Songs from the Firefront

True and tender stories from a master.

The pressure inside the house changes. The shutters give off long stuttering bursts like submachine-gun fire. You tell yourself that this is it. Every few minutes now, you think the place will explode. And you wonder where you’ll go if it does. You have no idea that your neighbours’ window has blown in, that a metre of seawater is rushing through their yard. But you do know you won’t survive in the open.

For nearly half a century, Tim Winton has been singing the lives and loves of ordinary people. It’s hard to think of a contemporary voice more widely trusted, or a writer whose cultural reach extends so far from the conventional confines of the literary world.
In these deeply personal reflections, he’s still asking himself the big and urgent questions.
How do we keep going in a burning world? Why are we so resistant to facing the hard facts of life? Do we have what it takes to meet the moment? What must we do to foster community? And how do we hold on to what is pure and precious?

Songs from the Firefront is a book about the sacred fragility of existence. Full of rage and laughter and mourning, it’s a celebration of friendship, a call for solidarity and a testament to the deep joys and sorrows of family life.