{"product_id":"sunbathing-by-isobel-beech","title":"'Sunbathing' by Isobel Beech","description":"\u003ch4 data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"496\"\u003eSet partly in rural Italy and partly within the drifting emotional terrain of contemporary Australia, the novel tracks the narrator moving through the many shapes of mourning.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"498\" data-end=\"1090\"\u003eBeech writes in a sparse, observant register that allows emotional recognition to emerge sideways, through domestic detail, awkward conversations, shared routines, bodily exhaustion; the means to show a body mid-recalibration. The prose has that particular contemporary Australian literary quality where emotional devastation is filtered through practicality and restraint, but beneath it sits a deep concern with dependency, care, loneliness, and the fragility of the identities people build around relationships.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1092\" data-end=\"1535\"\u003eThere’s also a strong undercurrent of displacement running through the novel. Italy is not treated as fantasy escape or transformative travel destination, but instead is a place the narrator tries to test whether grief can be outrun, aestheticised, or reorganised into a different kind of life. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1537\" data-end=\"1835\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished by Allen \u0026amp; Unwin in 2022. Paperback edition in very good condition, with light shelf wear and clean internal pages. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44600196202579,"sku":null,"price":16.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/Yourparagraphtext-2026-05-12T151619.791.png?v=1778562990","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/sunbathing-by-isobel-beech","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}