Kate Liston-Mills
A fox stalks a nest of hatching swans, loving parents deal with their child's Down syndrome diagnosis, a close-knit community mourns a death, a teenager is forced to give up an afternoon of surfing to spend time with her Nan.
'Kate Liston-Mills's lush but precise prose and fresh perspective gives this collection about the tough stuff of ordinary life immense energy, beauty and warmth. That she manages to get depth of character and intense sense of place in such a slim collection is a true wonder, as is her ability to show the inherent drama and tragedy of everyday life without every straying into sentimentality or bleakness.'
Writer's Edit on Goodreads wrote:I absolutely loved this collection of heartwarming short stories exploring life in a small costal town in NSW. Liston - Mills is a truly gifted writer. Her characters are so real you feel they could be family and she really gets to the heart of a place. A brilliant debut.
While The Waterfowl are Drunk! can be seen as an easy weekend read, a nice escape to small-town Australia, there’s plenty of poetry to give poise to the robust language and difficult themes. Liston-Mills balances literary technique with story and character in a way that is appealing to a wide audience, crafting a collection that stirs nostalgia with its authenticity and Australiana beauty.
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