Suzanne Leal

And this is the one I think for this book.

It's a quote by Marcel Post in Search of Lost Time.

And it says, ideas come to us as the successors of griefs.

And griefs, at the moment they turn into ideas, lose some part of their power to injure the heart.

And for me, I thought the book really was that.

It was an exploration of grief and how do you find your way beyond it.

What about Axel's loss, Suzanne?

So Axel is Swedish, and as you've said, he's a glassblower, a glassmaker, an artisan.

And his history brings us back to the Second World War and his parents' involvement in what's called the White Buses, which was, as I understand it, a rescue movement to rescue Swedish Jews.

his father's caught up in that and that without saying too much more is the source of Axel's grief and loss.

I think it occurred to me then just how close the Second World War was at that time.

For me 1965 is all Beatles and now Opera House but really it was still very early times after an horrific war and I think Christina Olsen brings that very carefully to the book as well.

I think it's timely.

I think it's beautiful.

I think it's measured.

The words are well chosen, always very careful.

I think it's a beautiful book.

It's a gift.

You can't see it on radio.

It's such a beautiful object.