When Things are Alive They Hum

The Australian Women’s Weekly Great Read
Shortlisted for the Indie Book Awards for Debut Fiction
Shortlisted for the MUD Literary Prize
Shortlisted for the ABIA Award for General Fiction
Shortlisted for the ABIA Matt Richell Award New Writer of the Year

‘Hannah Bent’s outstanding debut is a wise, wondrous celebration of life.’ — The Australian

Marlowe and Harper share a bond deeper than most sisters, shaped by the loss of their mother in childhood. For Harper, living with what she calls the Up syndrome and gifted with an endless capacity for wonder, Marlowe and she are connected by an invisible thread, like the hum that connects all things. For Marlowe, they are bound by her fierce determination to keep Harper, born with a congenital heart disorder, alive.

Now 25, Marlowe is finally living her own life abroad, pursuing her studies of a rare species of butterfly secure in the knowledge Harper’s happiness is complete, having found love with boyfriend, Louis. But then she receives the devastating call that Harper’s heart is failing. She needs a heart transplant but is denied one by the medical establishment because she is living with a disability. Marlowe rushes to her childhood home in Hong Kong to be by Harper’s side and soon has to answer the question – what lengths would you go to save your sister?

When Things Are Alive They Hum poses profound questions about the nature of love and existence, the ways grief changes us, and how we confront the hand fate has dealt us. Intensely moving, exquisitely written and literally humming with wonder, it is a novel that celebrates life in all its guises, and what comes after.

PRAISE FOR WHEN THINGS ARE ALIVE THEY HUM

‘Compelling and tender’ — Suzanne Daniel, author of Allegra in Three Parts

‘Hannah Bent has created a literary heroine of such pure beauty she takes your breath away.’ — The Australian Women’s Weekly

‘Posing profound questions about grief, love and fate, Bent’s debut celebrates life and sisterhood in an awe-inspiring way.’ — Harper’s Bazaar

‘At once uplifting and heartbreaking, this is a story about the special bond between two sisters.’ — Sunday Life

‘A simply beautiful novel.’ — Good Reading

‘Heartbreakingly beautiful.’ — Family Circle

‘When literature is alive it hums, and rattles and warms and hurts and heals. Hannah Bent and her wondrous Harper and Marlowe have changed the way I’ve been going about my days. What a gift.’ — Trent Dalton, author of Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies

‘...what stayed with me was the achingly beautiful portrayal of the love between the two sisters. If I had a sister, that is how I would like to feel.’ — Nicole Abadee, Sydney Morning Herald