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https://theconversation.com/sophie-cunninghams-pandemic-novel-admits-literature-cant-save-us-but-treasures-it-for-trying-187724>
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Review: This Devastating Fever – Sophie Cunningham (Ultimo)
“How good are novels!” So thinks protagonist Alice Fox in
This Devastating
Fever, the third novel from former publisher Sophie Cunningham. Alice is
preparing to chair a panel at a writers’ festival, just as Covid-19 hits the
headlines in March 2020.
The exclamation is slightly hysterical: do books and stories really matter when
a deadly disease is sweeping the globe? Months later, in the grim, dark days of
2021, Alice’s worries are buttressed by a prize-winning author, who muses
“maybe novel writing won’t even exist after the pandemic”.
This Devastating Fever, Cunningham’s first novel since
Bird (2008), is
ostensibly about Leonard Woolf – the author, publisher and would-be politician
most famous for being Virginia’s husband – and Alice, the writer who is
attempting to craft a novel about him. Most importantly, though, it is a novel
about novels, about their weight and worth in a complicated world."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
