Three friends gather at a fourth friend’s (Sylvie) house to pack up her things after her death. Over the course of the weekend, there is friction among the three, and their friendship is tested.

“People went on about death bringing friends together, but it wasn’t true. The graveyard, the stony dirt – that’s what it was like now . . . Despite the three women knowing each other better than their own siblings, Sylvie’s death had opened up strange caverns of distance between them.”

“People like Wendy had had their turn; that’s what she was supposed to accept now. It was time for her to go away, to step back. … Yes. Life – ideas, thinking, experience – was still there, to be mastered, expressed, in the way that only she could do it. She had not finished her turn, would not sink down. She wanted more.”

~Quotes from “The Weekend” by Charlotte Wood

• Sydney Morning Herald: “Wood’s technique in this novel is masterly. There’s the minutely detailed observation, the delicate shifts in point of view, the variation of style to suit different scenes and moods, and the expert management of escalating drama and tension as the novel’s climax approaches and the friends are buffeted by wave after wave of dismay and grief. “
• Books and Publishing: “The Weekend is a sharply observed portrait of growing old that’s sure to resonate with a broad age range of literary fiction readers.”
• Readings: “Wood has written a novel that beautifully realises the voices of older women in Australian literature.”

Author’s website: Charlotte Wood