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'The conversion was Nick’s idea.
'Nick: so persuasive, ever the optimist, still boyishly handsome. Always on a quest to design the perfect environment, convinced it could heal a wounded soul.
'The conversion was Nick’s idea, but it’s Zoe who’s here now, in a valley of old coalmines and new vineyards, working out how to live in a deconsecrated church.
'What to do with all that vertical space, those oppressive stained-glass windows? Can a church become a home or, even with all its vestiges removed, will it remain forever what it was intended to be?
'For Zoe, alone and troubled by a ghost from the recent past, the little church seems empty of the possibilities Nick enthused about. She is stuck in purgatory—until a determined young teacher pushes her way into Zoe’s life, convinced of her own peculiar mission for the building.
'Melanie has something of Nick’s unquenchable zeal about her. And it’s clear to Zoe that she won’t take no for an answer.
'The Conversion is a startling novel about the homes we live in: how we shape them, and how they shape us. Like Amanda Lohrey’s bestselling The Labyrinth, it is distinguished by its deep intelligence, eye for human drama and effortless readability.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Epigraph: 'Nothing important comes with instructions' - James Richardson, 'Vectors 3.0'
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
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Miles Franklin-winning Author Amanda Lohrey Takes on Australia's Renovation Obsession in Her New Novel, The Conversion
2024
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , January 2024;'In Amanda Lohrey's latest novel, The Conversion, a woman in her 60s takes on an enormous renovation challenge: transforming an old country church into a home.'
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The 17 Best Books of 2023
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 22 January 2024;
— Review of The Sitter 2023 single work novel ; Killing for Country : A Family Story 2023 multi chapter work criticism ; The Conversion 2023 single work novel ; The Vitals 2023 single work prose ; Right Story, Wrong Story : Adventures in Indigenous Thinking 2023 multi chapter work criticism ; Praiseworthy 2023 single work novel ; Edenglassie 2023 single work novel ; Women and Children 2023 single work novel ; The Art of Breaking Ice 2023 single work novel ; I'd Rather Not 2023 single work autobiography ; On Peter Carey : Writers on Writers 2023 single work biography ; New Australian Fiction 2023 2023 anthology short story ; Critic Swallows Book : Ten Years of the Sydney Review of Books 2023 anthology review essay -
The New Books Our Avid Readers and Critics Couldn't Put down in November
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , November 2023;
— Review of The Conversion 2023 single work novel ; Women and Children 2023 single work novel ; Question 7 2023 single work prose -
The Conversion by Amanda Lohrey Review – A Tale of Australia’s Obsession with Home Ownership
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 10 November 2023;
— Review of The Conversion 2023 single work novel'The Miles Franklin-winning author’s latest novel, about a couple’s choice to renovate a church into a home, is a morally nuanced and wise work'
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‘A Book the World Needs Now’, ‘Tender’ and ‘Profound’ : The Best Australian Books Out in November
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 7 November 2023;
— Review of Question 7 2023 single work prose ; The In-Between 2023 single work novel ; The Conversion 2023 single work novel
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Jolts and Dislocation : Amanda Lohrey’s Bravura New Novel
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 459 2023; (p. 27)
— Review of The Conversion 2023 single work novel 'Transformation is one thing. Conversion is another. With its Latin roots con (with or together) and vertere (to turn or bend), conversion is haunted by a sense of coercion, the imposition of one will over another. In Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, conversion comes in the form of Clarissa Dalloway’s daughter’s evangelistic tutor, Doris Kilman, the violence of colonialism, and brutish attempts by psychologist Sir William Bradshaw to instil ‘a sense of proportion’ into his vulnerable patients. Sir William gets what he wants. He ‘shuts people up’ under the auspices of ‘the twin goddesses of conversion and proportion’. Converting, for Woolf, means ‘to override opposition’.' (Introduction) -
‘A Book the World Needs Now’, ‘Tender’ and ‘Profound’ : The Best Australian Books Out in November
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 7 November 2023;
— Review of Question 7 2023 single work prose ; The In-Between 2023 single work novel ; The Conversion 2023 single work novel -
The Conversion by Amanda Lohrey Review – A Tale of Australia’s Obsession with Home Ownership
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 10 November 2023;
— Review of The Conversion 2023 single work novel'The Miles Franklin-winning author’s latest novel, about a couple’s choice to renovate a church into a home, is a morally nuanced and wise work'
-
The New Books Our Avid Readers and Critics Couldn't Put down in November
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , November 2023;
— Review of The Conversion 2023 single work novel ; Women and Children 2023 single work novel ; Question 7 2023 single work prose -
The 17 Best Books of 2023
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 22 January 2024;
— Review of The Sitter 2023 single work novel ; Killing for Country : A Family Story 2023 multi chapter work criticism ; The Conversion 2023 single work novel ; The Vitals 2023 single work prose ; Right Story, Wrong Story : Adventures in Indigenous Thinking 2023 multi chapter work criticism ; Praiseworthy 2023 single work novel ; Edenglassie 2023 single work novel ; Women and Children 2023 single work novel ; The Art of Breaking Ice 2023 single work novel ; I'd Rather Not 2023 single work autobiography ; On Peter Carey : Writers on Writers 2023 single work biography ; New Australian Fiction 2023 2023 anthology short story ; Critic Swallows Book : Ten Years of the Sydney Review of Books 2023 anthology review essay -
Miles Franklin-winning Author Amanda Lohrey Takes on Australia's Renovation Obsession in Her New Novel, The Conversion
2024
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , January 2024;'In Amanda Lohrey's latest novel, The Conversion, a woman in her 60s takes on an enormous renovation challenge: transforming an old country church into a home.'