{"product_id":"book-ip0h","title":"Cherrywood","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom multi-award-winning author Jock Serong comes \u003cem\u003eCherrywood\u003c\/em\u003e, an imaginative, darkly playful and deeply meaningful delight, a novel about legacy, community, wonder, love and reinvention.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eShortlisted Indie Book Awards for Fiction 2025\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eShortlisted ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year 2025\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'One rainy Friday evening in the winter of 1993, a taxi swept through the streets of East Melbourne, on its way from the city to Richmond. That year was one of the few remaining when a great deal was known of the world but not yet so much that the world had become over-known. Small gaps remained …'\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEdinburgh, 1916: A rich Scottish industrialist, Thomas Wrenfether, impulsively embarks on a mad scheme to build a paddlesteamer out of dubiously sourced European cherrywood on the other side of the world, in booming Melbourne, Australia. But nothing goes according to plan.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMelbourne, 1993: Martha is a clever, lonely and frustrated lawyer. One night, on impulse, she stops at a strange pub in Fitzroy, The Cherrywood, for a bottle of wine. The mysterious building and its inhabitants make an indelible impression, and she slowly begins to deduce odd truths about the pub.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom multi-award-winning author Jock Serong comes a darkly delicious, playful and rich novel about legacy, community, wonder, love and reinvention - \u003cem\u003eCherrywood \u003c\/em\u003eis haunting, magical and a true original.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePRAISE FOR \u003cem\u003eCHERRYWOOD\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Between the familiar and the magical comes a novel of romantic vision … Rarely is historical fiction this fraught and alive' \u003cem\u003eSydney Morning Herald\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Complex yet inviting … Intricately plotted, spanning time and space, Cherrywood brings to mind the scope of Richard Powers's \u003cem\u003eThe Overstory\u003c\/em\u003e and David Mitchell's \u003cem\u003eCloud Atlas\u003c\/em\u003e, with strong homage to the works of Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges.' \u003cem\u003eBooks+Publishing\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'A beguiling story of dreamers and schemers and work … There's a touch of magic realism here, as well as a deep interest in both characters and history, in cities and storytelling, in architecture and trees … [and] a certain sweet sadness underlying it all.' ABC\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Intriguing, mysterious, a little gothic … a unique tale set against the backdrop of Melbourne. A brilliant read' Radio New Zealand\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'One of the most compelling and wonderfully bonkers novels of the year' Readings\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'A wildly imaginative, intricately woven tale of beauty, love and loss. Serong is an exceptionally gifted writer, and Cherrywood is his best book yet' Mark Brandi\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Beneath its captivating intricacy lies an exploration of grief, love and the haunting proximity of the past … A work of exuberance, rare charm and, above all, heart' Lucy Treloar\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSublime and haunting' Toni Jordan\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'As magical as it is mesmerising. Every chapter presents the reader with another storytelling treasure more narratively wondrous than the last. Serong's wild imagination is a gift that keeps on giving.' Trent Dalton\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'What an adventure. This beautiful novel of ambition and grief has me feeling ghosts at every step' Tim Rogers\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49494979903792,"sku":"BDip0h","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/ip0h-Square-cover.jpg?v=1779331636","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-ip0h","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}