Cirrus@Austlit

'The kind of knowledge, the knowing, at the heart of Madeleine Ryan’s second novel is bodily, almost instinctual. It is knowledge that is deeply held and felt, but difficult to pin down or explain or even, at times, to identify. For Camille, the novel’s protagonist, it is very much in conflict with the stories she tells herself and those that circulate within the world, as she contends with her life and her desires. Camille knows, on this deeper or more primal level, that something is not right in her life, but she is usually able either to distract herself from this knowing or to think her way through to reasons and scenarios that counter it – to push it aside and continue.' (Introduction)