Together We Read featuring ‘Happy Hour’ by Jacquie Byron

Join best-selling author Ben Hobson in conversation with Together We Read featured author Jacquie Byron to discuss her chosen novel 'Happy Hour'.

This event will be hosted on Zoom, the link will be sent to all attendees on the day of the event.

Jacquie Byron’s early love of reading morphed into a love of writing and led her to study journalism. Collecting and sharing stories has kept her busy professionally for more than twenty-five years. In 2015 she was awarded a Glenfern Fellowship, helping her to complete her first fiction manuscript 'Trouble Sleeping' which subsequently went on to achieve a highly commended in the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript.

Jacquie’s first novel – 'Happy Hour' – was published through Allen & Unwin in September 2021. Between 6-20 September, Together We Read invites anyone with a library card to borrow Australian author Jacquie Byron's wonderfully received novel 'Happy Hour', as an e-book or audiobook, and join Australia’s biggest annual online book club. During this digital book club event, guests will have the opportunity to ask questions, interact with Jacquie, and enjoy a well-rounded bookish discussion.

The Zoom link will be emailed to all attendees on the day of the event. ‘Happy Hour', will be available to borrow from your local library with no waitlists or holds from 6-20 September.

Download Libby and find your local library to start reading: meet.libbyapp.com.

Registrations are essential to receive the Zoom link. Register at Eventbrite

ABOUT THE TITLE

Gin in one hand, paintbrush in the other, Franny Calderwood has turned her back on the world. Having lost her husband, Frank, she lives a life of decadent seclusion with her two dogs, Whisky and Soda and a stuffed cat.

Then the Salernos move in next door - a charming trio: newly-single mother Sallyanne, moody teenager Dee and eccentric eight-year-old Josh - and Franny finds herself drawn into the chaos of their lives in eccentric, hilarious and sometimes misguided ways.

These friendships bring her to life, artistic Josh reminding her of her of the beauty of life, and passionate Dee re-inspiring the enjoyment of glamour and excitement that Franny used to share with Frank. But, when an accident forces Franny to confront the pain beneath her wisecracks and culinary experiments, she comes to realise that the loss of Frank does not have to mean she also needs to lose herself. A powerful story about one woman, two dogs and the family next door, Happy Hour is a hilarious and uplifting insight into true love, loss and friendship.

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Together We Read featuring ‘Happy Hour’ by Jacquie Byron image Queensland in 1976 churns with corruption. When Detective Ray Windsor defies it, he is exiled deep into the state's west. It's easy out there to feel alien in your own country.

Royalton is a town on its knees, stricken by drought, riven by prejudice, and plagued by crimes left largely uninvestigated by the local police chief, Kennedy, and his elusive boss. Mutual dislike between Kennedy and Ray gradually turns ugly as Ray and his new partner, Arshag, uncover a pattern of crimes that no one seems concerned about solving.

But when two girls from local immigrant families are found dead and another disappears, Ray and Arshag are forced to take the law into their own hands. Not knowing who to trust, nor how deep the corruption runs, how long will it be before their lives are also threatened?

A spare and uncompromising crime thriller that pulls no punches.