'On the first day of summer in 1993, two strangers arrive in the town of Cedar Valley. One is a calm looking man in a brown suit. He makes his way down the main street and walks directly to Cedar Valley Curios & Oldwares, sitting down on the footpath, where he leans silently against the big glass window for hours.
'The other is 21-year-old Benny Miller. Fresh out of university, Benny has come to Cedar Valley in search of information about her mother, Vivian, who has recently died. Vivian's mysterious old friend, Odette Fisher, has offered Benny her modest pale green cottage for as long as she wants it. Is there any connection between the man on the pavement and Benny's quest to learn more about her mother? Holly Throsby is the perfect guide as Cedar Valley and its inhabitants slowly reveal their secrets.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Dedication: for Alvy
'Carlton bookseller Marie Matteson chats with author and musician Holly Throsby about her second novel, Cedar Valley.' (Production summary)
'In the first few pages of Cedar Valley, a group of women gather together to console one another after a calamitous event shatters the predictable languor of their small rural town. Pulling chairs into a circle, they pour glasses of brandy in the soft light of early evening and reflect on the day’s events, offering succour and speculation as the sky darkens around them. It is this compelling sense of community, with its intricate webs and unexpected bonds, its deep sweetness and complicated anguish, that is at the heart of Holly Throsby’s new novel. Cedar Valley is essentially a charming epic of intimacy; it is this moving affirmation of the sustaining grace of community that animates and enlivens this impressive work.' (Introduction)
'With her second novel Cedar Valley, author and songwriter Holly Throsby transports Adelaide's Somerton Man mystery to a small town in New South Wales for a fascinating literary twist on the infamous cold case.'
'With her second novel Cedar Valley, author and songwriter Holly Throsby transports Adelaide's Somerton Man mystery to a small town in New South Wales for a fascinating literary twist on the infamous cold case.'
'In the first few pages of Cedar Valley, a group of women gather together to console one another after a calamitous event shatters the predictable languor of their small rural town. Pulling chairs into a circle, they pour glasses of brandy in the soft light of early evening and reflect on the day’s events, offering succour and speculation as the sky darkens around them. It is this compelling sense of community, with its intricate webs and unexpected bonds, its deep sweetness and complicated anguish, that is at the heart of Holly Throsby’s new novel. Cedar Valley is essentially a charming epic of intimacy; it is this moving affirmation of the sustaining grace of community that animates and enlivens this impressive work.' (Introduction)
'Carlton bookseller Marie Matteson chats with author and musician Holly Throsby about her second novel, Cedar Valley.' (Production summary)