A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR

'A remarkable literary debut . . . Part memoir, part travelogue, Motherlands is ultimately an investigation of how we come to understand the past at all' Guardian

Our creation stories begin with the notion of expulsion from our 'original' home. We spend our lives struggling to return to the place we fit in, the body we belong in, the people that understand us, the life we were meant for. But the places we remember are ever-changing, and ever since we left, they continue to alter themselves, betraying the deal made when leaving.

Australian writer Amaryllis Gacioppo has been raised on stories of original homes, on the Palermo of her mother, the Benghazi of her grandmother and the Turin of her great-grandmother. But what does belonging mean when you're not sure of where home is? Is the modern nation state defined by those who flourish there or by those who aren't welcome? Is visiting the land of one's ancestors a return, a chance to feel complete, or a fantasy?

Weaving memoir and cultural history through modern political history, examining notions of citizenship, statelessness, memory and identity and the very notion of home, Motherlands heralds the arrival of a major talent that opens one's eyes to new ways of seeing.

Amaryllis Gacioppo is a journalist and author with a Joint PhD in Creative Writing from Monash University and the University of Bologna. In 2015 her story 'Dreams' won the Lord Mayor of Melbourne Award for Short Story. Her writing has been shortlisted for a number of awards, including the Bristol Short Story Prize and the Scribe Nonfiction Prize. Her stories and essays have appeared in Award Winning Australian Writing, Catapult, 3:AM, and elsewhere. This is her first book.