THE FIRST WEEK

Marian couldn't see the woman's eyes behind her glasses, and was filled with panic. That bosom was not for comfort. Not for Marian. She, Marian, was here so that this woman, this psychologist, could expose her failure to be a proper mother.

Her son's actions shatter Marian's life. As the days pass she is haunted by layers of grief rising like the salt of the degraded earth.

Marian's everyday heroism, her earthy humour and innate honesty, sustain her as she confronts her own tragedy and sees beyond it to other moral dilemmas of white Australian life - racism, environmental damage.

This novel has its roots in an ancient landscape - the dry farming country around Koikyennuruff (Stirling Ranges) in the south of Western Australia. It is the story of a journey from the country to the city and back again, a journey that will change Marian forever.

The book was a Winner of the Wakefield Press Unpublished Manuscript Award at Adelaide Writers' Week. Shortlisted for the Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, NSW Premier's Literary Awards. Longlisted for the Dobbie Literary Award for a first time published author.
Shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis Award celebrating books that depict 'women and girls in a positive way or otherwise empowers the status of women and girls in society'.

Margaret Merrilees was born and bred in Western Australia but now lives in Adelaide. Her idiosyncratic essays, which combine memoir, history and social commentary, have appeared in Meanjin, Island, Wet Ink and Griffith Review. Margaret is also author of the on-line serial 'Adelaide Days - Tales of Rainbow Life in the Festival City'.