COMP CLOSED ‘A Kind of Magic’ by Anna Spargo-Ryan

This week’s giveaway book is A Kind of Magic from Anna Spargo-Ryan – an acclaimed nonfiction writer and author of two novels, The Gulf and The Paper House. This latest memoir is all about anxiety, our minds and optimism in spite of it all. We have three copies to be won.

Powerfully honest, tender and often funny, A Kind of Magic blends meticulous research with vivid snapshots of the stuff that breaks us, and the magic of finding ourselves again.

Anna’s always had too many feelings. Or not enough feelings – she’s never been quite sure. Debilitating panic. Extraordinary melancholy. Paranoia. Ambivalence. Fear. Despair.

From anxious child to terrified parent, mental illness has been a constant. A harsh critic in the big moments – teenage pregnancy, divorce, a dream career, falling in love – and a companion in the small ones – getting to the supermarket, feeding all her cats, remembering which child is which.

But between therapists’ rooms and emergency departments, there’s been a feeling even harder to explain … optimism.

In this sharp-eyed and illuminating memoir, award-winning writer Anna Spargo-Ryan pieces together the relationships between time, mental illness, and our brain as the keeper of our stories. Against the backdrop of her own experience, she interrogates reality, how it can be fractured, and why it’s so hard to put it back together.

If you’d like to win a copy, share with us something that often feels like some kind of magic to you (e.g. “how cats always somehow land on their feet”!). Our three favourite examples of everyday magic will win a copy of this book.

THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED. THANKS FOR YOUR ENTRIES! WINNERS WILL BE CONTACTED BY EMAIL AND ANNOUNCED IN OUR NEWSLETTER.

Entries close midday Monday October 17 2022, Sydney/Melbourne time.