'Lily works as a cleaner. She moves through houses in inner-city Melbourne, unseen, scrubbing away the daily residue of other people s privilege. Her partner Janks works the line in a local food factory. With every pay check they inch further away from their former world of poverty and addiction.
'Lily and Janks are determined that their daughter Jewelee will have a different life. She ll have a career, not a dead-end job. She ll have savings, not debt. But precarious lives are easily upended. One wrong move throws the family into a situation in which the lines between right and wrong, hope and disappointment, are blurred.
'Other Houses is a masterful and tender story about people who live from payday to payday. Acutely observed and lyrical, Paddy O Reilly's novel paints a haunting picture of class, aspiration and the boundaries we will cross for love.' (Publication summary)
'A collection of stories that will bring you small bursts of joy.'
'A gritty tale of class and aspirations and falling deep within the cracks.'
'There’s something stimulating about seeing into other people’s houses. We’ve all glanced through an open window or door as we pass by on our walks. Seen the old retriever slumped in the doorway, the clutter, the gaudy furniture, the bad renovations; it’s always just a quick glance. It’s no surprise but still uncanny that we live so close together, on top of each other, separated by thin walls and floors, and yet, what goes on in the interiors of our fellow suburbanites’ houses remains mostly a secret. Imagine you were a working-class mother who regularly cleaned these houses. What stories would you tell yourself about the inhabitants as you fluffed up their cushions and scrubbed at their skid marks?' (Introduction)
'In her visceral, compassionate 2017 biography The Trauma Cleaner, Sarah Krasnostein prodded open doors we prefer to keep shut. She detailed the life and work of Sandra Pankhurst, founder of Specialised Trauma Cleaning Services. Cleaner and biographer scattered the rats, toppled the piles of hoarded newspapers and found the bodies of people who died alone.' (Introduction)
'In her visceral, compassionate 2017 biography The Trauma Cleaner, Sarah Krasnostein prodded open doors we prefer to keep shut. She detailed the life and work of Sandra Pankhurst, founder of Specialised Trauma Cleaning Services. Cleaner and biographer scattered the rats, toppled the piles of hoarded newspapers and found the bodies of people who died alone.' (Introduction)
'There’s something stimulating about seeing into other people’s houses. We’ve all glanced through an open window or door as we pass by on our walks. Seen the old retriever slumped in the doorway, the clutter, the gaudy furniture, the bad renovations; it’s always just a quick glance. It’s no surprise but still uncanny that we live so close together, on top of each other, separated by thin walls and floors, and yet, what goes on in the interiors of our fellow suburbanites’ houses remains mostly a secret. Imagine you were a working-class mother who regularly cleaned these houses. What stories would you tell yourself about the inhabitants as you fluffed up their cushions and scrubbed at their skid marks?' (Introduction)
'A gritty tale of class and aspirations and falling deep within the cracks.'
'A collection of stories that will bring you small bursts of joy.'
