Hello, Goodbye

by Emily Brewin

May Callaghan is seventeen years old and on her own. At least that's how it feels. Her devoutly religious mother and her gentle but damaged father are fighting, and May's boyfriend, Sam, has left their rural hometown for Melbourne without so much as a backward glance. When May lies to her parents and takes the train to visit Sam at his shared house in Carlton, her world opens wide in glorious complexity. She is introduced to his housemates, Clancy, an indigenous university student, and Ruby, a wild bohemian. With their liberal thinking and opposition to the war in Vietnam, they are everything that May's strict Catholic upbringing should warn her against. May knows too well the toll that war has taken on her father, and the peace movement in the city has a profound effect on her. For a while, May's future burns bright. But then it begins to unravel, and something happens to her that will change her life forever.

532 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2017

About the author

Emily Brewin is an author, freelance writer and learning designer. She has published two novels, Hello, Goodbye (2017) and Small Blessings (2019), both with Allen & Unwin. Her first YA novel is due for release in April 2024.

Emily has been awarded an Australian Society of Authors Emerging Writers’ and Illustrators’ mentorship for her fiction writing and has been shortlisted for two manuscript development programs. Her short stories appear in a number of anthologies.

Currently, Emily is writing her fourth novel. When she isn't hunched over her computer writing, she enjoys cycling and spending time with her lovely family and friends.