{"title":"Laura McPhee-Browne","description":"\u003cp\u003eLaura McPhee-Browne’s novels invite readers into intimate landscapes of emotion and memory, where everyday moments are rendered with subtle grace. Her fiction explores personal connections and the delicate threads that bind family and place, often weaving a quietly compelling narrative that lingers long after the last page.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith a gentle voice and finely tuned observation, McPhee-Browne’s work balances warmth and complexity, making her stories both accessible and deeply resonant. Expect reflective, character-driven tales grounded in the nuances of human experience and the quieter corners of life.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"cherry-beach-by-laura-mcphee-browne-9781922268501","title":"Cherry Beach","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWe arrived on a Tuesday, I can remember that. I can remember Hetty’s hand in mine as we moved slowly down the steps of the escalator, as if standing completely still would have been harder than moving.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHetty and Ness, best friends since childhood, have left suburban Melbourne for the first time to live abroad. Hetty is charming and captivating, the life of the party. Ness is a wallflower, hopelessly in love with her. In the student quarter of Toronto, the pair take a room in a share house full of self-assured creatives. Hetty disappears into barkeeping work and a whirlwind nightlife, while Ness drifts aimlessly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut when Ness finds Faith one day in the art gallery, an intense affair develops. There are new friends, too, and a job: at last, her life starts to make some sense. And Hetty’s starts spectacularly to fall apart, in a mess of bad drugs and bad men.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs winter freezes the lakeside city, the dark undercurrents of Hetty’s character—abusive relationships, a dangerous obsession with bodies of water—become ever stronger. Ness may lose the person she loves more than anyone else in the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeautifully written and intimate, \u003ci\u003eCherry Beach\u003c\/i\u003e is a revelatory story of friendship and desire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46529880129772,"sku":"9781922268501","price":34.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11096133482872.jpg?v=1749236622"},{"product_id":"little-plum-by-laura-mcphee-browne-9781922790064","title":"Little Plum","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeautifully capturing the emotional complexity of impending motherhood, \u003cem\u003eLittle Plum\u003c\/em\u003e is a rich and vital story from a rising star in Australian fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the cusp of thirty, Coral learns that a thing is growing inside her body. It is not necessarily a complete disaster, she tells herself. I'm okay, she tells herself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSoon the thing inside her is the size of a plum. 'Little Plum,' she says, 'Little Plum, I love you.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd she wants to love it, the little plum. It's just that she can't yet think of it as what it is becoming - a baby, and not just a fruity morsel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCoral is tapping and shrugging more than usual. She is trying to stop the creature in her head from taking hold.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCoral might not be okay - or she might be seeing more clearly than anyone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBold, dark and sensuous, \u003cem\u003eLittle Plum\u003c\/em\u003e is the stunning follow-up to the award-winning debut \u003cem\u003eCherry Beach\u003c\/em\u003e. With skill and sensitivity, Laura McPhee-Browne takes us inside the mind of an expectant mother.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46670906786028,"sku":"9781922790064","price":35.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/16311763482872.jpg?v=1752788487"},{"product_id":"worry-doll-by-laura-mcphee-browne-9781761381850","title":"Worry Doll","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the author of the acclaimed \u003cem\u003eCherry Beach\u003c\/em\u003e comes a thrilling exploration of love and desire—obsessive, all-consuming, and impossible to look away from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn an ordinary day, two women meet on a train.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHeloise—the older woman—lives with her boyfriend in Melbourne.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLacey—the other woman—is from Aotearoa and studies the clouds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat follows is anything but ordinary, a passionate affair that will consume them both in mismatched and maddening ways.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePropulsive and lyrical, \u003cem\u003eWorry Doll\u003c\/em\u003e examines desire, memory, and the delusion of love.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'A deliciously seductive and suspenseful novel about the slipperiness of desire and memory, \u003cem\u003eWorry Doll\u003c\/em\u003e upends expectations at every turn, revealing the way we are all unreliable narrators when it comes to love. Laura McPhee-Browne has arrived at a thrilling new voice—confident, daring, and alive to the dark magic that beats at the heart of erotic obsession.'\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n- Madelaine Lucas, author of \u003cem\u003eThirst For Salt\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'An unflinching, unnerving, exquisitely observed double portrait of human longing and discordance.'\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n- Miles Allinson, author of \u003cem\u003eIn Moonland\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47582743232748,"sku":"9781761381850","price":37.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781761381850-worry-doll.jpg?v=1777439151"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/laura-mcphee-browne.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}