An extended family gathers on one rainy weekend to pack up their summer house - and dig up long-buried memories.
In Cassetown, Geologue Bay, Iris and her extended family -- her ex-husband and his wife and their new baby; her son and her best friend's daughter -- gather on a midwinter long weekend, to pack up the family holiday house now that it has been sold. They are together for one last time, one last weekend, one last party. As the house is stripped bare, their secrets -- and the complex, messy nature of family relationships -- will be revealed. The Hope Fault is a celebration of the complexities of family -- aunties and steps and exes, and a baby in need of a name; parents and partners who are missing, and the people who replace them. It's about the faultlines that run under the surface, and it's about uncertainty -- the unsettling notion that the earth might shift, literally or metaphorically, at any moment. It's a contemporary novel that plays with time and with ways of telling stories. It finds poetry and beauty in science, and pattern and magic in landscape.
'The Hope Fault brilliantly captures both the prickly detail and the slow geological shifts of family life. An intricate, intimate novel – and utterly human.' Anna Smaill, Booker-longlisted author of The Chimes
'Tracy Farr’s quietly brilliant second novel … is an accomplished, immersive, moving book. Highly recommended' New Zealand Listener
'Beautifully restrained … I recommend it highly. It is smart writing, it’s thoughtful and nuanced. It’s respectful of the reader, it lets you fill in the gaps, and it lets you leave gaps unfilled … It feels very much like home' Radio New Zealand
'With its forgiving examination of relationships, The Hope Fault is a book for parents and unconventional families' Books+Publishing
'Tracy dares to go where many a writer might retreat' Dame Fiona Kidman, author of The Infinite Air
Praise for The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt
'The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt is a reflective, quiet, but beautifully written tale perfect for those interested in the intersection of music, literature, and film.' Foreword Reviews
'A complex and lyrical novel' Portland Book Review
'What’s immediately intriguing about Lena Gaunt isn't Lena Gaunt but the fact that she plays a theremin…And Lena Gaunt isn't just any theremin player. She's a legend, if she does say so herself…' New York Times Book Review
Featured in Kirkus foreign fiction round-up and New York Times debut fiction round-up
Shortlisted, 2014 Barbara Jefferis Award
Shortlisted, 2014 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards
Longlisted, 2014 Miles Franklin Literary Award
