Book Feature & Author Q&A: A Body in the Clouds by Ashley Hay @atriabooks
New reviews for Ashley Hay’s THE BODY IN THE CLOUDS
“Hay’s writing is profusely poetical and lavishly descriptive, and her pace floats along leisurely” – Library Journal
“A finely woven tapestry of poetic language and subtle symbols, intertwined dreams, hopes, and visions, and a sense of seeing through cracks—
perhaps to an eternity where time is no more and all is known. Thought-provoking” – Kirkus
Have you heard of this amazing book from Washington Square Press yet? Well take a peek at the blurb (it sounds AMAZING) and continue on to see a listing with blurbs or her other books and my Q&A with the author
(She's been to Antarctica! So jealous!).
THE BODY IN THE CLOUDS
By Ashley Hay
From the acclaimed author of the “exquisitely written and deeply felt” (Geraldine Brooks, author of The Secret Chord) novel The Railwayman’s Wife, comes yet another magical and gorgeously wrought tale of an astonishing event that connects three people across three hundred years.
Imagine you looked up at just the right moment and saw something completely unexpected. What if it was something so marvelous that it transformed time and space forever?
The Body in the Clouds (Washington Square Press; Paperback; July 18, 2017) tells the story of one such extraordinary moment—a man falling from the sky, and surviving—and of the three men who see it, in different ways and at different times, as they stand on the same piece of land. An astronomer in the 1700s, a bridge worker in the 1930s, and an expatriate banker returning home in the early twenty-first century: all three are transformed by this one magical event. And all three are struggling to understand what the meaning of “home” is, and how to recognize it once you’re there.
Widely praised for her “poetic gifts” (Booklist) and “graceful, supremely honest, [and] thought-provoking” (Kirkus Reviews) prose, Ashley Hay has crafted a luminous and unforgettable novel about the power of story, its ability to define the world around us, and the questions that transcend time.
Ashley Hay is the internationally acclaimed author of the novels The Body in the Clouds and The Railwayman’s Wife, which was honored with the Colin Roderick Award by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies and longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the most prestigious literary prize in Australia, among numerous other accolades. She has also written four nonfiction books. She lives in Brisbane, Australia.
THE BODY IN THE CLOUDS by Ashley Hay
WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS | ISBN: 9781501165115| FORMAT: PAPERBACK |PAGES: 320 | eBOOK: 9781501165122 | PRICE: $16.00 ($22.00 CAN) | ON SALE: 07/18/17
Where from: Australia – born on the
south coast of New South Wales; lived in Sydney a long time, and then in London
for a while. Now living in Brisbane
Books written, blurbs:
The Body in the Clouds (US,
2017)
From the acclaimed author of The Railwayman’s Wife (“exquisitely
written and deeply felt:” Geraldine Brooks, author of The Secret Chord)
comes a magical and gorgeously wrought tale of an astonishing event that
connects three people across three hundred years.
Imagine you looked up at just the right moment and saw something completely unexpected. What if it was something so marvelous that it transformed time and space forever?
The Body in the Clouds tells the story of one such extraordinary moment—a man falling from the sky, and surviving—and of the three men who see it, in different ways and at different times, as they stand on the same piece of land. An astronomer in the 1700s, a bridge worker in the 1930s, and an expatriate banker returning home in the early twenty-first century: all three are transformed by this one magical event. And all three are struggling to understand what the meaning of “home” is, and how to recognize it once you’re there.
Widely praised for her “poetic gifts” (Booklist) and “graceful, supremely honest, [and] thought-provoking” (Kirkus Reviews) prose, Ashley Hay has crafted a luminous and unforgettable novel about the power of story, its ability to define the world around us, and the questions that transcend time.
Imagine you looked up at just the right moment and saw something completely unexpected. What if it was something so marvelous that it transformed time and space forever?
The Body in the Clouds tells the story of one such extraordinary moment—a man falling from the sky, and surviving—and of the three men who see it, in different ways and at different times, as they stand on the same piece of land. An astronomer in the 1700s, a bridge worker in the 1930s, and an expatriate banker returning home in the early twenty-first century: all three are transformed by this one magical event. And all three are struggling to understand what the meaning of “home” is, and how to recognize it once you’re there.
