Bondi Literary Salon Book Club: After Story

Join the Bondi Literary Salon Book Club, hosted by Shirley Alexander! In our gathering, we will be discussing Larisa Behrendt's latest novel, After Story.

WHEN: Wednesday, 13th September, 2023, at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore, this event will be hosted in-store, please arrive at 6:45 pm for a prompt 7 pm start.

TICKETS: Admission; $25.00 (excluding external fees). Your ticket includes a drink on arrival and nibbles on the evening.

About After Story

When a mother and daughter take the overseas trip of a lifetime, they discover that the past is never quite behind them

When Indigenous lawyer Jasmine decides to take her mother, Della ,on a tour of England's most revered literary sites, Jasmine hopes it will bring them closer together and help them reconcile the past.

Twenty-five years earlier the disappearance of Jasmine's older sister devastated their tight-knit community. This tragedy returns to haunt Jasmine and Della when another child mysteriously goes missing on Hampstead Heath. As Jasmine immerses herself in the world of her literary idols - including Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and Virginia Woolf - Della is inspired to rediscover the wisdom of her own culture and storytelling. But sometimes the stories that are not told can become too great to bear.

Ambitious and engrossing, After Story celebrates the extraordinary power of words and the quiet spaces between. We can be ready to listen, but are we ready to hear?

About the Author

Larissa is the author of three novels- Home, which won the 2002 David Unaipon Award and the regional Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book; Legacy, which won the 2010 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; and After Story. She has published numerous books on Indigenous legal issues; her most recent non-fiction book is Finding Eliza- Power and Colonial Storytelling. She was awarded the 2009 NAIDOC Person of the Year award and 2011 NSW Australian of the Year. Larissa wrote and directed the feature films, After the Apology and Innocence Betrayed and has written and produced several short films.

In 2018 she won the Australian Directors' Guild Award for Best Direction in a Documentary Feature and in 2020 the AACTA for Best Direction in Nonfiction Television. She is the host of Speaking Out on ABC radio and is Distinguished Professor at the Jumbunna Institute at the University of Technology Sydney. After Story has been shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and the ABA Booksellers' Choice Awards, and longlisted for the Indie Book Awards, the Australian Book Industry Awards and the Miles Franklin Literary Award.

About the Host

Shirley Alexander has been an avid reader of fiction and non-fiction since her primary school days (when her local library changed their rules to stop her borrowing too many books). She has spent almost her entire career in academia and recently retired. When not reading she is a cyclist, a surf ski paddler, a museum devotee and seeks out good food and wine. 

About Bondi Literary Salon

Bondi Literary Salon was established in 2018, it is the in-house book club of beloved Bondi institution, Gertrude & Alice. The Bondi Literary Salon endeavours to explore the vast world of literature each month, with a selection that reflects a focus on diverse writers and stories; delving into both classic and contemporary fiction, as well as non-fiction. Our philosophy has always been to use language and literature not only as a tool for connection and community, but as an insight to worlds we have not had the pleasure of visiting ourselves. We welcome all - young and old, those with a life-long love of literature, or whose relationship may be only beginning. Join us in the unmatched comfort of an after-hours bookstore, accompanied by wine and cheese, for an evening spent discussing books and building community.

About Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore

Rated as one of the top 10 bookstores in the world by National Geographic, Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore is an oasis for writers, readers, and coffee lovers. Books overflow from the shelves of their store, featuring a mix of new, second-hand, antiquarian and rare books. Stay a while & enjoy some home made chai, and amazing coffee, and unearth a book treasure or two. Read more about the bookstore's story here, and about the real Gertrude & Alice here.