Join us for an evening with GP, distance runner and author Jo Skinner to discuss her second contemporary women's fiction novel, A World of Silence. Jo will be joined in conversation here at The Book Cow by fellow author Karen Viggers.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Raw and intense, this gripping tale reveals the hidden truths lurking beneath the surface of ordinary lives in the suburbs. The novel follows the stories of three women, untangling secrets that continue to connect them, years after the height of their friendship at university.

Psychologist Kate is juggling work, finances, children and her ailing relationship to Ryan, a musician too engrossed with his band to help at home. She finds herself nostalgic about her first love. Single mother Tori, the owner of a successful second-hand clothing and furniture store, is determined to protect her son from the truth about his father. When glamorous Shelley, now married to Kate’s first love, Daryl, arrives in town, uncomfortable truths begin to emerge.

A World of Silence explores themes of female friendship, domestic abuse, parenting, sexuality, and the power of women supporting women.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jo Skinner is a Brisbane based GP who writes contemporary women’s fiction as well as freelance non-fiction articles about women’s issues and mental health. She also has a distance running habit. When she is not working or writing you will find her accruing kilometres while plotting her next story.

Jo says her work as a General Practitioner played a pivotal role in developing the novel’s undercurrents of psychological and physical abuse. The first draft of A World of Silence was completed in 2020, two weeks before the murder of Hannah Clarke and her three children. This tragic event brought the insidious issue of coercive control into the public eye and compelled Jo to pursue publication for the novel.