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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Margaret Bryce, deceased mother of twins, has been having a hard time since dying in 2014. These days she spends time with her daughters – Eva in Madrid, and Rachel and her family in Melbourne – and her estranged husband, Henry, in Aberdeen. Mostly she enjoys the experience of revisiting the past, but she's tiring of the seemingly random events to which she repeatedly bears witness. There must be something more to life, she thinks. And death.
'Spanning more than seventy-five years, from 1945 to 2021, A Country of Eternal Light follows Margaret as she flits from wartime Germany to Thatcher's Britain to modern-day Scotland, Australia and Spain, ruminating on everything from the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster and Australia's Black Summer bushfires to Mary Queen of Scots' beheading, the death of Princess Diana and in-vitro fertilisation. But why is facing up to what's happened in one's past as hard as, if not harder than, blocking it out completely? A poignant, utterly original and bitingly funny novel about complicated grief and how we remain wanted by our loved ones, dead or alive.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Large print.
- Dyslexic edition.
- Braille.
Works about this Work
-
[Review] A Country of Eternal Light
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Aurealis , no. 162 2023;
— Review of A Country of Eternal Light 2023 single work novel -
Human Constellations : Paul Dalgarno’s Chatty Ghost
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 451 2023; (p. 33)
— Review of A Country of Eternal Light 2023 single work novel 'When a book takes its title from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, you can expect the shock of something supernatural. But although Paul Dalgarno’s A Country of Eternal Light is narrated by a dead woman, there is little here to horrify.' (Introduction) -
‘If at First You Don’t Succeed, Lie, Lie Again’ – in A Country of Eternal Light, Paul Dalgarno Explores a Life Fragmented by Grief
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 14 February 2023;
— Review of A Country of Eternal Light 2023 single work novel'Paul Dalgarno’s novel A Country of Eternal Light opens with his narrator, Margaret Bryce, in a bathtub. This is no ordinary bathtub, but one that exists between the world of the living and the dead.' (Introduction)
-
Paul Dalgarno : A Country of Eternal Light
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 11-17 February 2023;
— Review of A Country of Eternal Light 2023 single work novel'Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein gives Paul Dalgarno’s second novel its title, weaving through the narrative as an allegory for sparking life, a filament of memory and imagination. A Country of Eternal Light follows Dalgarno’s 2020 debut novel, Poly, an adventure in kitchen-table polyamory, and his 2015 memoir, And You May Find Yourself. This year also sees the release of his second non-fiction book, Prudish Nation.' (Introduction)
-
Paul Dalgarno : A Country of Eternal Light
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 11-17 February 2023;
— Review of A Country of Eternal Light 2023 single work novel'Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein gives Paul Dalgarno’s second novel its title, weaving through the narrative as an allegory for sparking life, a filament of memory and imagination. A Country of Eternal Light follows Dalgarno’s 2020 debut novel, Poly, an adventure in kitchen-table polyamory, and his 2015 memoir, And You May Find Yourself. This year also sees the release of his second non-fiction book, Prudish Nation.' (Introduction)
-
‘If at First You Don’t Succeed, Lie, Lie Again’ – in A Country of Eternal Light, Paul Dalgarno Explores a Life Fragmented by Grief
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 14 February 2023;
— Review of A Country of Eternal Light 2023 single work novel'Paul Dalgarno’s novel A Country of Eternal Light opens with his narrator, Margaret Bryce, in a bathtub. This is no ordinary bathtub, but one that exists between the world of the living and the dead.' (Introduction)
-
Human Constellations : Paul Dalgarno’s Chatty Ghost
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 451 2023; (p. 33)
— Review of A Country of Eternal Light 2023 single work novel 'When a book takes its title from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, you can expect the shock of something supernatural. But although Paul Dalgarno’s A Country of Eternal Light is narrated by a dead woman, there is little here to horrify.' (Introduction) -
[Review] A Country of Eternal Light
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Aurealis , no. 162 2023;
— Review of A Country of Eternal Light 2023 single work novel
Awards
- 2023 shortlisted Readings Prizes — Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction
- 2023 shortlisted The Age Book of the Year Award — Book of the Year
