The Strays

By: Emily Bitto

Narrated by: Vanessa Coffey

Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the 2015 Stella Prize. Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript 2013, the Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction 2015, the Dobbie Literary Award 2015, and the NSW Premier’s UTA Glenda Adams Award 2015. Longlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Prize 2015.

On her first day at a new school, Lily befriends one of the daughters of infamous avant-garde painter Evan Trentham. He and his wife are trying to escape the stifling conservatism of 1930s Australia by inviting other like-minded artists to live and work at their family home.

Lily becomes infatuated with this wild, makeshift family and longs to truly be a part of it. As the years pass, Lily observes the way the lives of these artists come to reflect the same themes as their art: Faustian bargains and spectacular falls from grace. Yet it's not Evan but his own daughters who pay the price for his radicalism.

The Strays is an engrossing story of ambition, sacrifice and compromised loyalties from an exciting new talent.

©2016 Emily Bitto (P)2016 Audible, Ltd

Critic reviews

"Emily Bitto writes so well about art, childhood, infatuation, loneliness – you name it. The Strays is a knowing novel, and beautifully done." (Meg Wolitzer, author of The Interestings)

"Stylishly written… The Strays is a marvel of setting and characterisation, re-creating a time of artistic revolution and personal revelation. Memorable and moving, this is a novel not to be missed." ( Booklist)

"Riveting, captivation, with a sense of foreboding threaded throughout. The Strays is such a daring look at art and love and family that you’ll want to clear your calendar: you’ll be reading it in a day." (Whitney Otto, New York Times bestselling author of How To Make An American Quilt and Six Girls Taking Pictures)

I wanted more

I struggled getting through it. The book was too long and too many descriptive passages. The last 3 chapters finally captured my interest!

Fictional art history + family dysfunction

I really liked this book, but be prepared for sadness. The reader did an excellent job of distinguishing all of the characters' voices.

Not a page turner

Although the characters are interesting and the story has a unique setting ( an artists' communein Australia, late 1930's) the narrative seemed a bit stagent. Too much digression into the nature of art. It was all too apparent that the children in the story were victims of highly dysfunctional and neglectful parenting.

Long story

Well defined and dynamic characters with a half of a plot. The date jumped sporadically from far past to past to present without much notice. I waited for the plot to develop but instead it dissolved. The ending was pretty lackluster.