Murmurations
For the first time since he’d left the island he thought of the starlings massed at dusk in the winter trees behind the children’s home. He remembered the rustle of their wings when they twisted in skeins over the fields, or swelled and contracted high above the cliffs, dark wave after dark wave, lifting and falling in a kind of dance. Sister Lucy had said it was a murmuration. He was still quite young, and he had thought the birds were showing him a sign, that there was something written in their fluid patterns.
Lives merge and diverge; they soar and plunge, or come to rest in impenetrable silence. Erris Cleary’s absence haunts the pages of this exquisite novella, a woman who complicates other lives yet confers unexpected blessings. Fly far, be free, urges Erris. Who can know why she smashes mirrors? Who can say why she does not heed her own advice?
Among the sudden shifts and swings something hidden must be uncovered, something dark and rotten, even evil, which has masqueraded as normality. In the end it will be a writer’s task to reclaim Erris, to bear witness, to sound in fiction the one true note that will crack the silence.
APRIL 2020 | ISBN 9781925950083 | Paperback | 198 x 128 mm | 112 pages
Shortlisted:
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature (Fiction) 2022
NSW Premier’s Award, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction 2021 Read the judges’ comments
Endorsements
With beautiful, clear-eyed insight, Murmurations charts lives edging towards revelation or despair. The women at the heart of these stories have the poise and mystery of figures in paintings. We’re drawn into intimacy with them through the grace of Carol Lefevre’s benevolent vision and quietly assured prose.
—Michelle de Kretser
Beautifully conceived and composed, Murmurations presents a series of stories that intriguingly fold into each other. There is not a false note here, not a single word out of place, not one detail that is irrelevant. By the end of the novella, the hidden griefs, fears and desires of people who are connected but emotionally estranged are revealed in such subtle, unexpected ways, you will want to re-read it straight away, and then again, and again.—Debra Adelaide
Murmurations explores the complications of intersecting lives and the harbouring of secrets
On Early Mornings with Barry Nicholls
WRITES 4 WOMEN PODCAST
When Pamela Cook chatted to Carol Lefevre about her newly released Novella "Murmurations" for "The Book Launch," she had no idea it would inspire an entire "Convo Couch" episode based on the idea of writing instinctually from points of inspiration. In this episode Carol talks about the inspirations behind her latest book and how she follows her instincts in the writing process.
THE BOOK PODCAST
In this episode, Rosemary Puddy talks to Carol LeFevre about her new novella Murmurations. https://www.carollefevre.com/
Lives merge and diverge; they soar and plunge, or come to rest in impenetrable silence. Erris Cleary’s absence haunts the pages of this exquisite novella, a woman who complicates other lives yet confers unexpected blessings. Fly far, be free, urges Erris. Who can know why she smashes mirrors? Who can say why she does not heed her own advice? Among the sudden shifts and swings something hidden must be uncovered, something dark and rotten, even evil, which has masqueraded as normality. In the end, it will be a writer’s task to reclaim Erris, to bear witness, to sound in fiction the one true note that will crack the silence.
Reviews
Murmurations is both novella and discontinuous narrative, exploring with compassion and sensitivity the interconnecting lives of six couples from 1960 to the present. Intimacy is shown in various forms, from close union to irreparable separation. Each section of the book is loosely inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper and set within a Hopper landscape. With fine attention to detail, Lefevre astutely captures the emotional texture of those works in language. Formally inventive and meticulously observed, this is a beautifully crafted jewel of a work.
— State Library of NSW
One True Note: A Novella Soars.
In Murmurations, the strategies Carol Lefevre deploys are ethical as well as creative, and are informed by intelligent compassion. Even if we can never truly know one another, Lefevre suggests that the attempt to connect is imperative. We might know the states that unite us in flashes of grace; we might be moved when the flock turns as one. Read the full review.
— Josephine Taylor, Australian Book Review
…the more I read and re-read this novella in short stories, the more I admire its shifting constellations, and the complex ways in which characters from one story surface in another.
…I was unsettled by this powerful, shifting novella, in which the characters never seem to land but drift, merge and separate on the book’s intimate emotional undertow. Read the full review
— Carol Millner, Westerly Magazine
A quiet, unassuming, masterpiece. Read the full review
— GLAM Adelaide
Five stars. You could, if you wished, consume this slim novella in one sitting. Please don’t. This is not fast food; this is a delicacy which should be savoured. It is exquisite writing. Read the full review [subscribers only]
— Good Reading Magazine
Adelaide author Carol Lefevre’s new novella is a beautiful little artefact, slender and silky so that the reader tends to stroke the cover before venturing inside to a work that is no less perfectly formed, even more aesthetically satisfying.
There is something of Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge in Erris Cleary, as there is of Strout in Lefevre’s exquisite calm prose, but there are depths to Erris that are foreign to Olive and that give Murmurations some of the suspense and speculation of a thriller.
— Katherine England, Adelaide Advertiser
This is devastatingly good writing. Read the full review
— Christine Kearney, syndicated content in Canberra Times, Illawarra Mercury, The Examiner
It’s a delicate, melancholy collection of interlinked stories,—each of which could be read independently, but together they form a cohesive novella about a generation of women whose lives were constrained by the mores of the time and the isolation of urban life. Read the full review
— Lisa Hill, ANZ Lit Lovers
Murmurations is a beautiful, evocative word, and Carol Lefevre’s latest book, titled Murmurations, does beautiful, thoughtful justice to it. Read the full review
— Sue Terry, Whispering Gums
FIVE STAR REVIEW
Occasionally you will find a gem of a book that will give you cause to stop and think. Murmurations is that book! Carol Lefevre’s prose are lyrical, insightful and heartbreaking. Although coming in at only 112 pages it packs an emotional punch. Murmurations is one of the best novellas I have read! Read the full review
— The Burgeoning Bookshelf
Oh, my. This book. Wow. Murmurations by Carol Lefevre is a slim, stunning, literary marvel. A masterclass in characterisation. A beautiful and poetic novella.
If you love Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout then you will adore Murmurations.
— Cass Moriarty, author website
This is a small novella (hand bag size and with only 112 pages) but an absolute jewel! Read the full review
— Ann Creber
In this splendid book, Carol Lefevre offers much to the casual reader. Deep reading uncovers more to admire. Read the full review
— Maureen Helen
Adelaide Advertiser, May 2020