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Anna Spargo-Ryan

Anna Spargo-Ryan

Anna Spargo-Ryan is a Melbourne writer. She is the author of The Gulf (Picador 2017) and The Paper House (Picador 2016), and won the 2016 Horne Prize for her essay ‘The Suicide Gene’. Her writing has also appeared in Meanjin, The Lifted Brow, The Big Issue, The Guardian, and Kill Your Darlings.

Anna Spargo-Ryan reviews 'Jean Harley Was Here' by Heather Taylor Johnson

May 2017, no. 391 30 April 2017
There is much to like about a well-executed set of short stories, and this is true of Jean Harley Was Here. While the book presents itself as a novel, it has more in common with Elizabeth Strout’s multi-narrator linked collection Olive Kitteridge (2008). This structural choice gives Heather Taylor Johnson enormous opportunity to explore the many aspects of grief. Jean Harley hasn’t died – y ... (read more)