What do you think?
Rate this book
The Cuckoo's Song
Award-winning author Amra Pajalić showcases her gritty, poignant and sometimes bruising voice in this eclectic short story book of previously published and prize-winning stories. Featuring powerful and moving stories of family dissolution, deprivation of war, tenderness of family and the heart-rending experiences of mental illness. Thriller stories with a twist of vindictiveness and retribution, and love stories that make the heart sing, this collection will delight and entertain.
The Cuckoo’s Song—Francesca is ten when a gypsy fortune-teller told her the day and the hour of her death and she has been waiting since.
Fragments—Seka and her brother forage for books in a bombed-out school in Srebrenica during the Balkan war.
Friends Forever—Two lifelong friends share a room at a nursing home, as well as a secret or two.
School of Hardknocks—Amina is a new high school student after migrating from Bosnia and struggles to acclimate to the Aussie way of life.
Woman on Fire—A young girl lives with her mother’s boyfriend when her mentally ill mother is admitted into hospital.
The Cuckoo’s Song—Francesca is ten when a gypsy fortune-teller told her the day and the hour of her death and she has been waiting since.
Fragments—Seka and her brother forage for books in a bombed-out school in Srebrenica during the Balkan war.
Friends Forever—Two lifelong friends share a room at a nursing home, as well as a secret or two.
School of Hardknocks—Amina is a new high school student after migrating from Bosnia and struggles to acclimate to the Aussie way of life.
Woman on Fire—A young girl lives with her mother’s boyfriend when her mentally ill mother is admitted into hospital.
178 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 31, 2022
2 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Amra Pajalic
30 books80 followersAmra Pajalić is an award-winning author, educator, and PhD researcher of Bosnian heritage whose work explores how fiction represents the Bosnian genocide.
Amra Pajalić won the 2009 Melbourne Prize for Literature's Civic Choice Award for her debut novel The Good Daughter, now re-released as Sabiha's Dilemma (Pishukin Press, 2022). The anthology she co-edited, Growing up Muslim in Australia (Allen and Unwin, 2014), was shortlisted for the 2015 Children's Book Council of the year awards and her memoir Things Nobody Knows But Me (Transit Lounge, 2019) was shortlisted for the 2020 National Biography Award. Her short story collection The Cuckoo's Song (Pishukin Press, 2022) features previously published and prize-winning stories.
She is the author of the Sassy Saints series, Sabiha's Dilemma, Alma's Loyalty, and Jesse's Triumph, and the forthcoming Seka Torlak historical-mystery series, beginning with the prequel The Tree That Stood Still and the first book in the series Time Kneels Between Mountains. Her companion essay collection Fragments of History: The Essays Behind the Story, examine the legacy of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.
She works as a high school teacher and is completing a PhD in Creative Writing at La Trobe University exploring representations of the Bosnian genocide in fiction. Her work blends storytelling with historical analysis to confront dehumanisation and preserve cultural memory. Her website is www.amrapajalic.com.
Amra Pajalic also writes romance under pen name Mae Archer
https://www.goodreads.com/mae_archer
Be sure to follow Amra on BookBub for the latest on sales https://www.bookbub.com/authors/amra-...
Amra Pajalić won the 2009 Melbourne Prize for Literature's Civic Choice Award for her debut novel The Good Daughter, now re-released as Sabiha's Dilemma (Pishukin Press, 2022). The anthology she co-edited, Growing up Muslim in Australia (Allen and Unwin, 2014), was shortlisted for the 2015 Children's Book Council of the year awards and her memoir Things Nobody Knows But Me (Transit Lounge, 2019) was shortlisted for the 2020 National Biography Award. Her short story collection The Cuckoo's Song (Pishukin Press, 2022) features previously published and prize-winning stories.
She is the author of the Sassy Saints series, Sabiha's Dilemma, Alma's Loyalty, and Jesse's Triumph, and the forthcoming Seka Torlak historical-mystery series, beginning with the prequel The Tree That Stood Still and the first book in the series Time Kneels Between Mountains. Her companion essay collection Fragments of History: The Essays Behind the Story, examine the legacy of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.
She works as a high school teacher and is completing a PhD in Creative Writing at La Trobe University exploring representations of the Bosnian genocide in fiction. Her work blends storytelling with historical analysis to confront dehumanisation and preserve cultural memory. Her website is www.amrapajalic.com.
Amra Pajalic also writes romance under pen name Mae Archer
https://www.goodreads.com/mae_archer
Be sure to follow Amra on BookBub for the latest on sales https://www.bookbub.com/authors/amra-...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 27, 2022
Loved reading a story each day, the stories I believe need to be told about growing up in the Western suburbs of Melbourne, life in Bosnia during the war, Being Bosnian, having a parent with mental Health issue, family, love all told through the eyes of a teenager/child. Stories I believe need to be told, each one powerful and moving - leaving you with a sense of intrigue, shock, sadness, hope, happiness or horror! A must read for those who love a good story!
December 28, 2021
Bittersweet with hints of mysticism, this story offers glimpses into one of the many stories of migration and the cultures that infuse Australian society. The sections set in the past unsentimentally evoke the complex lives of war torn Italy, while the final section brings relief and acceptance.
One to soothe the soul and yet disturb with its blend of the mystic and the realism of everyday life- and love- in two eras
One to soothe the soul and yet disturb with its blend of the mystic and the realism of everyday life- and love- in two eras
June 14, 2024
"Can I copy your homework?"
"Yeah, just make some changes, so it's not too obvious."
"Yeah, just make some changes, so it's not too obvious."
Read
January 14, 2023Listen to chapter 1 https://youtu.be/5Lq73aQq4XA
Retail purchase links:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/...
https://play.google.com/store/audiobo...
https://www.pishukinpress.com/product...
Retail purchase links:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/...
https://play.google.com/store/audiobo...
https://www.pishukinpress.com/product...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews