Fireweather

From the author of the acclaimed Thunderhead. It all began when they started running away ... Life for Winona Dalloway is not as it should be. Her husband is no longer her husband, her children are not at home with her, and the city in which she lives is besieged by fires. Black ash falls like snow, songbirds screech like dinosaurs, and the doctors are calling her mad ... In this looking-glass world, Winona is forced to prove she is a sane, rational human being. As the pronouncements of the professionals grow more insistent, so too do the voices crowding inside Winona’s head. She seeks solace in the company of plants and animals, and begins to imagine an entirely other way of being — one that might make whole her broken heart.

About the Author :
Miranda Darling is a writer, poet, and co-founder of Vanishing Pictures. She read English and Modern Languages at Oxford then took a Masters in Strategic Studies and Defence from the ANU (GSSD). She became an adjunct scholar at a public policy think tank, specialising in non-traditional security threats. She has published both fiction and nonfiction.

Review :
‘Fireweather is a quietly radical novel about love, loss, and the wild wisdom of the non-human world. It arrives like a storm breaking after the stillness of heat, charged with something electric, elemental and beautifully unnerving… the book reveals itself as both a love story and a subversive philosophical inquiry … [Darling] weaves poetry, ecology, philosophy and quiet rage into a narrative that reads like Clarice Lispector in a climate crisis. It’s darkly funny, often devastating, and paradigm-shifting.’ ‘Darling writes feminist fiction infused with wit, intertextuality and a poetic command of language, creating a compelling, intricate internal voice that stands, too, as a critique of institutional misogyny in psychiatry.’ ‘Coupled with thought excursions into poetry, fiction, history, aphorisms, pop psychology and beyond, Darling explores the life of a mind, rendering the experience of being inside the head of another  — the self in the world — in a way that is both familiar and unfamiliar. This is at times not an easy read — nor should it be, given the depths of psychological revelation the author is portraying here, but Darling’s vision and affection for Winona’s journey and her attention to the way words settle on the page makes it a rewarding one.’ ‘Darling writes vividly. Her prose is evocative and disturbing, skilfully reflecting Winona’s state of mind. There are passages that are intensely moving, particularly those that sharply delineate the heart-rending emotions of a mother’s love and fear for her children.’ ‘We catch up with the ever-fascinating Winona a few years on, seeing what’s become of her, and her family, since the dramatic end to Thunderhead … A different, slightly darker, book than Thunderhead, Fireweather is nevertheless an absorbing read … Whether this duology becomes a trilogy or not, though, both books are well worth a try, with the woman at their heart one who will linger long in the memory.’ Praise for Thunderhead: ‘Short, sharp, and immersive … Thunderhead is a powerful story that explores motherhood, mental health, our sense of self, and our right to autonomy in the context of relentless, everyday domestic life. This is complex, layered, and beautiful writing that invites readers to consider their own wild and chaotic inner worlds, and the ways in which negative relationships shape us.’ Praise for Thunderhead: ‘Thunderhead takes the brewing storm of domesticity and cracks it open with incredible vulnerability, generosity, and humour. At once Rachel Cusk, at once Jenny Offill, and altogether entirely Miranda Darling, this powerful, restless, irresistible novel is essential reading.’ Praise for Thunderhead: ‘Thunderhead is edgy black comedy and sports real-time internal monologue meticulously describing one day of domestic purgatory … Darling’s whip-smart short novel creates a strong narrative voice spiked with caustic wit, intertextual reference, and intelligent humour. It’s formidably brilliant feminist fiction that sparks a compelling conversation with its literary forebears, Woolf in particular.’ Praise for Thunderhead: ‘A feminist triumph and homage to Virginia Woolf, Miranda Darling’s Thunderhead is a potent exploration of suburban entrapment for women.’ Praise for Thunderhead: ‘Set over one fever-pitched day … It’s a daring book, adopting the aesthetics of Deborah Levy with the velocity of a crime thriller and an off-kilter voice, deeply internal, darkly comic, clipped, and Woolfish … Thunderhead brims with magazine-style musings — all those dizzying top notes, that intertextuality, the style. It’s a strong, complex, and self-aware voice, and it is the primary vehicle through which we gauge Winona’s resilience and determination. If The Catcher in the Rye were instead penned by a domestic violence survivor, it might read a little like Thunderhead. For fans of Melissa Broder, Elizabeth Hardwick, and Edwina Preston.’ Praise for Thunderhead: ‘Darkly funny, astute, timely — Thunderhead’s protagonist insists on being heard, and we as readers feel compelled to listen. To care. Such a fresh and lovely voice, full of humour, insight, and energy. I loved Winona — and her story.’