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'"Sometimes the only way to manage the daily percolating drip of fear, the corrosive dread of debt and humiliation, is to embrace another sort of terror, to put oneself in danger."
'Alice and Louise are sisters united by a distant tragedy - the house fire their brother burnt to death in fourteen years ago. Alice teaches dirt-poor students at a state high school that the government wants to close while she pursues a tumultuouse relationship with a married man. Louse, a habitual liar and recovering heroin addict, has been playing "the danger game" since she was a child, and she can't stop. But when Louise decides to unravel the truth about her twin brother's death, and seeks out the mother that abandoned them, everything changes.' (From the publisher's website.)
Notes
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Originally written as part of a PhD.
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Dedication: For Keren, Danielle, Andrea, Allara and Julie - with love and admiration.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Disrupted Narrative Voices and the Representation of Trauma in Sonya Hartnett’s Surrender and Kalinda Ashton’s The Danger Game
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Language and Semiotic Studies , Winter vol. 1 no. 4 2015; (p. 108-120)'In this paper [the author] will consider the intersection between family tragedy, trauma, and affective uses of narration in two Australian novels: Surrender (Hartnett, 2005) and The Danger Game (Ashton, 2009). In both of these novels, narratological techniques are utilised to represent a grief beyond words—the tragic loss of a close family member, specifically, a sibling. Both novels use disruptions in narrative forms—particularly in the inherent expectations readers bring to the forms of first, second and third person narration. These narrative disruptions mirror the disruptions of identity experienced by the characters in these texts. Moreover, as we engage with the traumatic content through a fractured subjectivity presented by these texts, our identities as readers, too, become fractured and disrupted. These disruptions of identity echo that which is experienced by the characters themselves through their loss. By analysing the link between these disruptions and the content of these novels, we get a better understanding of the ways in which fictive worlds can represent psychological issues. The narration of these novels and their engagement with childhood sibling loss enable us to begin to create and understand a broader aesthetic of representational trauma.'
Source: Abstract.
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Readers' Choice : Tales of Sensation and Sentiment
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 13 May 2012; (p. 17) -
How to Grow an Anthology
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: Writing Queensland , July no. 209 2011; (p. 12) -
Dangers of the Writing Game
2010
single work
interview
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 4-5 December 2010; (p. 22-23) -
Big Sale for Sleepers Publishing
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , October vol. 90 no. 3 2010; (p. 11) Bookseller + Publisher Magazine reports on the sale of UK and Commonwealth publishing rights for Kalinda Ashton's The Danger Game. The novel will be published in trade paperback in the UK in May 2011 by Birmingham-based independent publisher Tindal Street Press.
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Boredom and Bandaids
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , August vol. 4 no. 7 2009; (p. 22)
— Review of The Danger Game 2008 single work novel ; The Ice Age 2009 single work novel ; We Don't Live Here Anymore 2009 single work novel ; Omega Park 2009 single work novel -
Spot-on Debut Tackles Poverty's Complexities
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 15 August 2009; (p. 25)
— Review of The Danger Game 2008 single work novel -
Sliver of Hope Cuts through Family Tragedies
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 29 August 2009; (p. 12)
— Review of The Danger Game 2008 single work novel ; After the Fire, a Still Small Voice 2009 single work novel -
[Review] The Danger Game
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , August vol. 89 no. 1 2009; (p. 39)
— Review of The Danger Game 2008 single work novel -
Hop. Jump. Kerb.
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December 2009 - January 2010 no. 317 2009; (p. 65)
— Review of The Danger Game 2008 single work novel -
Life Between the Covers
2009
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 16 August 2009; (p. 21) -
Grace under Fire
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 22-23 May 2010; (p. 30-31) -
Big Sale for Sleepers Publishing
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , October vol. 90 no. 3 2010; (p. 11) Bookseller + Publisher Magazine reports on the sale of UK and Commonwealth publishing rights for Kalinda Ashton's The Danger Game. The novel will be published in trade paperback in the UK in May 2011 by Birmingham-based independent publisher Tindal Street Press. -
Dangers of the Writing Game
2010
single work
interview
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 4-5 December 2010; (p. 22-23) -
How to Grow an Anthology
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: Writing Queensland , July no. 209 2011; (p. 12)
Awards
- 2012 winner Betty Trask Prize and Awards
- 2011 longlisted International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
- 2010 joint winner The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist of the Year