Charlotte Wood Poradie kníh

Ein komplett ungewohntes Umfeld ermöglicht einen ganz neuen Blick auf sich selbst. Wie lange der Aufenthalt in den Monaro Plains dauern wird, ist ihr nicht klar, aber länger, als es die Städterin aus Sydney erwartet hätte. Müde von Rummel und Geselligkeit, entscheidet sie sich eher zufällig für diese Form von Rückzug ins Kloster, ohne dass Religion in ihrem Leben eine Rolle spielt. Im ungewohnten Umfeld findet sie auf überraschende Weise zu sich selbst und setzt sich mit grundlegenden Fragen zu Freundschaft, Liebe, zur Vergangenheit und zum Älterwerden auseinander. Getragen von einem stark verlangsamten Rhythmus, wird sie immer mehr hineingesogen in diesen Ort, bis sie eine überraschende Entscheidung trifft.

"Burnt out and in need of retreat, a middle-aged woman leaves Sydney to return to the place she grew up, taking refuge in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of the Australian outback. She doesn't believe in God, or know what prayer is, and finds herself living this strange, reclusive existence almost by accident. But disquiet interrupts this secluded life with three visitations. First comes a terrible mouse plague, each day signalling a new battle against the rising infestation. Second is the return of the skeletal remains of a sister who disappeared decades before, presumed murdered. And finally, a troubling visitor plunges the narrator further back into her past"--

"Sylvie, Jude, Wendy and Adele have a lifelong friendship of the best kind: loving, practical, frank and steadfast. But when Sylvie dies, the ground shifts dangerously for the remaining three. These women couldn't be more different: Jude, a once-famous restaurateur with a spotless life and a long-standing affair with a married man; Wendy, an acclaimed feminist intellectual; Adele, a former star of the stage, now practically homeless. Struggling to recall exactly why they've remained close all these years, the grieving women gather for one last weekend at Sylvie's old beach house. But fraying tempers, an elderly dog, unwelcome guests and too much wine collide in a storm that brings long-buried hurts to the surface - a storm that will either remind them of the bond they share, or sweep away their friendship for good."--Publisher's website

Als Yolanda en Verla ontwaken uit een roes, ontdekken ze dat ze samen met een aantal andere vrouwen gevangen worden gehouden in een vervallen gebouw midden in de woestijn. Ze kennen elkaar niet en hebben geen idee waar ze zijn en waarom. Terwijl ze dwangarbeid verrichten onder een brandende zon komen ze erachter wat ze gemeen hebben: ieder van hen is het slachtoffer geweest van een seksschandaal met een machtige man. De vrouwen hopen op redding maar als het voedsel langzaam op begint te raken, wordt duidelijk dat niemand hen zal komen redden en dat ze op zichzelf – en op elkaar - zijn aangewezen.

Two women awaken from a drugged sleep to find themselves imprisoned in an abandoned property in the middle of a desert in a story of two friends, sisterly love and courage - a gripping, starkly imaginative exploration of contemporary misogyny and corporate control, and of what it means to hunt and be hunted. Strangers to each other, they have no idea where they are or how they came to be there with eight other girls, forced to wear strange uniforms, their heads shaved, guarded by two inept yet vicious armed jailers and a 'nurse'. The girls all have something in common, but what is it? What crime has brought them here from the city? Who is the mysterious security company responsible for this desolate place with its brutal rules, its total isolation from the contemporary world? Doing hard labour under a sweltering sun, the prisoners soon learn what links them: in each girl's past is a sexual scandal with a powerful man. They pray for rescue - but when the food starts running out it becomes clear that the jailers have also become the jailed. The girls can only rescue themselves.