Breaking Beauty

by Lynette Washington (Editor), Lilliana Rose

In this stunning collection, twenty-seven brilliant writers ask: What is beauty?

Breaking Beauty puts one of the greatest obsessions of our time under the spotlight and shows that beauty rarely exists without its grubby underbelly. There is no light without darkness.

Our writers — sparkling talents both established and emerging — discover that beauty can be found in the most unusual and unexpected places… in suburban driveways, graveyards, finials, cupcakes, train stations, grape-vines and of course in the complexities of human relationships. They also find beauty in more conventional places like love, sex and the innocence of childhood.

The writers in Breaking Beauty attended the Creative Writing postgraduate program at the University of Adelaide, one of the pre-eminent creative writing programs in Australia. Many have received national awards and been published widely in Australia and internationally. This collection showcases some of our finest established and emerging writers.

With stories by Katherine Arguile Lesley Beasley Gillian Britton Rebekah Clarkson Jessica Clements Katherine Doube Annabel Evitts Ruby Ewens Matthew Gabriel Corrie Hosking Rosemary Jackson Melanie Kinsman Stefan Laszczuk Jo Lennan Gay Lynch Mary Lynn Mather Amy T. Matthews Rachael Mead Lilliana Rose Bernadette Smith Anna Solding Reg Taylor Heather Taylor Johnson Lynette Washington Bryan Whalen Sean Williams Kimberley Zeneth


Praise for Breaking Beauty:

‘The best of the writers in this collection take us outside out comfortable selves, to let us experience the world through sensibilities that are strange to us, even alien.’
J.M. Coetzee

‘…in these hands the form is stretched, bent and spun into reading gold.’
Cath Kenneally

‘…the psychological authenticity is exceptional, executed in economical prose.’
Brian Castro



- See more at: http://midnightsunpublishing.com/book...


- See more at: http://midnightsunpublishing.com/book...

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2014

About the author

Lynette Washington is a short story writer, editor and teacher of creative and professional writing. From 2014 to 2017 she was the Editor and Submissions Editor at MidnightSun Publishing. When she is not writing, she teaches police cadets the importance of sentence structure. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Adelaide. She has been a panellist at the Australian Short Story Festival (2016 & 2017), Salisbury Writers’ Festival (2017) and Festival Fleurieu (2015 & 2017).

Her stories have been published widely and in 2014 she edited the story collection, Breaking Beauty. In 2017 she co-edited the story collection, Crush. Plane Tree Drive, her debut, was published in 2017 and was Highly Commended in the 2018 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award.

Reviews

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 3 out of 5]

Breaking Beauty is a collection of twenty seven short stories authored by Creative Writing postgraduates from the University of Adelaide, which claims to be one of the pre-eminent creative writing programs in Australia.

Edited by Lynette Washington, this diverse literary anthology explores the theme of beauty, not to define it but to challenge our recognition of it. In most cases the stories delve beyond its familiar construct to find beauty in unexpected forms and unusual places, and often hidden deep beneath ugly truths.

Though the short story format is not a favourite of mine, I found the majority of the stories to be interesting and thought provoking. Those that resonated most strongly with me included Beautiful Girl by Gillian Britton, The Beholders by Sean Williams and A Paper Woman by Melanie Kinsman.

Ranging from the provocative to the poignant, from sexy to startling, Breaking Beauty is a fine anthology from a group of talented Australian writers.

With stories by Katherine Arguile, Lesley Beasley, Gillian Britton, Rebekah Clarkson, Jessica Clements, Katherine Doube, Annabel Evitts, Ruby Ewens, Matthew Gabriel, Corrie Hosking, Rosemary Jackson, Melanie Kinsman, Stefan Laszczuk, Jo Lennan, Gay Lynch, Mary Lynn Mather, Amy T. Matthews, Rachael Mead, Lilliana Rose, Bernadette Smith, Anna Solding, Reg Taylor, Heather Taylor Johnson, Lynette Washington, Bryan Whalen, Sean Williams and Kimberley Zeneth.

[Blue Mountains Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

a clever marketing ploy in that an excerpt of one of the short stories was published in the Jan-Feb 2015 Australian Book Review. I had to borrow the book to find out how the story ended. It was worth it. Each story in this collection explores the idea of beauty, warts and all. The stories challenge your perception and ideal of normal. My favourite story in this compilation was by the sci-fi writer, Sean Williams “The Beholders”. All have twists and all are clever. Worth reserving the library copy today. 5 stars (and I never give 5 stars).

V.E

[J Wrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Breaking Beauty. Twenty-eight wonderful stories displaying an amazing array of styles and approaches to the concept of beauty. And I found it particularly touching that all of these writers developed their art in Adelaide, some passing through to other destinations, some staying to make South Australia their home. I say kudos to Lynette Washington for pulling together this stellar collection. Reading gold indeed.

[Kristin Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant collection of short stories, chosen with great care by editor Lynette Washington. The stories and styles are diverse, yet fit together beautifully. A book to read and re-read.

[Ruth Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting assortment of ideas. Some I liked more than others.

[Lara Cain Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been ages since I've read a really good anthology! Breaking Beauty is about the dissection of the common understanding of beauty. What does ‘beauty’ really mean? Where and how do we find it? As these diverse stories unfold, we see beauty revealed in both conventional and unexpected places.

The great variety of approaches to the topic in this collection means you probably won’t enjoy every story; but a few will resonate and linger long after you’ve put the book down.

Stefan Laszczuk’s The Window Winder is a surreal venture into urban legend territory. A labourer passes the scene of a horrific accident and witnesses an unbelievable moment of life – and longing – after death.

Gillian Britton’s Beautiful Girl drops the reader into the crazy rush of a busy school morning in a bustling blended family where everyone carries a chip on their shoulder of one kind or another. Amidst the cacophony, one member of the family is sinking deeper into herself until a final cry for help takes their lives in a new direction.

Jessica Clements’ Olive/Oliver explores the difficult decisions that form part of early pregnancy when the ‘routine tests’ do not offer comforting results.

These are just a select few that I found personally affecting, but the options are many and varied. All the writers attended the Creative Writing postgraduate program at the University of Adelaide and many have been published widely before and since. The anthology comes with an introduction from Brian Castro and cover praise from J.M. Coetzee, suggesting this is no average graduate writing collection.

A longer review can be found at thischarmingmum.com

[Jennifer Rolfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read these short stories because my writing teacher was among those in the book. They were interesting.