The Cuckoo's Song
Award-winning author Amra Pajalić showcases her gritty, poignant and sometimes bruising voice in this eclectic short story book of previously published and prize-winning stories. Featuring powerful and moving stories of family dissolution, deprivation of war, tenderness of family and the heart-rending experiences of mental illness. Thriller stories with a twist of vindictiveness and retribution, and love stories that make the heart sing, this collection will delight and entertain.
The Cuckoo’s Song-Francesca is ten years old when the gypsy fortune-teller told her the day and the hour of her death and she has been waiting since. Fragments-Seka and her brother forage for books in a bombed-out school in Srebrenica during the Balkan war. Friends Forever-Two lifelong friends share a room at a nursing home, as well as a secret or two. School of Hardknocks-Amina is a new high school student after migrating from Bosnia and struggles to acclimate to the Aussie way of life. Woman on Fire-A young girl lives with her mother’s boyfriend when her mentally ill mother is admitted into hospital. Published by Pishukin Press Read an excerpt |
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Teaching notes
Teaching notes to support secondary school learning with a resource kit that contains:
- Praise
- Synopsis of stories
- Author statement
- Author information
- Short story summaries
- Reading, research, analysis and writing activities
- Short story themes
Praise
Nervous Breakdown
'Rebellion is fuelled by the cultural disconnect between themselves and their migrant parents.' Sydney Morning Herald
Siege
'A powerful and moving story of family dissolution and the suffering, deprivation and terror of war.' Australian Book Review
'Amra Pajalić’s Bosnian Diary is a masterpiece of broken elegy.' Bulletin Review
Flirty Eyes
'Interesting' and 'original' writing. Australian Book Review
'Marvellous' and 'brisk' writing. Rip it Up Review
'Rebellion is fuelled by the cultural disconnect between themselves and their migrant parents.' Sydney Morning Herald
Siege
'A powerful and moving story of family dissolution and the suffering, deprivation and terror of war.' Australian Book Review
'Amra Pajalić’s Bosnian Diary is a masterpiece of broken elegy.' Bulletin Review
Flirty Eyes
'Interesting' and 'original' writing. Australian Book Review
'Marvellous' and 'brisk' writing. Rip it Up Review
Amra Pajalic introduces The Cuckoo's Song
Book Trailer
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Amazon Reviews
Promotional posts
Media
15/04/22 Off the page with Amra Pajalic-featured on the In Their Own Write blog about my writing process. Read it here.
08/03/22 Amra Pajalić featured as one of 8 Incredible Melbourne-Based Writers To Read On International Women’s Day by Secret Melbourne
First author feature on Awesome Gang here
08/03/22 Amra Pajalić featured as one of 8 Incredible Melbourne-Based Writers To Read On International Women’s Day by Secret Melbourne
First author feature on Awesome Gang here