Australian author Favel Parrett’s Past The Shallows and When the Night Comes are two of my favourite books. It meant I had high expectations for her latest, There Was Still Love which is always worrying… for me anyway, but it certainly did not disappoint.
Favel Parrett’s 2014 novel, When the Night Comes blew me away. It’s not the sort of book I’d usually read. But I’d heard great things so thought, “Why not?”
Why not indeed?! It’s stayed with me ever since and I find it hard to describe what I loved so much about it. The story, the language, the beauty. It’s in my top 2-3 books OF ALL TIME.
As I’m a slacker I hadn’t gotten around to reading Parrett’s previous work, even though I’d heard equally wonderful things.
So when I noted that Hachette audio had released an audiobook of Parrett’s Past the Shallows, I leapt at the chance to listen.
I’m very late to the Favel Parrett party. In fact, this book had been out two months before I finally requested a copy. Everyone had been so effusive in their praise I think I worried that I’d struggle and have that sense of shame you feel when you’re unable to appreciate true beauty.