The Strays

I very much enjoyed The Strays by Emily Bitto, a new Australian author.  The story is mainly set in an "artists' retreat" in 1930s Victoria.  The narrator is Lily who in 1985 receives an invitation to a "retrospective" of a prominent artist.  She looks back on her first day at school when she met Eva who became her best friend.  Eva's father was the artist, Evan.  Due to a set of circumstances within her family, Lily goes to live with Eva and her family.  Evan and his wife Helena are quite well off for the time and invited a group of artists to live and work on their property.  It was a sort of Bohemian lifestyle which Lily found very attractive.  But there were hidden secrets within the household which impacted on Lily and cause a long estrangement.  So Lily is conflicted when she receives the invitation after so many years.  This is a beautifully written story.  The author won the Stella Prize in 2015. 41/2/5