Caro and Danny grew up side by side at the waterhole. Bound by love, loss and a promise Caro made to Danny' s mother, their lives are entwined. But as Danny spirals into addiction and self-destruction, Caro is caught between loyalty and the need to save herself. She becomes haunted by memories, by the stories she told herself of the life they' d have, and by the waterhole that shaped them both. From southern Tasmania to Lisbon' s winding streets, she searches for escape from lost dreams, until a return home forces her to confront what it means to let go. Frogsong is a lyrical and devastating story of love, addiction and the ghosts that shadow us.
"'Like a river whose surface conceals a powerful current, or a flatness of ocean masking a riptide, Frogsong is quiet but potent: it pulls you in and holds you with white-knuckled fingers. Manning is a masterful prose stylist; her characters and their habitats tenderly observed. Elegiac, sexy, and deeply felt. I wanted to swim in the world of this book.'"
Jennifer Down
"Frogsong is about a girl's existential unwinding and about the way she threads herself back together by following moments of presence and tiny joy. Somehow Manning makes it both grounded and realist, yet at the same time, lyrical and otherworldly. It's a wise and compassionate novel.'"
Toni Jordan
"'Taut and tender, Frogsong captures first love, deep grief and the ache of leaving the people and places that once anchored you. Melissa Manning is a superb writer and her shift from short form to the novel is both seamless and a gift to us all.'"