Widely praised for her “poetic gifts” (Booklist) and “graceful, supremely honest, [and] thought-provoking” (Kirkus Reviews) prose, Ashley Hay has crafted a luminous and unforgettable novel about the power of story, its ability to define the world around us, and the questions that transcend time.
The Railwayman’s Wife (US,
2016)
For fans of The Light Between Oceans, this
“exquisitely written, true book of wonders” (Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer
Prize-winning author) explores the aftermath of World War II in an Australian
seaside town, and the mysterious poem that changes the lives of those who
encounter it.
Written in clear, shining prose, The Railwayman’s Wife explores the power of beginnings and endings—and how difficult it can be to tell them apart. It is an exploration of life, loss, tragedy, and joy, of connection and separation, longing and acceptance, and an unadulterated celebration of love that “will have you feeling every emotion at once” (Bustle).
Written in clear, shining prose, The Railwayman’s Wife explores the power of beginnings and endings—and how difficult it can be to tell them apart. It is an exploration of life, loss, tragedy, and joy, of connection and separation, longing and acceptance, and an unadulterated celebration of love that “will have you feeling every emotion at once” (Bustle).
A Hundred Small Lessons
(coming to the US in November 2017)
From the author of the highly acclaimed The Railwayman’s Wife,
called a “literary and literate gem” by Psychology Today, comes an
emotionally resonant and profound new novel of two families, interconnected
through the house that bears witness to their lives.
When Elsie Gormley leaves the Brisbane house in which she has lived for
more than sixty years, Lucy Kiss and her family move in, eager to establish
their new life. As they settle in, Lucy and her husband Ben struggle to
navigate their transformation from adventurous lovers to new parents, taking
comfort in memories of their vibrant past as they begin to unearth who their
future selves might be. But the house has secrets of its own, and the rooms
seem to share recollections of Elsie’s life with Lucy.
Over the course of one hot Brisbane summer, two families’ stories
intersect in sudden and unexpected ways. Through the richly intertwined
narratives of two ordinary, extraordinary women, Ashley Hay uses her “lyrical
prose, poetic dialogue, and stunning imagery” (RT magazine) to weave
an intricate, big-hearted story of what it is to be human.
The Secret (2000)
Everyone wanted to be Lord Byron's wife: he was
London's most famous poet and its most desirably notorious lover. On January 2,
1815, he married Miss Annabella Milbanke, a young lady with handsome prospects,
good connections, and admirable ankles. Fifty-four weeks later, a scant month
after the birth of their first child, she left him and his house and went home
to her parents. She never saw her husband again. She never spoke to her husband
again. With London flooded with every possible nasty rumour about what had
happened, Lord and Lady Byron signed a Deed of Separation, and Byron left
England. How long would Lady Byron hold a grudge? For the rest of her life – and
beyond. And at the base of it all was her secret, that hidden and unspeakable
thing festering under her decision to leave.
‘Part Gothic thriller, part comedy of manners, postmodernly mindful of biographic limitations, Hay's is an engrossing story of the past told in the language of the present … If Jane Austen were alive and working as an investigative reporter, she would write a book like The Secret.’ – The Australian
Gum: The Story of Eucalypts and
Their Champions (2002)
No matter where you look in Australia you're more than
likely to see a eucalyptus tree. Scrawny or majestic, smooth as pearl or rough
as a pub brawl, they have defined a continent for thousands of years, and still
shape our imagination. Gum is about
a magical, mythical, medicinal tree. More than that, it's the story of new
worlds, strange people and big ideas.
‘Because of the ubiquity of the gum tree and its
significance for the landscape, [Hay] can bring Australia’s explorers,
surveyors, botanists, artists, authors and environmentalists into one
continuous dialogue with nature. Indeed the book’s great strength comes from
the unfolding sense of Australian national identity that somehow crystallizes
around the eucalyptus tree.” – The New York Review of Books
Herbarium (2004)
This stunning book of photographs by Robyn Stacey, one
of this country's finest photographers, is the first of its kind. Stacey, along
with essayist, Ashley Hay, throws open the closed doors of the National
Herbarium of New South Wales at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, to reveal
the secret history of Australia's flora.
‘Informative, easy-to-read and endlessly fascinating …
this is a book for all spectrums of reader – gardener, historian, adventure-lovers,
botanist and museum-lovers.'
