Skylarking: Striking fiction rooted in adolescent friendship and desire by Kate Mildenhall

Skylarking: Striking fiction rooted in adolescent friendship and desire by Kate Mildenhall

'Lovingly drawn' Thuy On, Sydney Morning Herald

'A beautifully written book' AFR Magazine

' An] impressive debut novel' Emily Bitto, author of the Stella Prize-winning The Strays

'An evocative yarn' Australian Women's Weekly

'Strikingly real and deeply moving' Olga Lorenzo

'Brave, beautiful and richly textured' Lucy Treloar

Kate and Harriet are best friends growing up together on an isolated Australian cape. As the daughters of the lighthouse keepers, the two girls share everything, until a fisherman, McPhail, arrives in their small community.

When Kate witnesses the desire that flares between him and Harriet, she is torn by her feelings of envy and longing. An innocent moment in McPhail's hut then occurs that threatens to tear their peaceful community apart.

Inspired by a true story, Skylarking is a spellbinding tale of friendship and desire, memory and truth, which questions what it is to remember and how tempting it can be to forget.

Kate Mildenhall is a writer and education project officer, who currently works at the State Library of Victoria. As a teacher, she has worked in schools, at RMIT University and has volunteered with Teachers Across Borders in Cambodia.

Skylarking is her debut novel. She discovered the story while on a camping trip and she wishes for more such fruitful adventures. She lives with her husband and two young daughters in Hurstbridge, Victoria.