Lemniscate

One woman’s adventurous search for love, meaning and connection. 

In the ‘70s travel scenes of Afghanistan, India and Thailand, Elsie discovers adventure, friendship and freedom. After three years she returns to her welcoming and loving family in suburban Australia where time seems to have stood still. Disenchanted with the dreary conventions of authoritarian and Catholic Adelaide she becomes a restless spirit torn between the call of family and the world. An ever-searching series of relationships and relocations ultimately takes her as single parent to live on the Greek island of Paros, until tragedy unexpectedly reconnects her with Australia and the complex truth about love and family. This is a deeply affecting, beautiful novel about finding one’s way in life and the world.

‘The odyssey of a spirited, brave and curious young woman on the 1970's ''hippie trail'' through Asia and a journey of self-discovery in a changing Australia, Lemniscate is also a tender love story, a vivid and lyrical evocation of place, and a close observation of families and society. Full of colour and character, it is an intriguing, unusual and gripping book which straddles the fertile ground between novel and autobiography with great ease.’  Sophie Masson

Gaynor McGrath grew up in Adelaide. She currently lives on the northern tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, where she works in a Rudolf Steiner school, and writes and gardens at every opportunity.