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World Book Club: Helen Garner: The Spare Room

Discussion & Talk

Helen Garner

01/08/2020 GMT

Helen Garner: The Spare Room

BBC World Service - World Book Club, Helen Garner: The Spare Room

Friendship, caring, nursing and anger in a short, fierce novel from Australia

Australian writer Helen Garner joins Harriett Gilbert talk about her novel The Spare Room.

The Australian writer Helen Garner joins Harriett Gilbert as World Book Club continues its celebration of women writers. 

She’ll be talking about her 2008 novel The Spare Room. It’s the story of two women: Nicola, who has cancer, and Helen who looks after her for three challenging weeks. Helen has her doubts about the unconventional clinic where Nicola has sought out treatment, but she nonetheless throws herself into the role of nurse, finding some comfort in the practical demands of the job.  

Based on real events, The Spare Room is an unflinching, fierce look at friendship, illness and caring which finds humour in the darkest of places. The book is as spare and as lean as its title, yet manages to encompass big ideas about life and death.

(Image: Helen Garner. Photo credit: Darren James.)

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