In Tasmania, successful entrepreneur Nancy Best has recreated the defunct mining town of Copperfield as a glass-domed amusement park whose centrepiece is the Bluebird Cafe. The facsimile also includes a wax museum containing a statue of Lovelygod, the midget daughter born to the twins Bedrock and Carrillo Mean, who caused a sensation when she vanished without a trace 20 years before. Bedrock faithfully keeps vigil for her daughter's return, while Carrillo roams the world in search of her. Also haunted by the mystery is expatriate author Virginia O'Day, who returns to Tasmania from America to write a play, Waiting for Lovelygod ...' Publishers Weekly US, in the publication review of the American edition. Unlike the Australian edition, it has never been out of print.Described by Kirkus Reviews, US, as 'a sweet-natured looking-glass version of Twin Peaks', The Bluebird Café is award-winning author Carmel Bird's debut novel and announced the arrival of a...

'It is an intensely emotional experience to read The White Garden; although an intensely aesthetic one as well. Dr. Ambrose Goddard is a psychologist who sadistically abuses his patients. (He is based on a real-life Australian case of about a generation ago). His air of superiority and professional know-how masks a desperate and seemingly imperturbable desire to control others, especially young women...' So begins academic Nicholas Birns's review of The White Garden in the literary journal Antipodes. He concludes: 'Bird's book is a splendid, plangent, and memorable achievement, and a permanent contribution to Australian literature.'Inspired by the deep sleep therapy scandal in 1960s Sydney, The White Garden begins Carmel Bird's compelling trilogy examining the dark dangers of charismatic leaders. First published in 1995, it was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the NBC Banjo Awards, and the Aurealis Awards.Novelist, essayist...

'You clamber up, heading for the exit, the circle of faint light, as the radiance of the pre-dawn leads you on toward freedom. I follow. You spread your darling wings. You enter the net that awaits you.'Bold, tender, and often fantastical, Love Letter to Lola enters the very pain of loss and grief while preserving a wise, sly, humorous, and ironic point of view. The thylacine, the dodo, the passenger pigeon, the blue macaw are all candidates to return from extinction, and here each is given its own moving narrative. The meaning of the British monarchy is challenged by a green spider; a unicorn and the rainbow serpent contemplate the end of the world; an angel gives his perspective on human life and love with a thoughtful and exquisite mischief. The author's own 'Reflection' on the inspiration and the construction of the stories is a swift and penetrating conversation on how writing happens.About the AuthorCarmel Bird won the Patrick White Award for...

Issue Two of Volume Seven of the Review of Australian Fiction, curated by Racheal Edwards. It contains new short fiction byCarmel Bird and Susie Greenhill .

Petra Penfold-Knight is the leader of a religious cult. Many join because of the persuasive charm of privileged Petra. But not all. Some 'members' are babies stolen from their unmarried mothers.Red Shoes—so-called because the wearing of them is a mark of membership —could have been a straightforward thriller or suspense novel. It's not. Carmel Bird has Petra's guardian angel tell the story. And angels, of course, always have their own opinions and a rather particular point of view.First published in 1998, and inspired by the story of the Australian religious cult known as the 'The Family', Red Shoes is the second book in award-winning author Carmel Bird's compelling Mandala trilogy, a series of novels which examines the dark danger of charismatic leaders. It was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin in 1999.Novelist, essayist and non-fiction writer Carmel Bird won the Patrick White Award in 2016. Her works include The Bluebird Café (1990)...