Absence

By: Issa Quincy

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Hardcover | 10 November 2025

At a Glance

Hardcover
192 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.6 x 13.8

Hardcover

RRP $34.99

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A child is beguiled by a poem read to him by his mother. The poem follows this elusive narrator like a whisper throughout his life, echoing across the years in the stories and lives of others as they are recounted to him: an enigmatic and beloved schoolteacher who leaves behind a dark secret after his death; a woman who lays the table for a son she knows will never return home; a young man shunned by his family, who finds solace and freedom in the letters from an estranged aunt; a black-and-white photograph that tells of another family, afflicted with generations of tragedy.

With fierce imagination, Issa Quincy has constructed a transcendent portrait of humanity, deftly illuminating a symphony of memories, murmurs and phantoms that add up to an ordinary human life.

Industry Reviews

'This intriguing and inventive story escorts the reader to an unexpectedly joyous ending that hints at our contemporary interest in new ideas of what a family might be. The writing style is one of clarity and reserved sensibility punctuated with an end-game needle jab. Not to be missed' - Annie Proulx

'The sheer beauty of Clear-with its perfect sentences, its austere tenderness, and its quiet sense of disquiet-feels timeless... A poignant, profound depiction of both solitude and connection. Carys Davies has written a masterful, discreetly sublime book' - Hernan Diaz

'An exquisite, hopeful masterpiece. Magical and humane, it is a celebration of love and courage. It will be my favourite book of 2024, and probably many more years to come' - Rachel Joyce

'Clear is a love letter to a vanished way of life, to a landscape, and to human relationships. Captivating, tender, and satisfying, this is a novel to be savoured' - Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground

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