Lara Fergus
Lara Fergus grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney and gave up a science degree to become a contemporary dancer. Some years and an ankle injury later she gave that up to see the world and wash dishes. She spent seven years living overseas, mostly in France. In that time she completed degrees in writing, women’s studies and international law, and worked with various advocacy organisations, including for newly arrived immigrant and refugee women.
She has now worked as a researcher and writer on human rights—particularly violence against women—for over a decade, with organisations such as Amnesty International, White Ribbon, VicHealth and most recently the United Nations. She currently works for the Victorian Government on policy to prevent violence against women. She lives in Melbourne with her partner Maryse, writes before work and dances on the weekends. My Sister Chaos is her first novel.
In 2014 Lara was appointed Director of Policy and Evaluation of the Foundation to Prevent Violence against Women and their Children.
Translations
My Sister Chaos (Tamil, India, Kalachuvadu Publishing, 2019)
My Sister Chaos (India, Zero Degree Publishing, 2022)
Lara Fergus
You will not elude me. I will measure your every dimension, I will trace your smallest lines. I will undo you from the inside. You will feel it like waves running across your floorboards, you will feel it like water rising through your walls, you will feel it like a sudden disorientation, you will wonder what happened to your foundations.
An obsessive-compulsive cartographer trapped in the mapping of her own house. A painter turned codebreaker trying to find the lover she lost in the war. Two sisters on a collision course.
In My Sister Chaos two sisters escape an unnamed war-torn country into separate lives of exile. The cartographer is obsessed with keeping the world in order, but finds it unraveling under her own demands. Her sister, an artist, arrives unexpectedly. Her very presence is a sign of chaos for the cartographer. But in spite of this, the sister has a firm grip on the real world, and a greater connection to the past. Chaos and order in tension provide the scaffolding for this compelling work of fiction. Presented within a world of obsession and trauma it asks whether any of us is immune to the forces of destruction.
Winner: Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction (USA)
Shortlisted: Dobbie Literary Award
Finalist: Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Debut Fiction (USA)
2010 | ISBN 9781876756840 | Paperback | 200 x 130 mm | 214 pages