The Paper House

Life is hard for ten-year-old Safiyah in the Kibera slum outside Nairobi. Too poor to go to school, she makes a meager living for herself and her grandmother Cucu by selling things she finds at the garbage dump. After using scavenged paper to fix up the inside of the hut, Safiyah starts a mural on the outside. As word of the paper house spreads, Safiyah begins to take pride in her creation. When Cucu collapses after a fire, Safiyah stays at the hospital to help care for her grandmother. While Safiyah is away, her friend Pendo works on the mural, which upsets Safiyah. But when Pendo attracts media attention to the paper house, Safiyah and her grandmother are given a chance of a better life.

Life is hard for ten-year-old Safiyah in the Kibera slum outside Nairobi. Too poor to go to school, she makes a meager living for herself and her grandmother Cucu by selling things she finds at the garbage dump. After using scavenged paper to fix up the inside of the hut, Safiyah starts a mural on the outside. As word of the paper house spreads, Safiyah begins to take pride in her creation. When Cucu collapses after a fire, Safiyah stays at the hospital to help care for her grandmother. While Safiyah is away, her friend Pendo works on the mural, which upsets Safiyah. But when Pendo attracts media attention to the paper house, Safiyah and her grandmother are given a chance of a better life.

"Gorgeously written and genuinely assured, The Paper House is a moving and viscerally real portrait of family bonds pushed to their limits ... Anna Spargo-Ryan is a rising star." Jo Case, author of Boomer and Me: A memoir of motherhood, and Asperger's And then I was pregnant, and we realised we had no space for a baby. We looked at all kinds of houses: big, new ones with columns and render; little cottages with beaten weatherboard; a yellow brick monstrosity with a paved yard where there should have been grass. But we were drawn to the rolling water. And our heart stayed behind when we left. Heather and Dave have found the perfect place to raise their first child. The house has character, but it's the garden that really makes it: red-faced impatiens, pockmarked gums, six upright pittosporums to keep the neighbours out. It's a jungle. A hiding place. A refuge. And then, without warning, that life is over. Heartbreaking, fearless, and ablaze with a coruscating beauty all its own, The Paper House tells the story of a woman sinking into the depths of grief, and the desperate efforts of her loved ones to bring her up for air. A sharp-eyed, bittersweet depiction of the love between parents and children, and the havoc that love can wreak. MORE PRAISE FOR THE PAPER HOUSE "Gorgeously written and genuinely assured, The Paper House is a moving and viscerally real portrait of family bonds pushed to their limits - and the fragility and resilience at the heart of a struggle with grief, loss and mental illness. Anna Spargo-Ryan is a rising star." Jo Case, author of Boomer and Me: A memoir of motherhood, and Asperger's "... a strong debut novel from a fascinating new voice in Australian fiction, which will appeal to fans of Jessie Cole, Kirsten Tranter and Michelle de Kretser." Books + Publishing "Spargo-Ryan is a young writer to watch ... She is not afraid to delve into difficult areas and is open about her own experience of mental illness. Her writing in this novel really sings - the descriptions are beautiful, quirky and wholly original." Readings "The Paper House is a stunning piece of literature ... A ground-breaking new book perfectly describes one woman's struggle with her own mental health after the loss of her baby." Australian Women's Weekly

Mystery.

Twenty-two-year-old Anna’s unconventional family is prone to raising eyebrows: she lives with two eccentric dads in a small town in rural KwaZulu-Natal and, after surviving her parents’ divorce, she’s used to the questioning glances of conservative Afrikaans family members and curious neighbours. Now, amid a menagerie of pets and her kaftan-clad mother, Anna must manage the ailing health of one of her dads. Her experiences on her reporter’s beat don’t make her days any easier. But how do you remain a supportive daughter and still live your own life? Told with warmth and gentle humour, The Paper House is a celebration of life, love and the family that shapes us.

Emily Dickinson is as famous for being a recluse as she is for her poetry. In this stunning novel, we see her struggling to reconcile spirit and flesh, preferring letters and reflecting that the only way to have books and life is to live through one’s own writing. Dominique Fortier brings Dickinson vividly to life, as if reanimating a flower that had been pressed in a book, through her reflections on language and what it feels like to be home.

'I could get in,' Marianne thought, 'if there was a person inside the house. There has got to be a person. I can't get in unless there is somebody there.' A powerful and haunting classic about a girl haunted by her own dreams. Ill and bored with having to stay in bed, Marianne picks up a pencil and starts doodling - a house, a garden, a boy at the window. That night she has an extraordinary dream. She is transported into her own picture, and as she explores further she soon realises she is not alone. The boy at the window is called Mark, and his every movement is guarded by the menacing stone watchers that surround the solitary house. Together, in their dreams, Marianne and Mark must save themselves . . . The perfect gift for children aged 8+, this well-loved classic will delight a new generation of readers of the Faber Children's Classics list.