New Perth-based imprint, Upswell Publishing, launched this winter and we are thrilled to be showcasing their first three book titles to Seesaw readers – with copies of each to give away.

The Dogs by John Hughes

Michael Shamanov is a man running away from life’s responsibilities. His marriage is over, he barely sees his son and he hasn’t seen his mother since banishing her to a nursing home two years earlier. A successful screenwriter, Michael’s encounter with his mother’s nurse leads him to discover that the greatest story he’s never heard may lie with his dying mother. And perhaps it’s her life he’s been running away from and not his own. Is the past ever finished? Should we respect another’s silence? And if so, is it ever possible to understand and put to rest the strange idea of family that travels through the flesh? From the Miles Franklin shortlisted author of No One comes a haunting gem of family secrets and impossible decisions.

The Sweetest Fruits by Monique Truong

Rosa, Alethea, and Setsu tell the story of their life with Lafcadio Hearn (1850–1904), a globetrotting Greek-Irish writer best known as the author of America’s first Creole cookbook and for his many volumes about the folklore and ghost stories of the Meiji era Japan. In their own unorthodox ways, the three women are also intrepid travellers and explorers. Their accounts witness Hearn’s remarkable life but also seek to witness their own existence and luminous will to live unbounded by gender, race, and the mores of their time. Each is a gifted storyteller with her own precise reason for sharing her story, and together their voices offer a revealing, often contradictory portrait of Hearn.

Imaginative Possession: Learning to Live in the Antipodes by Belinda Probert

Wondering how migrants can fully settle on this ancient continent, Belinda Probert bought a property in the “country” to observe things more closely and learn to garden differently. Trees fell on her, ants bit her, bowerbirds stole her crops, but from the exercise, she discovers much more about soil, trees, water, animals and protecting herself from fire emergencies and forth she learns to see the ancient heritage all around us in Australia. A migrant from England, she sets out to question how well she understands the landscapes she has seen and the people that have shaped them.

To be in the running to win, simply email competitions@seesawmag.com.au with the title of your preferred book in the subject line and your name and phone number in the body of the email.

Limit of one entry per person.

Deadline for entries: 5pm, 26 September 2021. Winners will be notified by email by 27 September 2021.

Readers who enter this competition will be subscribed to Seesaw’s free fortnightly e-magazine “The Arts Playground”, if they are not already subscribed.