image of person or book cover 2325329950803079203.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Love Objects single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2021... 2021 Love Objects
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Nic is a forty-five-year-old trivia buff, amateur nail artist and fairy godmother to the neighbourhood's stray cats. She's also the owner of a decade's worth of daily newspapers, enough clothes and shoes to fill Big W three times over and a pen collection which, if laid end-to-end, would probably circle her house twice.

'The person she's closest to in the world is her beloved niece Lena, who she meets for lunch every Sunday. One day Nic fails to show up. When Lena travels to her aunt's house to see if Nic's all right, she gets the shock of her life, and sets in train a series of events that will prove cataclysmic for them both.

'By the acclaimed author of An Isolated Incident, Love Objects is a clear-eyed, heart-wrenching and deeply compassionate novel about love and family, betrayal and forgiveness, and the things we do to fill our empty spaces.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Crows Nest, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Allen and Unwin , 2021 .
      image of person or book cover 2325329950803079203.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 392p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published March 2021.
      ISBN: 9781760878337

Other Formats

  • Large print.
  • Sound recording.

Works about this Work

‘It’s Just Some Guy, Not a Monster’ : Gendered Violence in Emily Maguire’s Recent Novels Sue Kossew (interviewer), Anne Brewster (interviewer), 2021 single work interview
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 36 no. 3 2021;

'Emily Maguire is a Sydney-based author who has written six novels, three non-fiction books and numerous articles on feminism, culture and literature. Her early novels Taming the Beast (2004) and The Gospel According to Luke (2006) were both awarded Special Commendations in the Kathleen Mitchell Awards. Smoke in the Room (2009) and Fishing for Tigers (2012) were followed by the two more recent novels that have had the most impact: An Isolated Incident (2016) – which was shortlisted for both the Stella Prize and the Miles Franklin Award – and Love Objects (2021). Her novels tackle uncomfortable topics such as abusive relationships, intimate partner violence and the ways in which young women are socially conditioned to be ashamed of their own sexuality. In these latter two novels, she deploys alternating perspectives to explore the multifaceted effects of often-traumatic events on her different characters. This in-depth analysis of characters’ motivations and emotional responses mitigates against any simplistic view of ‘good’ and ‘evil’.'(Publication abstract)

y separately published work icon At Home with Emily Maguire Astrid Edwards (interviewer), 2021 23450566 2021 single work podcast interview

'Emily Maguire is the author of six novels, including the Stella Prize and Miles Franklin Award-shortlisted An Isolated Incident. She was a Writer-in-Residence at the Charles Perkins Centre, an experience which enabled her to write 2021's masterful Love Objects.

'Emily works as a teacher and as a mentor to young and emerging writers, and her articles and essays on sex, feminism, culture and literature have been published widely including in The Sydney Morning HeraldThe AustralianThe Observer and The Age.' (Production introduction)

Science (in) Fiction Amanda Niehaus , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , September 2021;

— Review of Love Objects Emily Maguire , 2021 single work novel

'I was already thinking of ‘stuff’ when I read Emily Maguire’s Love Objects – a novel centred around Nic, a 45-year old hoarder; her uni-age niece, Lena; and her nephew, Will. We recently moved the contents of our garage into storage to prepare for renovations, and found ourselves stacking boxes of things we don’t intend to keep into a large, rented locker. There just wasn’t enough time to go through them. Toys from my childhood, my husband’s, our daughter’s; unused greeting cards; received greeting cards; packing envelopes of all sizes; roach-nibbled books; tubs of pens and markers and pencils; drawings of who knows what; clothes and towels and DVDs and documents from when my in-laws died.' (Introduction)

Hoarding, Sex Tapes, Consent and Class : Emily Maguire on Her New Novel Love Objects Lucy Clark (interviewer), 2021 single work interview
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 1 May 2021;

'The two main characters of Maguire’s book have their consent breached in very different ways. She spoke to Guardian Australia’s Lucy Clark as part of Guardian Australia’s monthly book club' (Introduction)

Nic and Lena : Emily Maguire’s New Novel on Class and Care Fiona Wright , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 431 2021; (p. 30)

