Ken Black – revered Australian artist, philanderer, irreverent obscenity-loving iconoclast – is dead. His wife and now widow, novelist Leila Whittaker, must try to fill the enormous gap his absence leaves. Her two boys, the elder Sebastian, who takes after his mother, and Otis (‘Oat’) who is his father incarnate, both help and hinder. To complicate matters further, when Ken’s mistress, Anita, is gifted a sum of money in his will (with pointed sexual connotations), she uses it to further her own photography career, and to emphasise her own connection to Ken.
An unfinished, untitled work is discovered in Ken’s studio. It’s different in subject matter from his previous work. It’s sublime and will fetch an enormous price on the market. The boys are executors of the estate, and Seb’s girlfriend, Lola, pushes for the sale. This artwork is a physical embodiment of loss: its unfinished nature speaks to a career cut short and the mystery of its subject echoes our inability to completely know another person.
By the time of the sale, Leila has found a new partner, Magnus, the antithesis of Ken. She feels a frisson of deceit when she meets the artwork’s buyer, Remy, in Sydney, and buys an apartment there. The differences between that city and her Melbourne home reflect the transition into her new life. Former allegiances and family ties are put under strain by the move.
This is a debut novel, but Mirmohamadi is no ingenue. Her writing is tight, the pacing is superb, and her characterisations are exquisite.
This novel is a must-read.
Reviewed by Bob Moore
READ AN INTERVIEW WITH KYLIE MIRMOHAMADI ABOUT DIVING, FALLING
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kylie Mirmohamadi is a writer and academic whose work and research spans domestic Australian landscapes, online fan fiction, and 19th-century English literature. She has a PhD in History and is currently an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in English and Creative Writing at La Trobe University.
Kylie lives with her family in Melbourne where she often finds ideas for writing when walking among the tree-lined creeks of her inner suburb with her poodle.
She has published widely in the academic sector, most recently on the long afterlives of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters.
She was the recipient of a Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship in 2022 and her unpublished manuscripts have been highly commended in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and shortlisted for the Dorothy Hewett Award (2020).
Diving, Falling is her first novel.
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