{"product_id":"the-island-9798893380033","title":"The Island","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA dazzling portrait of displacement, of love, and of longing from one of Australia's most significant and overlooked women writers.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMelina was born abroad and raised on the island. She asks her Aunt Niki about life before. She notices how people look at her, strain to understand her. She is full of longing for unknown things. The island occupies a liminal space between Melina's present moment and memories of the place her relatives still call home. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOriginally published in 1984, \u003ci\u003eThe Island\u003c\/i\u003e is considered an overlooked masterpiece of Australian fiction. In prose charged with feeling and sharp with observation, Kefala captures a portrait of exile and otherness.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eAntigone Kefala\u003c\/b\u003e (1931-2022) was born into a family of musicians in Brăila, Romania, and aspired to be an actor. Following the occupation by the Soviet Union, her family fled Romania, first escaping to Greece and living in refugee camps there. She moved to New Zealand before arriving in Sydney in 1959, where she lived until her death. A poet, novelist, and diarist, she has been described as \"one of the most significant of the Australian writers who have come from elsewhere\" and a \"cultural visionary,\" mapping the experiences of exile, displacement, and otherness.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eMadeleine Watts \u003c\/b\u003egrew up in Sydney, Australia, and currently lives in New York. She has an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, and her fiction has been published in \u003ci\u003eThe White Review \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Lifted Brow\u003c\/i\u003e. Her novella \u003ci\u003eAfraid of Waking It \u003c\/i\u003ewas awarded the Griffith Review Novella Prize. Her debut novel \u003ci\u003eThe Inland Sea\u003c\/i\u003e was shortlisted for the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award and the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing. Her non-fiction has appeared in \u003ci\u003eT\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003ehe Believer, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eLiterary Hub\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Transit Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51325270163730,"sku":"9798893380033","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5e056d0a-fbf2-48a1-8ec9-7af78a5df84a.jpg?v=1748723915","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-island-9798893380033","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}