'Family dynamics are tested to the limit in this emotive and confronting debut.' - Woman & Home
When Things Are Alive They Hum poses profound questions about the nature of love and existence, the ways grief changes us, and how we confront the hand fate has dealt us.
Marlowe and Harper share a bond deeper than most sisters, shaped by the loss of their mother in childhood. For Harper, living with what she calls the Up syndrome and gifted with an endless capacity for wonder, Marlowe and she are connected by an invisible thread, like the hum that connects all things. For Marlowe, they are bound by her fierce determination to keep Harper, born with a congenital heart disorder, alive.
Now 25, Marlowe is finally living her own life abroad, pursuing her studies of a rare species of butterfly secure in the knowledge Harper's happiness is complete, having found love with boyfriend, Louis. But then she receives the devastating call that Harper's heart is failing. She needs a heart transplant but is denied one by the medical establishment because she is living with a disability. Marlowe rushes to her childhood home in Hong Kong to be by Harper's side and soon has to answer the question - what lengths would you go to save your sister?
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Hannah Bent completed her Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art and Film from Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design in London. She undertook further study in both directing and screenwriting at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney. She was the 2013 recipient of the Ray Koppe Young Writers Award for her novel as a work in progress.
Title: When Things Are Alive They Hum
Author: Bent, Hannah
ISBN: 9781761151538
Binding:
Publisher: Ultimo Press
Publication Date: 2022-09-15
Number of Pages: 368
Weight: 0.5702 kg
'One of the most captivating and memorable books I've read in a long time. Brave, tender and heartfelt, I foresee cheese platters stripped down to the last cracker as bookclubs reflect on this beautiful and thought-provoking novel.' * Joanna Nell, author of The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village *
'Hannah Bent has created a literary heroine of such pure beauty she takes your breath away.' * Australian Women's Weekly *
'Hannah Bent's novel is compelling and tender, powerfully placing the reader in the heart and the mind of two sisters with contrasting expectations of life, and the imperatives of love. At times this pulls them in dangerously different directions but ultimately their ability to honour the essence of each other reminds us that in doing so, life-giving expansion is possible even when life itself may be diminishing.' * Suzanne Daniel, author of Allegra in Three Parts *
'My heart feels larger for reading Hannah Bent's beautiful debut. This is a novel which hums with love, truth and tenderness. I defy readers not to fall in love with Marlowe and Harper.' * Kathryn Heyman, author of Fury *
'a tender portrayal of sisterly love and impossible choices that will break your heart.'
* Sydney Morning Herald *
'Posing profound questions about grief, love and fate, Bent's debut celebrates life and sisterhood in an awe-inspiring way.' * Harper's Bazaar *
'At once uplifting and heartbreaking, this is a story about the special bond between two sisters.' * Sunday Life *