1987. The Philippine government fights a total war against insurgency. The village of Iraya is militarised. The days are violent and the nights heavy with fireflies in the river where the dead are dumped. With her twelve-metre hair, Estrella, the Fish-hair Woman, trawls corpses from the water that tastes of lemon-grass. She falls in love with the Australian Tony McIntyre who disappears in the conflict. Ten years later, his son travels to Manila to find his father. From the Philippines to Australia, Hawai'i, to evocations of colonial Spain, this transnational novel spins a dark, epic tale. Its storytelling is expansive, like the heart -- How much can the heart accommodate? ... Only four chambers but with infinite space like memory, where there is room even for those whom we do not love.

About the Author
Merlinda Bobis is a contemporary Philippine Australian writer, dancer, visual artist and academic. Born in Legaspi City in the Philippines, Merlinda completed her BA at Aquinas University and completed her post-graduate studies at the University of St Thomas and the University of Wollongong, where she went on to lecture in creative writing. She is now an honorary Senior Lecturer at the Australian National University. Merlinda is the recipient of multiple awards including a shortlisting for The Age Book of Year Award in 1999. In 2000 she was awarded the Steele Rudd Award for the Best Collection of Australian short stories for White Turtle and in 2016 Merlinda's novel Locust Girl: A Love Song, was awarded the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction.


Book Information
ISBN 9781876756970
Author Merlinda Bobis
Format Paperback
Page Count 306
Imprint Spinifex Press
Publisher Spinifex Press
Weight(grams) 490g
Dimensions(mm) 230mm * 155mm * 10mm