The Great Undoing

THE BRAND NEW NOVEL IN THE MAGNOLIA PARKS UNIVERSE FROM BOOKTOK ROMANCE SENSATION JESSA HASTINGS “It’s the great undoing of my heart as I know it.” Daisy Haites thought she’d left everything about her old life in the past: the crime, her family, and the man she loves. But when her safety is threatened once again, she finds herself back under the watchful eyes of her gang-lord brother, Julian, and her ex-boyfriend, Christian, both desperate to keep her safe. Everything gets more complicated when beautiful, broken-hearted socialite Magnolia Parks enters the scene and Julian finds himself entangled with her. Because, for Julian, falling in love isn’t just unwelcome—it could be deadly for everyone involved. . . .

My youngest son, Sam, hands me a DVD converted from a video recording taken years ago. Apprehensive, I slide it into a laptop and watch the scene from my past come to life. After viewing only part of it, he exits to do homework, pauses, and quips, What happened to you, Mom? Time suspends as I search for a reply. Life life happened, Sama lot of life. Like your dad dying and you and I ending up with a genetic disorder. Muscle biopsies, spinal taps, surgeries, you know. Crazy stuff happened. He looks my way only somewhat understanding. His seventeen-year-old, senior-in-high-school self tries on my explanation, but it doesnt quite fit. He cant give in so why should I? He continues up the stairs and I stand alone. Alone with the reality that the hard stuff is winning. That I caved under the pressure. That my tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed son knows who I was, compared to who I am.

In love with Presence, Stuart's vision is radically "non dual" - a perfect foil for the thoroughly conditioned, dualistic image maker, story teller called the mind. At first, his approach to mind might appear too pithy. "Your mind is not your friend. Leave it alone." And "if you want a quiet mind, don't listen." But wisdom often hides behind simple, direct phrases. Most of Stuart's verse offerings included in the five chapters of this book have arisen out of silence during the past few months, while others have appeared over a longer period of time. While the words and phrases themselves could not be more modern and colloquial, the poems have arranged themselves nicely into classical yogic themes: Vedanta's 'world-as-object' or Illusion; Attachment to the Illusion brought about by wrong identification with 'body/mind'; the separate, isolated Me as the centerpiece of limited, egoic 'becoming'; Mind, which is merely another word for thought which conditions all existence; and, finally Awakening to and in no-thing. Some of the aphorisms are presented from the first person perspective of the individual who at times exults in new found freedom and at others awakens only to a new found appreciation of his or her awful predicament as a body/mind. Others bespeak teachings directly from the mouth of the Impersonal Itself. Whatever the form, these Western sutras are uncompromising in their spirit and message. Characteristically, when asked, Stuart describes them simply as 'disarming.' They are both a map of Advaita's 'pathless path' and a statement beyond fact. "The Great Undoing is a remarkable book, tender and fiercely direct, it feeds discernment! Thank you, Stuart." Pamela Wilson

"It's the great undoing of my heart as I know it." Daisy Haites thought she'd left everything about her old life in the past: the crime, her family and the man she loves. But when her safety is threatened once again, she finds herself back under the watchful eyes of her gang-lord brother Julian and her ex-boyfriend Christian, both desperate to keep her safe. Everything gets more complicated when beautiful, broken-hearted socialite Magnolia Parks enters the scene and Julian finds himself entangled with her. Because for Julian, falling in love isn't just unwelcome - it could be deadly for everyone involved . . . Readers love Magnolia Parks Universe 'Hands down the most emotional romance book I have ever read and therefore my favourite' (FIVE STARS) 'A girl who was brought up in the world of crime, yearning to be normal. Daisy is SO badass.' (FIVE STARS) 'TikTok made me do it, 1000% lived up to the hype.' (FIVE STARS) 'Daisy Haites has become my favorite character in the Magnolia Parks Universe.' (FIVE STARS) 'I am obsessed. Totally consumed. This universe has me all sorts of messed up.' (FIVE STARS) 'You will fall in love with Daisy Haites a million times over and be desperate for more of her story when it ends.' (FIVE STARS) 'My favorite characters forever and ever.' (FIVE STARS)

In a near-future Europe biologist Lina Stephenson works in the remote Rila Mountains, away from London State. When an old enemy dies, Lina's dangerous past resurfaces, putting her family's lives at risk.

