The Railwayman’s Wife

First published 2014

Miles Franklin 2014 · Longlist

“”An absorbing and uplifting read.”—M.L. Stedman, author of The Light Between Oceans “This is a book in which grief and love are so entwined they make a new and wonderful kind of sense.”—Fiona McFarlane, author of The Night Guest Amidst the strange, silent aftermath of World War II, a widow, a poet, and a doctor search for lasting peace and fresh beginnings in this internationally acclaimed, award-winning novel. When Anikka Lachlan’s husband, Mac, is killed in a railway accident, she is offered—and accepts—a job at the Railway Institute’s library and searches there for some solace in her unexpectedly new life. But in Thirroul, in 1948, she’s not the only person trying to chase dreams through books.

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There’s Roy McKinnon, who found poetry in the mess of war, but who has now lost his words and his hope. There’s Frank Draper, trapped by the guilt of those his medical treatment and care failed on their first day of freedom. All three struggle to find their own peace, and their own new story. But along with the firming of this triangle of friendship and a sense of lives inching towards renewal come other extremities—and misunderstandings.