Reviews of SMOKE IN THE ROOM

  • AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW
    "Emily Maguire, in her surreptitiously brilliant third novel, has created a riveting emotional composition which plays out with the basso of a tragic opera, the discipline of a stage play and the authenticity of real life."
  • THE AGE
    "Smoke in the Room...explores love and loss while tackling more profound questions of human responsibility – to comprehend, sometimes brutally, our place in the world...It makes, at times, for difficult reading – as if watching an approaching train wreck. But Maguire has a tight rein on her readers, and you don't want to look away."
  • THE AUSTRALIAN
    "Maguire seems incapable of spinning anything less than a compelling, endlessly engaging story that begs to be consumed in a single sitting. The questions she asks and the lives she creates persist far longer. Her language serves its purpose so perfectly that it disappears, leaving only her broken but somehow still hopeful characters."
  • THE COURIER MAIL
    "Maguire's narrative is compelling, her flawed characters engaging. Having come close to winning several prestigious literary prizes for her other novels..it should only be a matter of time before this one gets the attention it deserves."

INTERVIEWS & PRESS

Available October 2009 



SITR

Summer, Sydney, and holed up in a tiny flat off Broadway are idealistic American Adam, weary activist Graeme, and wild, misunderstood Katie. Each is searching for answers to life's biggest questions – why are we here; what is love; what constitutes betrayal – and thrust together, over an intense two-week period, they begin to form answers. In doing so, they must first confront their darkest demons, both within and without...

Also available from Picador in October 09

   TtBGATL     

More about Taming the Beast including reading guide and extract

More about The Gospel According to Luke


 Non-fiction by Emily Maguire

 Princesses & Pornstars: Sex, Power, IdentityPrincesses

Articles & Essays

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By Emily Maguire