Winner of the 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award Meet Jimmy Flick. He's not like other kids - he's both too fast and too slow. He sees too much, and too little. Jimmy's mother Paula is the only one who can manage him. She teaches him how to count sheep so that he can fall asleep. She holds him tight enough to stop his cells spinning.
It is only Paula who can keep Jimmy out of his father's way. But when Jimmy's world falls apart, he has to navigate the unfathomable world on his own, and make things right.
About the Author
Sofie Laguna is an author, actor and playwright. Her first novel for adults, One Foot Wrong, was nominated for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction. She has written the screenplay for the film of One Foot Wrong and her second novel, The Eye of the Sheep, won the 2015 Miles Franklin Literary Award.
Industry Reviews
It is outrageous that someone as young, beautiful and - goddamit - as happy looking as Sofie Laguna has written this wee beauty of a novel... As a "domestic" novel, it could be cliched, but Laguna, through Jimmy's wonderful eyes, makes every sentence, every word, sing and soar. * Irish Times *
A book that crosses the boundaries of adult and YA fiction. * Guardian *
Quite an achievement... It is quite a feat to write characters with such nuance... Laguna is an author proving the novel is a crucial document of the times. -- Louise Swinn * The Weekend Australian *
Harrowing, beautifully written, insightful and absorbing... Unique, forceful and absolutely hypnotic... Fresh, honest writing. -- Emily Macguire * Canberra Times *
A beautiful, sombre style, relieved by occasional happy-go-lucky moments and strangely surprising resilience... Laguna has vividly brought to life what it must be like to be a different child and the effect his condition can have on a family. * Sydney Morning Herald *
Jimmy is a tour de force of a character, brilliantly maintained... Laguna's great skill is in conveying the contradictory human depths in all her characters. * Adelaide Advertiser *
A book that intrigues and affects every essence of your humanity... A dark and terrible tale told in lyrical, poetic language and stark imagery. * Australian Bookseller and Publisher *
Laguna's child narrator both emphasises and conceals, through simple yet articulate images, the complicated extent of suffering and release. * Guardian on One Foot Wrong *
An extraordinary achievement. Hester's voice is original and compelling...compels us to see our familiar world as new and intriguing - no small feat. -- Jo Case * Big Issue on One Foot Wrong *