– The Book Place
Museum (2007)
Museum is a
sumptuous showcase of Australia’s natural history. It tells of some of the
remarkable people who collected and studied it, and of their legacy, the
Macleay Museum. Throwing open the doors of a rich and rare collection, captured
in the exquisite images of Robyn Stacey, Museum
reclaims the stories of those specimens and those obsessions, revealing a
unique and passionate chapter in Australia’s history.
'It will whet its readers' appetites, leaving them
eager to know more about the culture of natural history that shaped the
Macleays and their collections.'
– Times Literary Supplement
Best Australian Science Writing
2014
The annual
collection celebrating the year’s finest Australian science writing: why are
Sydney’s golden orb weaver spiders getting fatter and fitter? Could sociology
explain the recent upsurge in prostate cancer diagnoses? Why were Darwinites
craving a good storm during ‘The Angry Summer’? Is it true that tuberculosis
has become deadlier over time? And are jellyfish really taking over the world?
In its
fourth edition, this popular and acclaimed anthology steps inside the nation’s
laboratories and its finest scientific and literary minds to cover topics as
diverse and wondrous as our ‘lumpy’ universe, the creation of dragons and the
frontiers of climate science.
“A fascinating, diverse and colourful exploration of a realm we should
appreciate more.” – The Australian
All social media links:
AUTHOR Q&A
As
a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
I love this question – I’ve absolutely
never been asked to think about this before. And at first I was tempted to say
an otter, because there’s something so contented about otters, especially when
they’re just floating along. I like the idea of their occasional darting
busyness (I once saw a romp of otters coursing around their pond at a zoo, and
it looked like ecstasy), followed by calm, floating contentment. That sounds
like a good writing life.
But then I thought a little longer and
I thought I might like something a little more shiny. Perhaps I could take on a
glowworm instead: they go through four extraordinary transformations
during their lifecycle (from egg, to larvae, to pupae, to adult); they’re
bioluminescent (imagine being able to produce your own magic-looking glow?); and
some of them finally become fireflies. So many different incarnations, and lit
from within: I’d take that.
Obviously
you love all your characters, but if you could choose a favorite character, who
would they be?
I have a
deep and abiding fondness and respect for William Dawes, the 18th-century
astronomer in The Body in the Clouds
– the real man, as well as the one I imagined for my novel. I knew I’d like to
write about him a long time before I knew which story I could scoop him into;
there were so many interesting things about who he was and what he got to do,
and I’d read a line somewhere about his eyes shining with a kind of luminosity.
I’m not sure I’ve finished thinking about him yet.
If
you could paint a picture of any scenery you've seen before, what would you
paint?
When I worked more regularly as a
journalist, more than a decade ago now, I was fortunate enough to be sent to
Antarctica and I’d love to paint that place, to try to capture the colors that
were captured in its sky and its water and its ice. Some of those colors
absolutely shone; they were so bright – pockets of the most extraordinary
aquamarines and blues. But I’d like the painting to be like one of those magic photographs
in the Harry Potter books – the ones that move – so that I could catch the sky
changing and the ocean’s swells. There was something beautifully mesmerizing
about it, and it was so completely unlike any other place I’d ever seen. Not
only did it feel like we were utterly out of the regular world, it’s one
landscape I’m not sure I could transfer into words.
If
you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?
Now that’s an easy one to answer today,
and in the context of The Body in the
Clouds. I would love to see the moment when a bridge worker, Vincent Kelly,
really did fall 182 feet from the half-constructed road deck of the Sydney
Harbour Bridge on October 23, 1930 … and survive. I spent so long imagining it –
counting out the three seconds of his drop, again and again – while I was
working on the book. And I love the fact that when I’m near Sydney’s harbour
now and I look at its bridge, I do sometimes see a streak of something – light?
a bird? I don’t know what – from the corner of my eye as I turn away again.
What
are you working on now? What is your next project?
I’m
extending the range of my time travel. The
Body in the Clouds is set in three slices of time – 1788; 1930; and
somewhere in the early 2000s. The
Railwayman’s Wife (which came out in paperback in the US at the beginning
of this year) is set in 1948. I have another book coming out in the US later
this year – A Hundred Small Lessons –
and it jumps from the 1940s, to the 1960s, and on to 2011. But the book that
I’m working on now is set in 2029 …
No comments
Leave a Comment