Jayne Tuttle: An Evening with the Author

Join Jayne Tuttle, in conversation with Tegan Bennett Daylight, to celebrate the launch of her new book The Sea in the Metro, in-store at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore.

WHEN: Thursday, 28th of August 2025, at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore. Please arrive at 6:45pm for a prompt 7pm start.

TICKETS: 

Admission: $25.00 (excluding external fees), includes admission for one, a glass of wine and nibbles upon arrival.

Admission + Book: $55.00 (excluding external fees), includes admission for one, a copy of The Sea in the Metro (RRP: $34.95), a glass of wine and nibbles upon arrival.

From the critically acclaimed author of Paris or Die and My Sweet Guillotine comes a powerfully written and deeply personal story of ambition, art and human nature in Paris.

About The Sea in the Metro:

On the métro I ask her if she can see the sea.
She points at me.
Not la mère, I laugh. La mer! The sea!
I can’t see the sea, or myself as a mother, right now. All I see is sneakers and a skateboard and two shabby suitcases, one blue, one red. A soft, sweet head, curls tied up in pigtails, my face in them …

Jayne is a new mother in Paris trying to balance her creative ambition and lust for city life with the instinctual urges of motherhood - and failing.

As her relationship with her husband and the city strains, she searches for answers in a friendship with an older Frenchwoman, the streets, the crowds, in art and writing and new wave cinema… but finds only more questions. Something has to give, but what?

‘This is a book like sheet lightning: sudden, illuminating and sometimes terrifying. The Sea in the Metro tells the story of falling out of love with a city and back in love with life, the perfect denouement to Jayne Tuttle’s Paris trilogy. Frank. Devastating. Hilarious.'—Tegan Bennett-Daylight, author of The Details

About the Author: Jayne Tuttle

Jayne Tuttle is a writer, performer and bookseller. Trained in theatre at the École Jacques Lecoq in Paris, Jayne went on to work as an actor, bilingual copywriter and translator. Paris or Die was developed into a solo theatre show which Jayne performed throughout Australia and France from 2021-2023. She has received fellowships from the City of Paris, La Napoule Arts Foundation, Bundanon, Le Centre les Récollets and the Varuna National Writers House, for which she was awarded the 2021 Eric Dark Flagship Fellowship.

About the Host: Tegan Bennett Daylight

Tegan Bennett Daylight is a writer, teacher and critic who has published three novels: Bombora, What Falls Away and Safety, as well as several books for children and teenagers, including the recent Royals and How to Survive 1985. Her collection of short stories, Six Bedrooms, was shortlisted for the ALS Gold Medal, the Steele Rudd Award and the 2016 Stella Prize. Her book of essays, The Details, was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Award for Non-Fiction. She works as a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Western Sydney University, and lives on Darug/Gundungurra land in the Blue Mountains.

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 homemade 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.

‘Sometimes reading The Sea in the Metro is like looking in a mirror. Confronting. Other times it’s like watching a football match complete with involuntary gasps, the occasional boo and a loud and lusty cheering on of our heroine. Which is all to say that the book is an entirely immersive experience. What a feat Jayne Tuttle’s latest book is. I loved it.’ —Sophie Cunningham, author of This Devastating Fever