The Anatomy of Wings - Tapa dura

Jennifer Day is ten years old, and she lives with her family in a small dusty mining town in Queensland. She likes to make lists of natural catastrophes; her best friend Angela has just acquired her first training bra; and her elder sister, Beth, has committed suicide. Her mother spends day after day on the sofa barely speaking; her father has moved out; and her beloved grandmother has been banned from the house. As Jennifer tries to piece together the last year of Beth's life, she reflects on her sister's fragility, her slide into bad company, her under-age drinking (and under-age sex), Jennifer also begins to understand something of the secret world of teenagers. As wickedly funny as it is heartbreaking, this is an unforgettable account of growing up and coming to terms with grief.

Karen Foxlee was born in Mount Isa, Queensland, in 1971. She has worked for most of her adult life as a registered nurse. She now lives in Gympie, an old mining town in Queensland. The Anatomy of Wings is her first novel.