One Hundred Days

From one of Australia's most celebrated authors comes a mother–daughter drama exploring the faultlines between love and control.

Shortlisted for the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award

One hundred days. It's no time at all, she tells me. But she's not the one waiting.

In a heady whirlwind of independence, lust and defiance, sixteen-year-old Karuna falls pregnant. Not on purpose, but not entirely by accident, either. Incensed, Karuna's mother, already over-protective, confines her to their fourteenth-storey housing-commission flat, to keep her safe from the outside world - and make sure she can't get into any more trouble.

Stuck inside for endless hours, Karuna battles her mother and herself for a sense of power in her own life, as a new life forms and grows within her. As the due date draws ever closer, the question of who will get to raise the baby - who it will call Mum - festers between them.

One Hundred Days is a fractured fairytale exploring the fault lines between love and control. At times tense and claustrophobic, it is nevertheless brimming with humour, warmth and character. It is a magnificent new work from one of Australia's most celebrated writers.

'The tale of mothers and daughters the world over, this is truly fiction at its fiercest. It is a masterpiece, a triumph.' —Maxine Beneba Clarke

'Pung's command as a writer is astonishing, elating. I adore this book.'—Christos Tsiolkas

'One Hundred Days will break your heart and, in the masterful hands of Alice Pung, put it back together. This is a moving, page-turning, emotional rollercoaster of a novel filled with searing observations, humor, and compassion. I absolutely loved it.' —Tracey Lien

'Subtle, difficult, lovely, and gorgeously written.' —Kirkus starred review

About the Author

Alice Pung OAM is an award-winning writer based in Melbourne. She is the bestselling author of the memoirs Unpolished Gem and Her Father’s Daughter, and the essay collection Close to Home, as well as the editor of the anthologies Growing Up Asian in Australia and My First Lesson. Her first novel, Laurinda, won the Ethel Turner Prize at the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. One Hundred Days is her most recent novel, and was shortlisted for the 2022 Miles Franklin Award. Alice was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for services to literature in 2022.