach to the after-marriage novel, particularly Leila herself, and her determination to tear up the scripts given to older women, to grieving women, to wealthy women, to mothers, to women artists; to tear them all up and write a new set of stories to live by.’

Catriona Menzies-Pike, The Guardian
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About the Author

Kylie Mirmohamadi is a writer and academic from Melbourne/Naarm. She has been widely published in the academic sector, most recently on the long afterlives of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. Her personal essays have appeared in Island Magazine Online, The Big Issue, and Sydney Review of Books. Kylie has a PhD in History and is currently an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in English and Creative Writing at La Trobe University. Her first novel, Diving, Falling, was published by Scribe in 2024.

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