Set in southern Tasmania, the linked stories in Smokehouse bring into focus a small community and capture those moments when life turns and one person becomes another. As we get to know these characters – a mother whose fresh start leads to a fractured future, a stonemason seeking connection, a woman grieving her adopted mother, a couple torn apart by their daughter's drug addiction – we learn how their lives intersect, in various ways, across time and place. With insight and empathy, Melissa Manning interrogates how the people we meet and the places we live shape who we become.
"'These quietly powerful stories are rich with emotional intensity, taut scenes and an earthy, tangible sense of place. Manning writes about relationships with great insight and feeling, and her descriptions of southern Tasmania are some of the best I've ever read. Her talent hums on the page.'"
Robbie Arnott, author of Flames
"'Manning finds beauty in our frailties - Smokehouse is a jewel.'"