'After a catastrophic storm destroys Melbourne, Isobel flees to higher ground with her husband and young daughter. Food and supplies run low, panic sets in and still no help arrives. To protect her daughter, Isobel must take drastic action.
'The Glad Shout is an extraordinary novel of rare depth and texture. Told in a starkly visual and compelling narrative, this is a deeply moving homage to motherhood and the struggles faced by women in difficult times.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
At Home with Alice Robinson
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2020
23453250
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'Alice Robinson is the author of two novels. Her debut novel, Anchor Point, was longlisted for The Stella Prize and the Indie Book Awards. The Glad Shout was shortlisted for an Aurealis Award and The Colin Roderick Literary Award and won the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction.
'Alice's stories, essays and reviews have been published widely in literary journals, including in Meanjin, Overland, The Lifted Brow, Kill Your Darlings, The Big Issue Fiction Edition, Fireflies, Arena, The Australian Humanities Review and Australian Book Review.' (Production introduction)
'You can gauge the success of a genre when its shorthand enters the zeitgeist. For a few years now, “cli-fi” has been growing as writers harness the devastating possibilities of climate change as a backbone for their fiction.' (Introduction)
'A Constant Hum (2019) by Alice Bishop and The Glad Shout (2019) by Alice Robinson are new Australian additions to the burgeoning genre of climate fiction – or cli-fi. They depict the impact of a natural disaster – fire and flood – precipitated by climate change. It is the human consequences of such events that are the core of each book. The stories are set in areas around Melbourne where the two authors have lived. Both are narrated in the present tense. Both titles refer to sound: a low reverberation and a rallying cry, which set the tone for each text. Neither book makes comfortable reading. The questions Bishop and Robinson ask are linked: could these disasters have been prevented? But more importantly, how do we keep going?' (Introduction)
'You can gauge the success of a genre when its shorthand enters the zeitgeist. For a few years now, “cli-fi” has been growing as writers harness the devastating possibilities of climate change as a backbone for their fiction.' (Introduction)
'Unusually for literary fiction, Alice Robinson’s The Glad Shoutopens right in the thick of the action:
Jostled and soaked, copping an elbow to her ribs, smelling wet wool and sweat and the stony creek scent of damp concrete, Isobel grips Shaun’s cold fingers and clamps Matilda to her hip, terrified of losing them in the roiling crowd.
'Isobel and her family are escaping a terrible flood that has destroyed Melbourne. Holed up in a stadium – perhaps the MCG – Isobel has no idea what is left of her beachside home or whether there are any plans for anyone to help her or the hundreds of other evacuees now trying to survive amid the bleachers.' (Introduction)
'For the first time in history, this past Australian summer has registered temperatures in excess of two degrees above long-term averages. You don’t need to be well versed in climate science to know that this is not good news – and you don’t need to look very hard to glean this information.' (Introduction)
At Home with Alice Robinson
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2020
23453250
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'Alice Robinson is the author of two novels. Her debut novel, Anchor Point, was longlisted for The Stella Prize and the Indie Book Awards. The Glad Shout was shortlisted for an Aurealis Award and The Colin Roderick Literary Award and won the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction.
'Alice's stories, essays and reviews have been published widely in literary journals, including in Meanjin, Overland, The Lifted Brow, Kill Your Darlings, The Big Issue Fiction Edition, Fireflies, Arena, The Australian Humanities Review and Australian Book Review.' (Production introduction)
