An Uncertain Grace

by Krissy Kneen

  I wrap her arms around him and gather him up in my hug. ‘I love you out there,’ I say. ‘I’m so glad for this.’

  And then there are no words. There is only this.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thank you to Mandy Brett. A good editor is an invisible but essential friend for any book and Mandy is a very, very good editor indeed.

  Thank you also and always to Text Publishing. I am proud to be in your very fine stable. What wonderful company I am in.

  This book was written mostly in Strauss Cafe and I would like to thank the very tolerant staff and owners who let me sit there for hours at a stretch. Sitting beside me was the wonderful Ellen Van Neerven, and her presence managed to infuse the book. She is here, peering out through the eyes of some of these characters, and she sent me stories about jellyfish and for all of this I am grateful.

  I would also like to thank Ashley Hay, who read, commented on and encouraged me through the first draft of this book. I am so lucky to have you as my book whisperer.

  Also to Shelley Kenigsberg for the retreat in Bali where I pushed through my issues with gendered pronouns accompanied by the pre-dawn haunting, but beautiful, screaming of pigs.

  It takes a village to write a book and the people who held me up, read bits, encouraged me, fed me, sat with me and tolerated my nerdy excitement about the science in this draft were:

  Anthony Mullins, Kristina Olsson, Katherine Lyall-Watson, Trent Jamieson, Nigel Bebe, Melissa Lucashenko, Chris Somerville, Kasia Janczewski, Jason Reed, James Butler, Emily (I-know-how-a-sea-cucumber-procreates) Purton, Barry and Denise Elphick, Tania Guest, Susan Johnson, Greta Moon.

  Thanks also to my maternal family, who made me into a writer: Lotty (still and always), Wendy, Karen and Sheila Kneen. And to my ever-supportive Avid Reader family, Fiona Stager and all the staff who make it possible for me to continue doing what I do.

  A special nod to the writers who particularly influenced this journey with their disembodied words: Lidia Yuknavitch, Anne F. Garréta and Lisa-Ann Gershwin.

  And to Cory Taylor. Our conversations about death, infinity and the impossibility of time will be with me forever. Your voice lives on in my head and I am glad of it.

  textpublishing.com.au

  The Text Publishing Company

  Swann House

  22 William Street

  Melbourne Victoria 3000

  Australia

  Copyright © 2017 by Krissy Kneen

  The moral right of Krissy Kneen to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright above, no part of this publication shall be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

  First published in 2017 by The Text Publishing Company

  Book design by Imogen Stubbs

  Cover photograph by Brandon Willis

  Typeset in Sabon 12/18 by J & M Typesetting

  National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

  Creator: Kneen, Krissy, 1968- author.

  Title: An uncertain grace / by Krissy Kneen.

  ISBN: 9781925355987 (paperback)

  9781925410358 (ebook)

  Subjects: Australians--Fiction.

  National characteristics, Australian--Fiction.