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y separately published work icon Sixty Seconds single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2017... 2017 Sixty Seconds
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Grief. Recriminations. Redemption. Will tragedy bring a family closer together or tear it apart? The Brennan family have recently arrived in the warmth of Murwillumbah, leaving behind a tentative affair, a broken friendship and overly supportive family in freezing cold Hobart. Artist husband and father Finn works at home on his metal sculptures, while also minding treasured two-year-old son Zac. Bridget, his wife, leaves the house daily for her new job as an environmental scientist. Fifteen-year-old Jarrah is finding it hard fitting into the new school, but the family is delighting in their new surrounds and the novelty of a backyard pool.

'One morning, when Bridget loses sight of Zac for only minutes in the rush for breakfast, tragedy strikes. Zac is found drowned in the swimming pool. The finger of blame is pointed at Finn and he numbly accepts responsibility. In her grief, Bridget withdraws from her husband and finds companionship with a work colleague. The stakes jump further when authorities move to prosecute Finn as an example to other irresponsible pool owners. Defending the prosecution will take every cent the family possesses.

'Meanwhile, fifteen-year-old Jarrah is coping with the hole left in his life by Zac's death, as well as seeing his parents retreat from him in their grief, while also confronting his sexual identity. Sixty Seconds treads confidently, but sensitively and poignantly, into the tragic aftermath of a child's death. It explores the immediate explosive consequences, and the slow ripples that wash out over the wider community.' (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney South, South Sydney area, Sydney Southern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: HarperCollins Australia , 2017 .
      image of person or book cover 7903983768885988274.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Booktopia
      Extent: 384p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 18 September 2017

      ISBN: 9781460708750 (e-book), 9781460754245
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      St. Martin's Press ,
      2019 .
      image of person or book cover 3777731503610613090.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Alternative title: In the Blink of an Eye
      Extent: viii, 370p.p.
      Edition info: 1st American ed.
      ISBN: 9781250199966, 1250199964
Alternative title: 悠长的告别
Transliterated title: You chang de gao bie
Language: Chinese

Other Formats

  • Sound recording. (As In a Blink of an Eye)

Works about this Work

Journeys beyond the Point of Departure Phillip Siggins , 2017 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 1 October 2017; (p. 20)

'Do we really know our parents? When Daniel Whittaker, a prosperous real-estate agent, dies at 88, his will includes a surprising demand: ­access to his estate is denied until his three ­middle-aged children deliver a dozen letters.' (Introduction)

Jesse Blackadder : Sixty Seconds Sally Nimon , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , October 2017;

'Sixty Seconds gives a powerful insight into how ordinary people cope with extraordinary events.'

Jesse Blackadder : Sixty Seconds Sally Nimon , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , October 2017;

'Sixty Seconds gives a powerful insight into how ordinary people cope with extraordinary events.'

Journeys beyond the Point of Departure Phillip Siggins , 2017 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 1 October 2017; (p. 20)

'Do we really know our parents? When Daniel Whittaker, a prosperous real-estate agent, dies at 88, his will includes a surprising demand: ­access to his estate is denied until his three ­middle-aged children deliver a dozen letters.' (Introduction)

Last amended 12 Jun 2020 08:31:01
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