Free shipping on orders over $99
The Museum of Words

The Museum of Words

a memoir of language, writing, and mortality

by Georgia Blain
Hardback
Publication Date: 14/09/2017

Share This Book:

 
In late 2015, Georgia Blain was diagnosed with a tumour sitting right in the language centre of her brain. Prior to this, Georgia's only warning had been a niggling sense that her speech was slightly awry. She ignored it, and on a bright spring day, as she was mowing the lawn, she collapsed on a bed of blossoms, blood frothing at her mouth.



Waking up to find herself in the back of an ambulance being rushed to hospital, she tries to answer questions, but is unable to speak. After the shock of a bleak prognosis and a long, gruelling treatment schedule, she immediately turns to writing to rebuild her language and herself.



At the same time, her mother, Anne Deveson, moves into a nursing home with Alzheimer's; weeks earlier, her best friend and mentor had been diagnosed with the same brain tumour. All three of them are writers, with language at the core of their being.



The Museum of Words is a meditation on writing, reading, first words and last words, picking up thread after thread as it builds on each story to become a much larger narrative. This idiosyncratic and deeply personal memoir is a writer's take on how language shapes us, and how often we take it for granted - until we are in danger of losing it.
ISBN:
9781911344544
9781911344544
Category:
Memoirs
Format:
Hardback
Publication Date:
14-09-2017
Publisher:
Scribe Publications
Country of origin:
United Kingdom
Pages:
176
Dimensions (mm):
210x148mm
Georgia Blain

Georgia Blain published novels for adults and young adults, essays, short stories and a memoir. Her first novel was the bestselling Closed For Winter, which was made into a feature film.

Her books have been shortlisted for numerous awards including the NSW and SA Premier’s Literary Awards, and the Nita B. Kibble Award for her memoir Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Georgia’s most recent works include The Secret Lives of Men, Too Close to Home and YA novel Darkwater.

In 2016 she published Between a Wolf and a Dog (Scribe) and Special (Random House Australia), a speculative fiction novel that explores science, technology and commerce and how they could affect our lives in the near future. She passed away in December 2016.

Click 'Notify Me' to get an email alert when this item becomes available

Reviews

Be the first to review The Museum of Words.