Cassie McCullagh

Yes, that's what made Kate think it was Portuguese.

It was only the tart.

But then a little bit later on there's a reference to an emotion that only makes sense in the particular language of the play.

So I imagine that might be so daje, you know, that Portuguese word for the feeling of missing something even when it's not there.

Yeah, it's very... It trends into abstraction quite a lot, actually.

Yeah, yeah.

And really just, you know, very dry, philosophical.

Although Kate knows this, I don't particularly like books that are about writers or about books or about book festivals and bookshops.

I mean, really, I just don't like it and she's heard me bang on about that before.

But I was quite taken by the conversation with the publisher.

who was saying what all publishers are looking for, the holy grail of the modern literary scene, are writers who performed well in the market while maintaining a connection to the values of literature.

In other words, people who wrote books that people would actually enjoy without feeling in the least bit demeaned by being seen reading them.

Matted hair.

I mean, that's what Margaret Atwood does.

That's what Helen Garda does, that kind of reptilian eye.

I love it.

Now, having not read the rest of the trilogy, I felt that maybe this book isn't a standalone success.

I mean, having said it has this extraordinary start and how much I love the writing in it, I'm not sure that it really held together.

I felt that I'd arrived at a party late and everyone was kind of well into it and I was trying to catch up with it.

If I was recommending this trilogy to anybody, I probably would say start from the beginning.