Lovesong
Strangers did not, as a rule, find their way to Chez Dom, a small Tunisian cafe in Paris. Run by the widow Houria and her young niece, Sabiha, the cafe offers a home away from home for the North African immigrant workers at the great abattoirs of Vaugirard who, as with Houria and Sabiha themselves, have grown used to the smell of blood in the air. When one day a lost Australian tourist, John Patterner, seeks shelter in the cafe from a sudden Parisian rainstorm, a tragic love story begins to unfold.
Years later, while living a quiet life in suburban Melbourne, John Patterner is haunted by what happened to him and Sabiha at Vaugirard. He confides his story to Ken, an ageing writer, who sees in John's account the possibility for one last simple love story. When Ken tells his daughter this she reminds him, 'Love is never simple, Dad. You should know that.' He does know it. But being the writer he is, he cannot resist the lure of the story.
Told with all Miller's distinctive clarity, intelligence and compassion, Lovesong is a pitch-perfect novel, a tender and enthralling story about the intimate lives of ordinary people. Like the truly great novelist he is, Miller locates the heart of his story in the moral frailties and secret passions of his all-too-human characters.
- Winner, 2010 Age Book of the Year
- Winner, 2010 Age Book of the Year (Fiction)
- Winner, 2011 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
- Winner, 2011 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, People's Choice Award
- Shortlisted, 2010 Prime Minister's Literary Awards - Fiction
- Shortlisted, Miles Franklin Literary Award 2010
- Shortlisted, 2010 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards (Fiction)
- Shortlisted, 2009 Colin Roderick Award WC
- Longlisted, 2011 International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award
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