The Nest isn���t Always Safe: the topic of home with Jessie Cole and Inga Simpson

Lisa Walker:

The day was cold but the conversation warm…

Originally posted on BYRON BAY WRITERS' FESTIVAL:

Authors Jessie Cole��and Inga Simpson��have a few things in common. The second novels, of both writers, hit Australian shelves two days ago. But the similarities don���t stop there.

According to session chair Lisa Walker, both novels explore the liminality of leaving or returning home, and although the stories feature starkly different protagonists, they share thematic qualities.

A small crowd of die-hard book lovers endured polar winds, looming mud, and darkening skies on the festival���s chilly��final afternoon, to hear Cole and Simpson read at the last session of the Byron Bay Writers Festival. It was well worth the wait!

Imagine, in a world void of men, being home-schooled in an isolated valley, the only one of five siblings still left at home, with a deafening silence building between you and the only other human contact you have ��� your mother. This is Mema���s life, that is until���

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