AustLit

'We met Luke in Maggie's Five. This is his story. Lemons are a curious fruit. Add enough sugar and they're sweet, but not enough... When I was fifteen, my best friend introduced me to his brother's girlfriend. She stole my ability to see anyone other than her. She stole my ability to want anyone other than her. She stole me. When I was eighteen, I finally got to kiss that girl. Two days later my family and I left Australia to live in America. When I was nineteen, I met Sophie. Then everything changed. My perfectly constructed life, the life I've worked hard to create and maintain, started to crack. Then crumble... then collapse. I don't want to be attracted to her... I don't. She's disorganised and impulsive and messy... Shit she's messy. And beautiful. God, she's beautiful... And mind-consuming and heart kicking and blood racing. And gone.' (Publication summary)

''When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.' What if I prefer to drink mine with a side of Tequila? A pill chaser? What if I told you to go suck those very lemons until your face puckered so tightly you couldn't see? Then maybe, just maybe you could begin to appreciate what it's like to be me. The one left behind after everything has been shredded away. Leaving you bloody and raw. And worse - alone. Maggie's Five is the story of a young woman's journey through her five stages of grief after the tragic loss of her husband and two children. Maggie desperately attempts to cling on to life as she falls into a downward spiral of self-destruction. She's introduced into a world of alcohol, drugs and meaningless sex. Creating a numbness that she relishes until realizing there is a reason to choose to live again in Luke. Maggie only hopes that she's not too late. Luke didn't think he was worth the effort to overcome his own loss, until he became an inadvertent witness to the tragedy that steals the light from Maggie's soul. Forcing him to face his own demons, he's becomes determined to be by Maggie's side to catch her when she falls. To help each other heal and open his heart to love again. Now all Luke needs to do is convince Maggie to do the same.' (Publication summary)