The Life to Come: A Novel

Michelle de Kretser

Mar 2018 · Highbridge Audio · Narrated by Shiromi Arserio

About this audiobook

Set in Australia, France, and Sri Lanka, The Life to Come is about the stories we tell and don't tell ourselves as individuals, as societies, and as nations. Driven by a vivid cast of characters, it explores necessary emigration, the art of fiction, and ethnic and class conflict. As Hilary Mantel has written, "I so admire Michelle de Kretser's formidable technique-her characters feel alive, and she can create a sweeping narrative that encompasses years and yet still retain the sharp, almost hallucinatory detail." Pippa is an Australian writer who longs for the success of her novelist teacher and eventually comes to fear that she "missed everything important." In Paris, Celeste tries to convince herself that her feelings for her married lover are reciprocated. Ash makes strategic use of his childhood in Sri Lanka, but blots out the memory of a tragedy from that time and can't commit to his trusting girlfriend, Cassie. Sri Lankan Christabel, who is generously offered a passage to Sydney by Bunty, an old acquaintance, endures her dull job and envisions a brighter future that "rose, glittered, and sank back," while she neglects the love close at hand.

About the author

Michelle de Kretser is the author several novels-including the Miles Franklin Award-winning Questions of Travel and the Man Booker Prize-longlisted The Lost Dog-and a novella, Springtime. She is an Honorary Associate of the English Department at the University of Sydney.

A native of London, UK, Shiromi Arserio is a stage actor and AudioFile Earphones Award-winning audiobook narrator. She holds a BA in theater from Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. In addition to narrating over 150 audiobooks, her voice can be heard in video games such as Nancy Drew: The Shattered Medallion.