— Review of Love Objects Emily Maguire , 2021 single work novel
'At the core of Love Objects, Emily Maguire’s sixth novel, is a delicate exploration of the responsibility that comes with love and what it means to care for others in both the emotional and practical senses of the word. The book’s protagonist, Nic, is a caustic but kind-hearted woman, positioned, in many ways, so as to be overlooked by the world. Middle-aged, childless, and living alone in her childhood home, she works as a cashier in a low-end department store. She is the kind of woman who often becomes invisible in our society, so it seems fitting that she has an affinity for the forgotten and the overlooked.' (Introduction)
Emily Maguire, Love Objects Elizabeth Flux , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 27 March - 2 April 2021;

— Review of Love Objects Emily Maguire , 2021 single work novel
Emily Maguire : Love Objects Linda Godfrey , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , May 2021;

— Review of Love Objects Emily Maguire , 2021 single work novel

'The sixth novel from the author of An Isolated Incident and Fishing for Tigers explores hoarding, shame and class.' 

Nic and Lena : Emily Maguire’s New Novel on Class and Care Fiona Wright , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 431 2021; (p. 30)

— Review of Love Objects Emily Maguire , 2021 single work novel
'At the core of Love Objects, Emily Maguire’s sixth novel, is a delicate exploration of the responsibility that comes with love and what it means to care for others in both the emotional and practical senses of the word. The book’s protagonist, Nic, is a caustic but kind-hearted woman, positioned, in many ways, so as to be overlooked by the world. Middle-aged, childless, and living alone in her childhood home, she works as a cashier in a low-end department store. She is the kind of woman who often becomes invisible in our society, so it seems fitting that she has an affinity for the forgotten and the overlooked.' (Introduction)
Science (in) Fiction Amanda Niehaus , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , September 2021;

— Review of Love Objects Emily Maguire , 2021 single work novel

'I was already thinking of ‘stuff’ when I read Emily Maguire’s Love Objects – a novel centred around Nic, a 45-year old hoarder; her uni-age niece, Lena; and her nephew, Will. We recently moved the contents of our garage into storage to prepare for renovations, and found ourselves stacking boxes of things we don’t intend to keep into a large, rented locker. There just wasn’t enough time to go through them. Toys from my childhood, my husband’s, our daughter’s; unused greeting cards; received greeting cards; packing envelopes of all sizes; roach-nibbled books; tubs of pens and markers and pencils; drawings of who knows what; clothes and towels and DVDs and documents from when my in-laws died.' (Introduction)

Hoarding, Sex Tapes, Consent and Class : Emily Maguire on Her New Novel Love Objects Lucy Clark (interviewer), 2021 single work interview
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 1 May 2021;

'The two main characters of Maguire’s book have their consent breached in very different ways. She spoke to Guardian Australia’s Lucy Clark as part of Guardian Australia’s monthly book club' (Introduction)

y separately published work icon At Home with Emily Maguire Astrid Edwards (interviewer), 2021 23450566 2021 single work podcast interview

'Emily Maguire is the author of six novels, including the Stella Prize and Miles Franklin Award-shortlisted An Isolated Incident. She was a Writer-in-Residence at the Charles Perkins Centre, an experience which enabled her to write 2021's masterful Love Objects.

'Emily works as a teacher and as a mentor to young and emerging writers, and her articles and essays on sex, feminism, culture and literature have been published widely including in The Sydney Morning HeraldThe AustralianThe Observer and The Age.' (Production introduction)

‘It’s Just Some Guy, Not a Monster’ : Gendered Violence in Emily Maguire’s Recent Novels Sue Kossew (interviewer), Anne Brewster (interviewer), 2021 single work interview
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 36 no. 3 2021;

'Emily Maguire is a Sydney-based author who has written six novels, three non-fiction books and numerous articles on feminism, culture and literature. Her early novels Taming the Beast (2004) and The Gospel According to Luke (2006) were both awarded Special Commendations in the Kathleen Mitchell Awards. Smoke in the Room (2009) and Fishing for Tigers (2012) were followed by the two more recent novels that have had the most impact: An Isolated Incident (2016) – which was shortlisted for both the Stella Prize and the Miles Franklin Award – and Love Objects (2021). Her novels tackle uncomfortable topics such as abusive relationships, intimate partner violence and the ways in which young women are socially conditioned to be ashamed of their own sexuality. In these latter two novels, she deploys alternating perspectives to explore the multifaceted effects of often-traumatic events on her different characters. This in-depth analysis of characters’ motivations and emotional responses mitigates against any simplistic view of ‘good’ and ‘evil’.'(Publication abstract)

Last amended 9 Dec 2022 12:48:25
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