“Brilliant. . . . Lewis has given us a spectacular account of two great men who faced up to uncertainty and the limits of human reason.” —William Easterly, Wall Street Journal Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original papers that invented the field of behavioral economics. One of the greatest partnerships in the history of science, Kahneman and Tversky’s extraordinary friendship incited a revolution in Big Data studies, advanced evidence-based medicine, led to a new approach to government regulation, and made much of Michael Lewis’s own work possible. In The Undoing Project, Lewis shows how their Nobel Prize–winning theory of the mind altered our perception of reality.

Daisy Haites thought she'd left everything about her old life in the past: the crime, her family and the man she loves. But when her safety is threatened once again, she finds herself back under the watchful eye of her gang-lord brother Julian and her ex-boyfriend Christian, both desperate to keep her safe. Everything gets more complicated when beautiful, broken-hearted socialite Magnolia Parks enters the scene and Julian finds himself entangled with her. Because for Julian, falling in love isn't just unwelcome - it could be deadly for everyone involved...

‘Sharlene Allsopp’s The Great Undoing is groundbreaking storytelling – truth telling – that pierces the reader’s heart as it asks: how do you interpret silence? The breathtaking scope of this beautifully-written debut novel, and its unique, ambitious and powerful navigation of the contested borders between history and fiction, truth and lie, archive and heresy, will stay with me. It's the kind of book that, after reading, makes you want to write to the author to say: THANK YOU.’ - Holly Ringland, author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding ‘Sharlene Allsopp's debut novel is a remarkable achievement. Through the art of great storytelling she challenges us to respond to a threat to our very existence; our understanding of who we are, where we come from and the knowledge systems that will bind us into the future. The Great Undoing is a book for all time – our past, present, and an increasingly precarious future.’ - Tony Birch, author of The White Girl and Women & Children How long can you run from a lie, if that lie is what your life is founded on? In a near future all identity information is encoded in digital language. Nations know where everyone is, all the time. Not everyone agrees with this constant surveillance, and when the system is hijacked and shut down, all global borders are closed. The world is no longer connected, and there is no back-up plan to establish belonging, ownership or trade. Scarlet Friday, whose job is to correct historical record, is stranded on the wrong side of the globe. Befriended by a stranger, she grabs an old, faded history book and writes her own version over the top—a record of the Great Undoing on the run. But in deciding what truth to tell Scarlet must face her own history. How do we navigate identity when it is all a lie? She must reckon with her past before she can imagine her future. PRAISE FOR THE GREAT UNDOING: ‘her ambitious storytelling is not something that undermines or detracts from the vitality of Allsop's novel. This is a work of fiction that takes a risk, that gives us too much - that gives us, in other words, the illusion of containing everything in Scarlet's world.’ –Sydney Morning Herald ‘For First Nations people, Australia is a nation founded on a lie. But this is not one single amorphous lie, but rather a web of lies that seeks to erase and make invisible First Nations peoples, her/histories and experiences. In her debut novel, The Great Undoing, Bundjalung author Sharlene Allsopp deftly juxtaposes the national and the personal mythscapes that still haunt Australia today. Through the larger-than-life character of Scarlet Friday, Sharlene explores the consequences of living a lie in a nation that refuses to acknowledge its past.’ - Jeanine Leane, author of Purple Threads and Walk Back Over ‘Now more than ever, we need truth-teller Scarlet Friday and her story of identity, disruption, and love. The Great Undoing is a complex thriller, and a stunning debut novel by Sharlene Allsopp.’ - Anita Heiss, author of Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms ‘The Great Undoing is a gripping novel that blurs the lines between historical and contemporary fiction; between reality and fantasy, and will make you question everything you think you know about Australia.’ - Melanie Saward, author of Burn ‘'A bold, imaginative and elegantly crafted novel that weaves a page-turning plot with a poignant exploration of how our histories are told – and by whom. The Great Undoing is a triumph – Allsopp has such a strong voice, and her writing is rich with insight and empathy.' - Carody Culver, editor of Griffith Review ‘Powerful and beautiful, The Great Undoing is an intelligent, heartfelt exploration of the complexities of belonging and recorded history. You won’t be able to put this book down.’ - Mirandi Riwoe, award-winning author of Stone Sky Gold Mountain and Sunbirds