The Restorer by Michael Sala published today
“I would defy anyone to read this story and remain unmoved.”
“Builds and breaks like a summer storm – just as beautiful, just as brutal.”
“Closely observed, with the visceral force of truth, Michael Sala’s heartbreaking novel captures the tender hope of love and its terrible cost.”
Published 26th October 2017 by Text Publishing in trade paperback, priced at £10.99
After a year-long separation, Maryanne and Roy are trying to rebuild their lives together, moving from Sydney to a dilapidated terraced house in Newcastle with their two children. As they patch up the holes in the floor and try to erase the sickly smell that pervades the property, it seems as though they can be a family again.
In their midst, their eight year old son Daniel drifts around the house uncertainly, while their teenage daughter Freya is increasingly determined to push against their boundaries. Roy forgets the promises he has made to bring his family back, and Maryanne realises that some cracks can never be smoothed over. The tension between them grow, until the uneasy truce is ruptured – with devastating consequences…
Set against the turbulent yet enticing seascape of the Newcastle coast in NSW Australia in 1989, The Restorer is haunting and unforgettable meditation on the insufficiency of love, the way that trauma shapes identity, and the power that parents have over their children.
About Michael Sala
Michael Sala was born in the Netherlands in 1975 and moved to Australia in the 1980s. He currently lives in Newcastle, Australia. His critically acclaimed and deeply compelling debut, The Last Thread, won the 2013 NSW Premier’s award for New Writing and was the regional (Pacific) winner of the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize.
About Text Publishing
A leading Australian independent publisher, winner of Small Publisher of the year 2012, 2013 and 2014. Text publishes the finest Australian writers, both old and new. Launched in 2012, the Text Classics list champions Australian greats, while also being committed to finding and publishing the best contemporary writing for an international audience. Text publishes internationally acclaimed authors in the local market, while selling numerous leading authors to publishers around the world. Text is distributed by Turnaround in the UK.
Further praise for Michael Sala
‘Michael Sala has a rare gift: in prose that takes your breath away, he tells a story of heart-rending sorrow without a trace of sentimentality’ Raimond Gaita on The Last Thread
‘A confronting and compelling story of a family. Sala captures perfectly the puzzled silence of the uncomprehending child in a narrative swollen with unspoken secrets’ Debra Adelaide on The Last Thread
‘The “threads” are often exquisite’ Australian on The Last Thread
‘A gutsy, moving, beautifully wrought and utterly compelling work’ Readings Monthly on The Last Thread
‘Leaves a potent sense of blood and bone humanity’ Canberra Times on The Last Thread
ENDS
