Cassie McCullough

Anna Funder on Tirralira by the River.

I read Tirralira by the River as a schoolgirl 35 years ago, and it entered my blood in such a way that I can't remember a self before this book.

Now I'm in my 50s, it seems to me that the ages between, say, 13 and 23 are particularly dangerous in a duckling kind of way.

for the retaining of impressions, the setting of patterns that are then, apparently instinctively, followed.

We form our tastes, especially literary and sexual, by what we come across, or what comes across us, in those years.

And though this dangerous decade can seem like a time of unbounded possibility, most of life, after all, being still to come, some of this imprinting can limit our sense of what is possible.

Tirralira by the River is a novel that examines in brutally honest detail the patterns etched on a soul at this formative time.

And it shows how late in life, however well or less well you might think that has turned out, there may be some satisfaction to be had by recognising these patterns and what they have made of us.

Reminding, rewinding, removing, regretting.

Your smiles at the weekend, your tears at the wedding.

There's more to picture you.

I know you mean that in the kindest way, Kate.

Yes, look, I've had two weeks off in lockdown, interesting kind of holiday.

But one upside is I'm ahead on my reading for once.

Yes, the big weekend of books.

If you're listening to this on Friday, we kick it off tonight.

In fact, Kate, you and I are going to be doing that.

If you're listening on Monday night, then you can catch up on everything that's happened over the weekend on the ABC Listen app or online.

But to find out more about what's happening at this writers' festival in the middle of COVID-19,

We're delighted to welcome the big weekend of books curator and Bookshelf regular, Michaela Kolowski.