By: Alexandra Addams
ISBN: 978-1962931403
High Frequency Press, 2025
2025 Sarton Finalist: Contemporary Fiction
Judith Drainger has always played life by her own rules. But these days life seems to be playing her right back.
Divorced, orphaned and forcibly retired, 59-year-old Judith is determined to seize the opportunity to leave her broken home in London and move across the world to Australia. Here she reunites with her estranged adult daughter Cassandra - only to land smack bang in the emotional quagmire of her daughter's anger and abandonment issues. To make matters worse, Judith can see her new granddaughter Emily has a serious health issue, but her offers of help are ignored and rejected.
When an accident knocks her off her feet, Judith is swamped by the kindly care of her nosy new neighbors. Yet, when given a chance to become a part of their community, Judith shocks even herself by making a series of unforgivable blunders. Realizing if she's to have any hope of reuniting her family, this well-meaning but stubborn curmudgeon must learn the power of saying 'sorry' - and what it actually means to be a good person.
A tender and uplifting novel championing the complex realities of family, solidarity and friendship.
About the Author
Alexandra Addams is an Australian writer living in Switzerland by a large lake in an old, crumbling house. She has one less than half-a-dozen children and they bring her both great joy and intense angst in equal measure.
A novelist, Addams writes character driven fiction about families and the dramas that can upend their lives. She particularly enjoys delving into the relationships between mothers and daughters and writing stories about women finding their place in the world again after a giant upheaval.
To learn more about Alexandra Addams and her work, please see alexandraaddams.com
