Join us at Ryde Library as feminist icon, social commentator, and Walkley Award-winning journalist Jane Caro chats with fellow author Suzanne Leal about her newest gripping thriller with a moral dilemma at its core, Lyrebird.
Jane weaves in elements of key feminist and social issues, including the treatment of vulnerable women and the systemic destruction of the natural world, while reminding us that nature watches and is keeping the score.
Attendees on the night have a chance to win a signed copy. There will be on onsite bookseller for purchase of the book and Jane will be available for signing and questions.
Please note: This event has a 6:15 pm arrival time for a 6:30 pm event start time.
In association with Allen & Unwin Publishers.
About the book
Lyrebirds are brilliant mimics, so if they mimic a woman screaming in terror and begging for her life, they have witnessed a crime. But how does a young, hungover PHD student and a wet-behind-the-ears new detective, convince anyone that a native bird can be a reliable witness to a murder, especially when there is no body and no missing person?
And what happens when they turn out to be right?
A sound froze her blood. A woman. A woman screaming in pure terror. Screaming and sobbing—begging—out here, in this desolate place.
Twenty years ago, ornithology student Jessica Weston panicked when she heard a woman screaming for her life in the remote Barrington Tops. Her relief, when she discovers that it is a lyrebird making the sounds, is profound. She is thrilled to have caught his display on video. Then she remembers—lyrebirds are mimics. Whatever the wild creature has heard must have really happened, and happened nearby.
Jessica takes her video to the police. Despite support from newly-minted detective, Megan Blaxland, with no missing person reported and no body, her evidence is ridiculed and dismissed.
Twenty years later, a body is unearthed, just where Jessica said it would be.
Horrified they let the case go cold, Jessica, now an associate professor, and Megan, recently retired but brought back to head up the investigation, reunite and join forces. They are determined to find the killer, whatever it takes. What they don't realise is that they are not just putting their lives in danger, but also the lives of those close to them...
About the author
Jane Caro AM is a Walkley award-winning Australian columnist, author, novelist, feminist, public education activist and social commentator. She was also awarded the B&T Women in Media Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. Once upon a time, she was also a multi award-winning advertising copywriter and an academic.
These days, when not tweeting up a storm to her 190,000+ followers, she is a full-time writer, novelist, speaker, MC and TV, radio and media pundit. She has published thirteen books, including the bestselling novel The Mother.
Lyrebird is her second novel for adults.
About the Interviewer
Suzanne Leal is the author of novels The Watchful Wife, The Teacher’s Secret and The Deceptions, winner of the Nib People’s Choice Prize. Her debut novel for middle-grade readers, Running with Ivan, is on the Children’s Book Council of Australia Notables List for Younger Readers and was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s History Awards and the ARA Historical Novel Prize. An experienced facilitator and interviewer, Suzanne is the founder of Thursday Book Club, a relaxed book club connecting readers online. The Year We Escaped is her new novel for middle-grade readers, set in Second World War France.