image of person or book cover 6580213302553063840.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Other People's Houses single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2021... 2021 Other People's Houses
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The perfect house. The perfect family. Too good to be true.

'Kate Webb still grieves over the loss of her young son. Ten years on, she spends her weekends hungover, attending open houses on Sydney's wealthy north shore and imagining the lives of the people who live there.

'Then Kate visits the Harding house - the perfect house with, it seems, the perfect family. A photograph captures a kind-looking man, a beautiful woman she knew at university, and a boy - a boy that for one heartbreaking moment she believes is her own son. 

'When her curiosity turns to obsession, she uncovers the cracks that lie beneath a glossy facade of perfection, sordid truths she could never have imagined. 

'But is it her imagination? As events start to spiral dangerously out of control, could the real threat come from Kate herself?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Notes

  • Dedication : 'For Asha and Dusty. And especially for Matt. We miss you.'

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney South, South Sydney area, Sydney Southern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: HarperCollins Australia , 2021 .
      image of person or book cover 6580213302553063840.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 330p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 3 March 2021.
      ISBN: 9781460759226 (pbk), 1460759222 (pbk), 9781460712948 (ebk), 1460712943 (ebk)
Alternative title: Chez les autres
Language: French
    • c
      France,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Editions Hauteville ,
      2022 .
      image of person or book cover 1630957045959331176.png
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 384p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 2 March 2022.
      ISBN: 9782381222493

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
  • Large print.

Works about this Work

Houses of Unreason : A Triptych of Gothic Novels Georgia White , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June no. 432 2021; (p. 40-41)

— Review of The Serpent's Skin Erina Reddan , 2021 single work novel ; Other People's Houses Kelli Hawkins , 2021 single work novel ; Sargasso Kathy George , 2021 single work novel

'Is it tautological to describe a work of fiction as ‘family Gothic’? After all, there’s nothing more inherently Gothic than the family politic: a hierarchical structure ruled by a patriarch, as intolerant of transgression as it is fascinated by it, sustaining itself through a clear us/them divide, all the while proclaiming, ‘The blood is the life.’ Yet three new Australian novels Gothicise the family politic by exaggerating, each to the point of melodrama, just how dangerous a family can become when its constituents turn against one another.' (Introduction)

Houses of Unreason : A Triptych of Gothic Novels Georgia White , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June no. 432 2021; (p. 40-41)

— Review of The Serpent's Skin Erina Reddan , 2021 single work novel ; Other People's Houses Kelli Hawkins , 2021 single work novel ; Sargasso Kathy George , 2021 single work novel

'Is it tautological to describe a work of fiction as ‘family Gothic’? After all, there’s nothing more inherently Gothic than the family politic: a hierarchical structure ruled by a patriarch, as intolerant of transgression as it is fascinated by it, sustaining itself through a clear us/them divide, all the while proclaiming, ‘The blood is the life.’ Yet three new Australian novels Gothicise the family politic by exaggerating, each to the point of melodrama, just how dangerous a family can become when its constituents turn against one another.' (Introduction)

Last amended 11 Apr 2022 15:03:28
X