It is just a coincidence that Sue from Whispering Gums is running a Giveaway at the same time as me. Sue is offering a special book and event giveaway for Jessica White’s Hearing Maud. If you didn’t rush out and buy a copy when I reviewed it a little ago, then this is an opportunity for you, but I would really like everyone to buy a copy because I learned so much about deafness from it. For example, did you realise that a beard makes it harder for lip-readers? We have recently made the acquaintance of someone who relies on lip-reading, and it has been so easy to modify our behaviour a little and make communication easier —but I wouldn’t have known what to do if I hadn’t read Jessica’s book.
Anyway…
I was contacted last week by the Margaret River Press publicist for a new collection of short stories by Emily Paull, and due to domestic issues i.e. the advent of housepainters taking over my house…
*pause*
lo! I hear them in the driveaway as I write….
*Long pause*
I didn’t get round to advertising the Giveaway last week. So here it is!
Emily Paull is a former-bookseller and future librarian from Perth who writes short stories and historical fiction. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies as well as Westerly journal. When she’s not writing, she can often be found with her nose in a book. Her debut collection Well-Behaved Women was edited by WA Premier’s Book Award shortlistee Laurie Steed (whose name you will know because of Nathan Hobby’s review here).
This is from the press release:
In Well-Behaved Women, Paull voices a chorus of characters that reveal and re-evaluate the expectations of women in Australia today—after all, well-behaved women rarely make history.
A woman grapples with survivor’s guilt after a body is found in her garden bed; an ageing beauty queen contemplates her past; a world champion free-diver disappears during routine training…
In moments disquieting or quietly inspiring, this collection considers the complexity of the connections we make—with our family, friends and neighbours, and with those met briefly or never at all.
‘In Well-behaved Women Emily Paull expertly conveys the small but cumulative acts of emotional repression women endure in order to keep the peace. With great skill and poetry, Paull draws our attention to the psychological toll that such daily concessions take. These fabulous stories will make you smile and cry but most of all, will make you angry—on behalf of all these quietly suffering and “well-behaved” women we all know so well.’—Melanie Cheng, Victorian Premier’s Literary Award Winner.
HOW TO ENTER
Interested? Please add your name to the comments below, and I’ll draw the winner in a week or so. (It all depends on how much time moving the furniture hither-and-yon allows me).
All entries from readers with an Australian postcode for delivery will be eligible but it is a condition of entry that if you are the winner, you must contact me with a postal address by the deadline that will be specified in the blog post that announces the winner. (I’ll redraw if this deadline isn’t met). Your postal address will be forwarded to the publisher who will then send you the book.
Good luck everybody!
PS WA readers: Emily Paull is in conversation with Bindy Prichard at the Murdoch University Library. Details on the MRP website, where you can also find a sample chapter and book club notes.
Author: Emily Paull
Title: Well-Behaved Women
Publisher: Margaret River Press
ISBN: 9780648652113
Available from Margaret River Press and Fishpond: Well-behaved Women
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
Sue Sillitoe – I am in Perth and am disappointed that the event will be while I am working. Looking forward to reading this!
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By: Sue on October 21, 2019
at 9:32 am
Hi Sue, work, it’s a curse, isn’t it, the way it gets in the way of reading!
Maybe someone who attends it will do a write-up about it, that would be great…
Good luck with the draw:)
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By: Lisa Hill on October 21, 2019
at 10:05 am
Hi Sue, heaps of other events planned aside from that one! I have them all listed on my website. Thanks for your interest!
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By: Emily Paull on October 22, 2019
at 11:26 pm
Thanks – I now have a ticket to the Rabble Books event in Maylands!
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By: Sue on October 23, 2019
at 9:11 am
Hi Sue, thanks for your interest! I’d love for you to come to another event if the timing for the Murdoch one isn’t right for you. Details on my website and Facebook page.
Thanks to Lisa for doing this giveaway, it’s exciting to see everyone excited about the book!
Emily
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By: Emily Paull on October 22, 2019
at 11:29 pm
Sounds like an interesting collection!
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By: Marita Thomson on October 21, 2019
at 9:46 am
Good luck Marita!
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By: Lisa Hill on October 21, 2019
at 10:05 am
I have been offered a copy too so will not go in the draw, but good luck with the house work! I keep putting off.
And, thanks for the link!
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By: whisperinggums on October 21, 2019
at 10:54 am
The bedroom and bathroom are not too bad… only half a dozen books to move from the bedside table and we’ve been able to squeeze the furniture into the sitting room. Which is why we’re doing them first.
Mind you, I am toying with disposing of the storage for clothes and having bookshelves instead…
But everywhere else, hmm, it will be a marathon effort and I’m putting that off till next year.
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By: Lisa Hill on October 21, 2019
at 12:04 pm
It’s overwhelming to contemplate isn’t it? I’m impressed. I have a large-ish book case in the bedroom. And books on the floor and in my bedside bookshelf (which Mr Gums custom-made for me in lieu of a bedside table) so our bedroom would be a nightmare.
