Margaret Bryce, deceased mother of twins, has been having a hard time since dying in 2014. These days she spends time with her daughters – Eva in Madrid, and Rachel and her family in Melbourne – and her estranged husband, Henry, in Aberdeen. Mostly she enjoys the experience of revisiting the past, but she's tiring of the seemingly random events to which she repeatedly bears witness. There must be something more to life, she thinks. And death.

Spanning more than seventy-five years, from 1945 to 2021, A Country of Eternal Light follows Margaret as she flits from wartime Germany to Thatcher's Britain to modern-day Scotland, Australia and Spain, ruminating on everything from Australia's Black Summer bushfires to Mary Queen of Scots' beheading, and the death of Princess Diana. But why is facing up to what's happened in one's past as hard as, if not harder than, blocking it out completely?

A Country of Eternal Light is a poignant, utterly original, and bitingly funny novel about complicated grief and how we remain wanted by our loved ones, dead or alive

Join Paul in conversation with ABC Melbourne’s Jacinta Parsons.

Suitable for ages 15 and up. Free event and bookings essential. Registered participants will be sent a Zoom link prior to event.