The Burn | In Conversation with Jessica Mansour-Nahra
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2030. Devastating bushfires have plunged Australia into lockdown. When stay-at-home orders lift, Carmen isn't relieved. Solitude has suited her too well.
Carmen's best friend, Eleni, convinces her to join her and her boyfriend, Dan, and their friend Rhett on a road trip. After months apart, Eleni says they need an unplugged week away together: a chance for escape and reconnection, laughter and shared history.
But the trip isn't what Carmen expects. The friends try to bond, but everyone has changed. They end up stuck in isolated cabins in dense national parkland. Secrets spill out, new ideals are challenged and bitter arguments erupt. On the final morning, new fires are racing towards them, forcing the group to find another way out. But how, when the friends no longer trust each other with their lives?
Jessica Mansour-Nahra was a communications consultant and writer in Brisbane, London and Sydney, before tree-changing to Tasmania, where she lives with her husband and their beloved dog. Jessica holds degrees in history and law from The University of Queensland. Her first novel, The Farm, was an Australian bestseller.
Rebecca Armitage is an author and journalist. As a journalist, she has written stories about the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the coronation of King Charles III, the exile of Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan and the abdication of Denmark's Queen Margrethe. She has also covered several US elections and travelled extensively for the ABC's International team. The Heir Apparent is her first novel. It is a bestseller in Australia and was a Reese's Book Club pick.
Join Jessica and Rebecca at the Afterword Cafe.