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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'The Hum of Concrete is an evocative novel about a city and its people.
'Set in the multicultural city of Malmo, Sweden, The Hum of Concrete is the story of five people whose lives intersect.
'Consumed with despair, Palestinian Nassrin walks into the ocean with her baby in her arms. Susanna dares to take a stand against gay-bashers. By starlight, Bodil sees the city from the roof of a church. Estella meets her tough little half-brother for the first time. Lonely Rhyme seeks shelter in a tree full of fairy lights. And all round them, the hum of concrete.
'With photographic precision, Anna Solding captures both the light and shadow found in the fleeting beauty of everyday life. From the silences between people and the ordinariness of places, she conjures narrative jewels of intelligence and pleasure.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Book launched by Sean Williams during Adelaide Writers’ Week at the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden, 3 March 2012.
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This work is variously described as a collection of short stories and as a novel. Both the author and the publisher describe it as a novel.
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Dedication: For Allan, my star
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Publication abstract reviews:
'Few novels invite you in as irresistibly as this one, and few give you as exhilarating and surprising a ride. Anna Solding writes with such tenderness, intelligence and invention. A novel to love and explore with and return to, and a most compelling and intriguing new voice in Australian writing.' - Peter Bishop, Varuna - The Writers' House
'The characters are treated with heartwarming tenderness ... the Swedish settings vividly realized.' - J.M. Coetzee, Nobel Laureate in Literature
'Anna Solding's spare and sensual prose ... weaves a magical intimacy into the cycle of birth, sex and death in the city, and it does not look away from seeing hope.' - Brian Castro, author of The Bath Fugues and Drift
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Sun Shines on Fledgling Writers
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 8 June 2013; (p. 54) -
A Sparkling Constellation
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Rochford Street Review , May-July no. 4 2012;
— Review of The Hum of Concrete 2010 single work novel -
Best in Print
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 15 December 2012; (p. 30) -
Well Read
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 7 April 2012; (p. 23)
— Review of The Hum of Concrete 2010 single work novel -
Glimpses of Longing, Honest and Unadorned
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 24 March 2012; (p. 25)
— Review of The Hum of Concrete 2010 single work novel
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Off the Shelf : Stories
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 10 March 2012; (p. 34)
— Review of The Hum of Concrete 2010 single work novel -
Glimpses of Longing, Honest and Unadorned
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 24 March 2012; (p. 25)
— Review of The Hum of Concrete 2010 single work novel -
Well Read
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 7 April 2012; (p. 23)
— Review of The Hum of Concrete 2010 single work novel -
A Sparkling Constellation
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Rochford Street Review , May-July no. 4 2012;
— Review of The Hum of Concrete 2010 single work novel -
Best in Print
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 15 December 2012; (p. 30) -
Sun Shines on Fledgling Writers
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 8 June 2013; (p. 54)
Awards
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Malmo,
cSweden,cScandinavia, Western Europe, Europe,