The Museum of Modern Love

Review Winner of the 2017 Stella PrizeWinner of the 2017 Margaret Scott Prize - Tasmanian Premier's Literary PrizesWinner of the 2017 Christina Stead Prize for Fiction - NSW Premier's Literary Awards Shortlisted for the 2017 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal Shortlisted for the 2017 University of Queensland Fiction Book AwardOne of my stand-out Australian reads from 2016 . . . A glorious novel, meditative and special -- Hannah Kent, author of BURIAL RITESFraming a love story around a long-durational performance work, where the passage of time is essential, is a profoundly original idea. I loved this book -- Marina AbramovicRose's clever, genre-bending hybrid of fact and fiction is an exploration of love and convergence . . . a portrait of human desire and human failing, but perhaps most profoundly, human striving for something greater than self. Rose's melancholy book resonates with emotion, touching on life's great dilemmas-death, vocation, love, art ― PUBLISHERS WEEKLYIncisive, beautiful and precise, THE MUSUEM OF MODERN LOVE is a work of art in itself, a treatise on the shared threshold of devastation and beauty, the liminal and the eternal -- Letitia Montgomery-Rodgers ― FOREWORD REVIEWSDeeply involving . . . Profound . . . Emotionally rich and thought-provoking ― BOOKLIST, starred reviewTHE MUSEUM OF MODERN LOVE is more than just that rare treat, a book that requires something of the reader - it is a book that painstakingly prepares you for its own requirements. In a playful way, this bold new novel by Heather Rose is an astute meditation on art, bravery, friendship, love, how to live, and on dying -- Louise Swinn ― THE AGEThis captivating work explores the meaning of art in our lives and the ways in which it deepens our understanding of ourselves. As Hannah Rothschild did in The Improbability of Love, Australian author Rose also combines intriguing characters with a laser-sharp focus on art to produce a gem of a novel ― LIBRARY JOURNAL, starred reviewIf Heather Rose's audacious and beautiful new novel were adapted for the stage, it would require a theatre-in-the-round treatment . . . That Rose's novel evokes such a vivid mental staging is a testament to her powers as a storyteller. One of the delightful surprises of THE MUSEUM OF MODERN LOVE is discovering that the all-knowing storyteller is not your distant, narrative god descended from Dickens and Austen, but an intimate voice, someone we all recognise from our own struggles and lives. Pondering the parameters of this storyteller turns out to be almost as tantalising in this book as mulling its deeper questions: What are we? What is art? How should we live? -- Dominic Smith, author of THE LAST PAINTING OF SARA DE VOSBeautiful and provocative, THE MUSEUM OF MODERN LOVE is an unforgettable story about life, love, and art's ability to transform both ― BUSTLERose brings a skilled and at times almost mischievous artistry, not least in eff ecting narrative surprises that both disorient and persuade ― SYDNEY REVIEW OF BOOKSTHE MUSEUM OF MODERN LOVE is that rare and lovely thing: a novel of ideas that blooms into a persuasive illusion of real life . . . The lapidary brilliance of Rose's sentences is never overblown and her style is one of prescient, unflustered beauty ― WEST WEEKEND MAGAZINEA moving book that invites the reader to revel and re-evaluate ― BOOKTOPIAThe narrator's voice gives the novel a quiet power, as if the universe was filled with a non-meddling benevolence. There's a cinematic quality too, with even minor figures sketched in with sure and affecting touches. THE MUSEUM OF MODERN LOVE is alive with the surprise and challenge of presence in many of its forms - it is a very generous book indeed. Images and storytelling have been intertwined since the first human beings gathered by a painted wall to tell tales in the firelight. Heather Rose's THE MUSEUM OF MODERN LOVE works with these ancient ghosts with exquisite care and intelligence. Positing grief