'Angel is surrounded by dangers; her fragile hold on life weakened by the violence of a client and her spiralling drug habit.
'Faith is a born outsider who has an intense commitment to saving Angel due to unresolved events in her own wild life - an eccentric upbringing by a communist aunt, her roller-coaster career as a famous singer, passionate love affairs and the fate of her beloved daughter.
'FAITH SINGER both chronicles the powerful friendship between them and celebrates the life of an extraordinary woman and the city she lives in.'
Source: Publisher's blurb (Kindle ed.).
Unit Suitable For
AC: Senior Secondary (Literature Unit 3)
Themes
belonging, drug addiction, family, friendship, hardship, homelessness, love, resilience, social responsibility, the changing nature of family
General Capabilities
Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Personal and social
'These are the words of Faith Singer, a whisky-drinking, parsley-chewing (to hide the smell), white-haired blues singer who has enough heart, courage, honesty and failings to make her one of the most unforgettable characters of Australian writing. Faith’s words, towards the end of the book, capture the wisdom of a novel that is about the importance of compassion, truth, love and maintaining faith in humanity in all its mess, chaos, tenderness and brutality. It is a voice that is vivid and authentic, coming from a woman that I am reluctant to call a character – she is more akin to a living being; the kind of person that we all need in our lives.' (Introduction)
'These are the words of Faith Singer, a whisky-drinking, parsley-chewing (to hide the smell), white-haired blues singer who has enough heart, courage, honesty and failings to make her one of the most unforgettable characters of Australian writing. Faith’s words, towards the end of the book, capture the wisdom of a novel that is about the importance of compassion, truth, love and maintaining faith in humanity in all its mess, chaos, tenderness and brutality. It is a voice that is vivid and authentic, coming from a woman that I am reluctant to call a character – she is more akin to a living being; the kind of person that we all need in our lives.' (Introduction)
