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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Let me tell you a story…
'When Chloe Hooper’s partner is diagnosed with a rare and aggressive illness, she has to find a way to tell their two young sons.
'By instinct, she turns to the bookshelf. Can the news be broken as a bedtime tale? Is there a perfect book to prepare children for loss? Hooper embarks on a quest to find what practical lessons children’s literature—with its innocent orphans and evil adults, magic, monsters and anthropomorphic animals—can teach about grief and resilience in real life.
'As she discovers, ‘the right words are an incantation, a spell of hope for the future.’ From the Brothers Grimm to Frances Hodgson Burnett and Tolkien and Dahl—all of whom suffered childhood bereavements—she follows the breadcrumbs of the world’s favourite authors, searching for the deep wisdom in their books and lives.
'Both memoir and manual, Bedtime Story is stunningly illustrated by the New York Times award-winning Anna Walker. In an age of worldwide uncertainty, here is a profound and moving exploration of the dark and light of storytelling.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Selected as one of the Guardian Australia best Australian books of 2022
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Dyslexic edition.
- Large print.
Works about this Work
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Best Books for Readers Short on Time, as Recommended by Jennifer Down, Johann Hari, Tony Birch and More
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , August 2022;
— Review of Bedtime Story 2022 single work autobiography ; Nganajungu Yagu 2019 selected work poetry -
How to Talk to Children about Life - and Death
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 21 May 2022; (p. 15)
— Review of Bedtime Story 2022 single work autobiography -
Enemy of the Anodyne : Chloe Hooper’s Search for the Unsentimental
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 442 2022; (p. 49)
— Review of Bedtime Story 2022 single work autobiography -
Chloe Hooper : Bedtime Story
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 7-13 May 2022;
— Review of Bedtime Story 2022 single work autobiography -
Faced with Losing Her Partner, Chloe Hooper Turned to Stories to Talk to Her Children about Death
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 5 May 2022;
— Review of Bedtime Story 2022 single work autobiography'The fifth book from Chloe Hooper, an accomplished author of fiction and nonfiction, is in part a bedtime story told across many nights to her two sons, and in part a meditation on how stories – ancient and modern – might sustain or fail us during dark times.' (Introduction)
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‘Exquisite’, ‘Extraordinary’, ‘Insightful’ : The Best Australian Books Out in May
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 2 May 2022;
— Review of Homesickness : A Memoir 2022 single work autobiography ; Bedtime Story 2022 single work autobiography ; Here Goes Nothing 2022 single work novel ; Sunbathing : A Novel 2022 single work novel -
Faced with Losing Her Partner, Chloe Hooper Turned to Stories to Talk to Her Children about Death
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 5 May 2022;
— Review of Bedtime Story 2022 single work autobiography'The fifth book from Chloe Hooper, an accomplished author of fiction and nonfiction, is in part a bedtime story told across many nights to her two sons, and in part a meditation on how stories – ancient and modern – might sustain or fail us during dark times.' (Introduction)
-
Chloe Hooper : Bedtime Story
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 7-13 May 2022;
— Review of Bedtime Story 2022 single work autobiography -
Enemy of the Anodyne : Chloe Hooper’s Search for the Unsentimental
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 442 2022; (p. 49)
— Review of Bedtime Story 2022 single work autobiography -
How to Talk to Children about Life - and Death
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 21 May 2022; (p. 15)
— Review of Bedtime Story 2022 single work autobiography
Awards
- 2023 shortlisted Colin Roderick Award
- 2023 shortlisted National Biography Award
- 2023 longlisted Booksellers Choice Award BookPeople Book of the Year — Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year
- 2023 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — Australian General Non-Fiction Book of the Year
- 2023 shortlisted APA Book Design Awards — Best Designed Non Fiction Book designed by Alison Colpoys.