Garnet

★★★★★ “Beautifully observed... A world of emotions inside a small town.” Gretchen Shirm, author of The Crying Room

In the rural village of Garnet, Ramesh is the proprietor of a rundown petrol station and diner. He’s working twelve-hour days, seven days a week, to pay the mortgage, and battling the fuel supply company on a daily basis, all while dodging his mother’s matchmaking efforts.

In the way of small towns, Ramesh’s diner is the hub around which Garnet’s residents spin out their own dramas: Olivia, haunted by a family tragedy; motor-wrecker Wayne watching his beloved wife fade away; Hetty’s desire to make amends with her estranged grandson; lawyer Claire, trapped in a loveless marriage. And more.

Garnet is a droll, insightful, and often tender novel of rural life in Australia in the late 1990s. Told in eight threaded narratives, it weaves a lush tapestry of a village's foibles, loves, tragedies – and comedies.

Garnet. Even the most close-knit communities have a few dropped stitches.