'Lawrence Loman is a bright, caring, curious boy with a gift for painting. He lives at home with his mother and younger brother, and the future is laid out before him, full of promise. But when he is ten, an experience of betrayal takes it all away, and Lawrence is left to deal with the devastating aftermath.
'As he grows into a man, how will he make sense of what he has suffered? He cannot rewrite history, but must he be condemned to repeat it?
'Lawrence finds meaning in the best way he knows. By surrendering himself to art and nature, he creates beauty - beauty made all the more astonishing and soulful for the deprivation that gives rise to it.
'Infinite Splendours is an extraordinary novel, incandescent with love and compassion, rich in colour and character. The power and virtuosity of Laguna's writing make it impossible for us to look away; and by being seen, Lawrence is redeemed.
'And we, as readers, have had our minds and hearts opened in ways we can't forget.' (Publication summary)
Dedication :
In memory of my teacher
Dorothy Kellett
Epigraph :
'The lamps are burning,
and the starry sky is over it all.'
Vincent van Gogh, The Letters of Vincent van Gogh
In Conversation with Nicole Abadee about Sofie Laguna's 'Infinite Splendours'
Amy Baillieu
(presenter),
2020
23439852
2020
single work
podcast
'In today's episode, Amy Baillieu speaks to Nicole Abadee about Sofie Laguna's latest novel, Infinite Splendours. In her November issue review, Abadee reflects that Laguna 'does not shy away from confronting subject matter' and notes that Infinite Splendours represents 'new territory' for Laguna as it follows protagonist Lawrence from childhood into adulthood. Baillieu and Abadee also discuss Abadee's own podcast Books Books Books.' (Production summary)
'Turbulence roils beneath the serenity of the Southern Grampians in this new novel from the Miles Franklin award-winning author.'
'Nan Shepherd was a teacher and writer of mid-century Scotland who attained posthumous fame when her brief account of a lifetime spent walking the Cairngorm Mountains was republished in 2011. Her book, The Living Mountain, deserved its belated accolades. It was heady, concentrated stuff, the literary equivalent of an aged single malt.' (Introduction)
'Sofie Laguna has established herself as a writer who renders the world in vivid detail through the eyes of children. She skilfully shows how childhood can be punctured by brutality: the first-person protagonists of her two previous novels are betrayed by the adults who should protect them. Jimmy, the narrator of her Miles Franklin award-winning novel, The Eye of the Sheep, is autistic, and his struggles to understand the adult world are exacerbated by domestic violence. In Laguna’s next book, The Choke, Justine is in danger, surrounded by male aggression and menace. Both children are buffeted by chaos, failed by their families, and abandoned to navigate life in the aftermath of trauma.' (Introduction)
'Sofie Laguna does not shy away from confronting subject matter. Her first adult novel, One Foot Wrong (2009), is about a young girl forced by her troubled parents into a reclusive existence. Her second, The Eye of the Sheep (2014), which won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2015, tells the story of a young boy on the autism spectrum born into a family riven by poverty and violence. Her third, The Choke (2017), concerns a motherless child in danger because of her father’s criminal connections. Infinite Splendours is also about the betrayal of a child by the adults in his life, but here Laguna ventures into new territory, exploring the lasting impact of trauma on a child as he becomes a man, and whether the abused may become the abuser.' (Introduction)
'Sofie Laguna has established herself as a writer who renders the world in vivid detail through the eyes of children. She skilfully shows how childhood can be punctured by brutality: the first-person protagonists of her two previous novels are betrayed by the adults who should protect them. Jimmy, the narrator of her Miles Franklin award-winning novel, The Eye of the Sheep, is autistic, and his struggles to understand the adult world are exacerbated by domestic violence. In Laguna’s next book, The Choke, Justine is in danger, surrounded by male aggression and menace. Both children are buffeted by chaos, failed by their families, and abandoned to navigate life in the aftermath of trauma.' (Introduction)
'Nan Shepherd was a teacher and writer of mid-century Scotland who attained posthumous fame when her brief account of a lifetime spent walking the Cairngorm Mountains was republished in 2011. Her book, The Living Mountain, deserved its belated accolades. It was heady, concentrated stuff, the literary equivalent of an aged single malt.' (Introduction)
'Turbulence roils beneath the serenity of the Southern Grampians in this new novel from the Miles Franklin award-winning author.'
In Conversation with Nicole Abadee about Sofie Laguna's 'Infinite Splendours'
Amy Baillieu
(presenter),
2020
23439852
2020
single work
podcast
'In today's episode, Amy Baillieu speaks to Nicole Abadee about Sofie Laguna's latest novel, Infinite Splendours. In her November issue review, Abadee reflects that Laguna 'does not shy away from confronting subject matter' and notes that Infinite Splendours represents 'new territory' for Laguna as it follows protagonist Lawrence from childhood into adulthood. Baillieu and Abadee also discuss Abadee's own podcast Books Books Books.' (Production summary)
