Our Shadows

By: Gail Jones

Narrated by: Eleanor Stankiewicz

Our Shadows tells the story of three generations of family living in Kalgoorlie, where gold was discovered in 1893 by an Irish-born prospector named Paddy Hannan, whose own history weaves in and out of this beguiling novel.

Sisters Nell and Frances were raised by their grandparents and were once closely bound by reading and fantasy. Now they live in Sydney and are estranged from each other. Each in her own way struggles with the loss of their parents.

Little by little the sisters grow to understand the imaginative force of the past and the legacy of their shared orphanhood. Then Frances decides to make a journey home to the Kalgoorlie goldfields to explore what lies hidden and unspoken in their lives, in the shadowy tunnels of the past.

©2020 Gail Jones. First published by The Text Publishing Company (P)2024 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

'It is a poetic and beautifully crafted evocation of shadowy pasts whose traumatic effects (in the world and in individual lives) stretch deep into the present and the future.' (Australian Book Review)

'Praised for her precise, incisive observations, Jones’s writing frequently offers nuanced reflections on the cultural state of Australia as well as quiet revelations about the lives of her characters. Our Shadows is no exception … written like the wave that haunts its imaginative landscape, ebbing and flowing from past generations to the present and back again.' (Guardian)

'Gail Jones deftly and sensitively brings together these disparate stories into a meditation on grief, loss, estrangement, identity and, strangely enough, mining and underground rescue. The concepts and feelings tackled here are beautifully universal, but told in a context that is uniquely Australian.' (Readings)

'Touching on love, illness and grief, it is hauntingly beautiful.' (Good Weekend)