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By: whisperinggums on October 21, 2019
at 2:39 pm
They’ve just finished the ceiling and the first coat (a 1930s-ish sage green) and it looks gorgeous.
Naturally, (a-hem) the bedding will need updating. I have organised my neighbour who has impeccable taste to come with me on an expedition to find the right doona cover and pillow cases…I’d love to find something art-deco in the right colour.
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By: Lisa Hill on October 21, 2019
at 2:45 pm
Good luck … It’s always hardest I find when you have something in mind. I’m a bit of a green girl myself. My first bedroom that I had a say in, I wanted to be green.
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By: whisperinggums on October 21, 2019
at 3:32 pm
🙋♀️ I’d love to be entered!
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By: Theresa Smith Writes on October 21, 2019
at 11:17 am
Of course you know my name but even so – Theresa Smith.
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By: Theresa Smith Writes on October 21, 2019
at 11:18 am
Of course! Good luck:)
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By: Lisa Hill on October 21, 2019
at 11:50 am
Thanks Lisa, for the opportunity. The book sounds very interesting.
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By: Meg on October 21, 2019
at 1:30 pm
Good luck, Meg:)
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By: Lisa Hill on October 21, 2019
at 1:58 pm
Since I’m not in Australia I can comment without fear of winning :) The examples of the stories indicated in the press release sound interesting and varied. You have my sympathy re the disruption caused by having work done, having just said goodbye to gardeners who were with us for three months…..
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By: BookerTalk on October 21, 2019
at 2:59 pm
Three months, yikes!
But I think I saw a photo of the finished work on your blog? It looked lovely.
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By: Lisa Hill on October 21, 2019
at 3:36 pm
It still needs some finishing touches but these are all ones we can take care of ourselves. Of course I won’t be able to take full advantage of it until next summer….
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By: BookerTalk on October 21, 2019
at 6:51 pm
I am keen to read it! Can I be in the running?
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By: rachary on October 21, 2019
at 5:54 pm
If you have an Australian postcode, yes you can:)
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By: Lisa Hill on October 21, 2019
at 6:09 pm
I’ve read this book already and it’s so good—all about women and girls, as the title suggests, and gives the reader lots to think about. I’m also the lucky person who gets to launch this collection next month. I’ve known Emily since her early twenties, and I’ve watched her grow as a writer, and seen her diligence and perseverance. Whoever wins this book is in for a treat!
P.S. Don’t enter me in the draw—I just wanted to comment!
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By: Louise Allan on October 22, 2019
at 1:14 am
Thanks for dropping by, and for your words of praise for this writer Louise:)
How’s your next novel coming along?
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By: Lisa Hill on October 22, 2019
at 7:13 am
It’s coming along—snail’s pace today, but slow and steady is okay. Thank you for asking. :-)
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By: Louise Allan on October 22, 2019
at 11:30 pm
Yes please! Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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By: Jennifer on October 22, 2019
at 3:05 pm
You’re in!
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By: Lisa Hill on October 22, 2019
at 3:21 pm
I won’t go in the draw, I still haven’t reviewed the last one I won, and to be honest it’s no longer even on my desk glaring at me. But I will check out Well Behaved Women next time I’m in the bookshop (I don’t recall it being on the new release shelves at the weekend).
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By: wadholloway on October 22, 2019
at 3:05 pm
It hasn’t been released yet.
Which one did you win?
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By: Lisa Hill on October 22, 2019
at 3:22 pm
Growing up Aboriginal in Aust.
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By: wadholloway on October 22, 2019
at 4:53 pm
Ah yes, terrific book. And now there’s a whole series of them.
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By: Lisa Hill on October 22, 2019
at 4:56 pm
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who hasn’t read books she’s won in giveaways!
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By: whisperinggums on October 31, 2019
at 4:46 pm
I feel really guilty about one that I won a long time ago. It wasn’t what i thought it was and I could never must the enthusiasm to read it. I finally gave in to the guilt about three years ago and took it to the OpShop.
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By: Lisa Hill on October 31, 2019
at 7:02 pm
Life is too short.
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By: whisperinggums on October 31, 2019
at 9:19 pm
Hi,
Looking forward to reading this collection, Me Cooper
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By: melbeth542 on October 23, 2019
at 12:03 pm
Would love to read this – who doesn’t need some inspiration on how to behave well! Or not!
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By: melbeth542 on October 23, 2019
at 12:06 pm
Jessie Hartwig-Boutkan! I have wanted to read this since seeing it on Margaret River press page! 🤞🏻🤞🏻
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By: Jessie Hartwig-Boutkan on October 23, 2019
at 5:44 pm
Good luck Jessie!
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By: Lisa Hill on October 23, 2019
at 5:56 pm
Sounds fascinating! Please count me in – Gretchen Bernet-Ward.
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By: ThoughtsBecomeWords on October 25, 2019
at 12:02 am
Will do!
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By: Lisa Hill on October 25, 2019
at 8:01 am