The Lessons
April 2022
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‘Brimming with love, lust and lies. I read it in a single sitting. Best enjoyed with a martini’
FELICITY McLEAN, AUTHOR OF THE VAN APFEL GIRLS ARE GONE What if your first love was your one and only chance of happiness?
In our lives, some promises are easily forgotten, while others come back to haunt us. From the bestselling author of The Girl on the Page comes a compelling novel about love and betrayal – and literature. 1961 When teens Daisy and Harry meet, it feels so right they promise to love each other forever, but everything is stacked against them: class, education, expectations. After Daisy is sent by her parents to live with her glamorous, bohemian Aunt Jane, a novelist working on her second book, she is confronted by adult truths and suffers a loss of innocence that flings her far from the one good thing in her life, Harry. 1983 Jane Curtis, now a famous novelist, is at a prestigious book event in New York, being interviewed about the overlap between her life and her work, including one of her novels about the traumatic coming of age of a young woman. But she evades the interviewer’s probing questions. What is she trying to hide? An intriguing, striking and powerful novel, The Lessons tells a compelling story about literature, love and betrayal, about how far writers will go in plundering their lives for their art, and about how much we’re prepared to forgive – if we forgive. |
'Jane Austen meets the swinging 60s in John Purcell's compulsively readable romp as he teaches us our lessons in love and betrayal with wit and style.'
SUSAN JOHNSON,
AUTHOR OF FROM WHERE I FELL
SUSAN JOHNSON,
AUTHOR OF FROM WHERE I FELL
'If you took pages from books by DH Lawrence, LP Hartley, Evelyn Waugh, EM Forster and Jane Austen, rolled them up and smoked them lazily beside a pool in the south of France while drinking champagne, with Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s ‘Je t’aime… moi non plus’ playing on a crackly record player, you’d get a strong hit of The Lessons. Purcell writes mesmerisingly about innocence, desire, trust, the pain we inflict on those we love the most, and all the ways and reasons we take our pleasure.'
JESSICA DETTMANN,
AUTHOR OF THIS HAS BEEN ABSOLUTELY LOVELY AND SECOND BEST
'The Lessons is the real thing, in a style unusual for an Australian author, and I am very, very impressed.'
GREG BARRON,
AUTHOR OF THE MARIKA HARTMANN SERIES
Purcell’s writing sits beautifully in the register of historical fiction, capturing the allure, the sleaze and the barely restrained hysteria of a time that did not know what to do with bold, unrepentant women. Its unforgettable characters and gorgeous reflections on life, love and (of course) literature make this a true page-turner.
OLIVIA FRICOT,
THE BOOKTOPIAN
Interviews
Reader Reviews
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A great read, which I devoured in two days
Emmy
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Whether you enjoy literary classics or contemporary authors like Ian McEwan, Sally Rooney, even Liane Moriarty, I think you will enjoy The Lessons.
Rachael
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Could not recommend it more highly.
Anna
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A little literary gem!
Paula
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Just read it.
Belinda
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Loved this book!
Claire
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Punchy, pacey and pensive. Lovably hateable characters rendered authentically into their charming and alarming worlds. More please.
Oliver
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
It’s been a long while since I felt so compelled to keep reading a book.
Cecile
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A great read, which I devoured in two days
Emmy
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Whether you enjoy literary classics or contemporary authors like Ian McEwan, Sally Rooney, even Liane Moriarty, I think you will enjoy The Lessons.
Rachael
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Could not recommend it more highly.
Anna
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A little literary gem!
Paula
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Just read it.
Belinda
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Loved this book!
Claire
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Punchy, pacey and pensive. Lovably hateable characters rendered authentically into their charming and alarming worlds. More please.
Oliver
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
It’s been a long while since I felt so compelled to keep reading a book.
Cecile