The sharp-tongued, exotic Eva lives with her parents Evan and Helena and two sisters in a grand heirloom of a house surrounded by rambling, sumptuous gardens. From the day they meet as 8-year-olds in grade school, narrator Lily adores Eva Trentham. In the foreground is the story of two young girls who fall deeply in love and create an intensely private relationship amid the adult chaos that reigns around them. A canvas of riotous and erotic oils, the creative ferment comprises the narrative backdrop of The Strays. Painters find themselves characterized as decadents in the newspapers and do their best to live up to the reputation. The avant-garde art scene in Depression-era Melbourne burns white hot. Framed as a memoir drafted in 1985, when Lily has grown to maturity, The Strays invites readers into a world that is by turns disturbing and magical. But one, an adolescent girl named Lily, sees all but keeps her mouth firmly shut - until she comes to narrate this book. Assembled under one bohemian roof in 1930s Australia, most of these characters tell all to a fault. 'Dogs are better than human beings,' wrote Emily Dickinson, 'because they know but don't tell.' That sentiment comes to mind when considering Emily Bitto's debut novel, which showcases a dazzling, gabby and ultimately doomed collection of stray human beings. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. This lyrical and devastating new novel from the Stella-Prize winning author of The Strays offers us startling and profound visions of the world and our place in it.Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Strays Author Emily Bitto

We read with increasing horror and denial as we approach the cataclysmic conclusion of Will’s American odyssey, dreading what is galloping towards us, but utterly unable to look away. Wild Abandon is a headlong tumble through the falling world of end-days capitalism, a haunting, hyperreal snapshot of our own strange times. These two men in crisis form an unlikely friendship, but Will has no idea just how close to the edge Wayne truly is.

By fate or random chance, Will’s journey takes him deep into the American heartland where he meets Wayne Gage, a fast-living, troubled Vietnam veteran, would-be spirit guide and collector of exotic animals. Landing in the excessive, uncanny-familiar glamour and plenitude of New York City, Will makes a vow to say yes to everything that comes his way. In the fall of 2011, a heartbroken young man flees Australia for the USA.

The strays bitto