GOODBYE SWEETHEART

From one of Australia's most important writers omes a powerful novel of love, the desire for understanding, and the inevitable messiness of life.

William Cecil, a successful Canberra lawyer, has a heart attack and dies suddenly while swimming in the local pool. Apparently happily married at the time of his death, albeit with two divorces behind him and three children to show for his marital trials, William, it seems, was not quite the man the family thought. His penchant for online pornography is discovered when his son Ferdie accesses his laptop. And as the extended family of wives and children gather to mark his passing at least one lover, Barbara, appears to remind them that his philandering had not passed. In the way that death can be messy, we come to understand that William has failed many and continues to wreak havoc after death. Goodbye Sweetheart reminds that we never quite truly know another person, even those closest to us. Marion Halligan has a long list of literary prizes to her credit. She has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Miles Franklin Literary Award, and has been awarded The Age Book of the Year, the ACT Book of the Year (three times), the Nita B. Kibble Award, the Steele Rudd Award, the Braille Book of the Year, the 3M Talking Book of the Year and the Geraldine Pascall Prize for critical writing. She lives in Canberra and has an AM for services to literature.