Podcast || Interview with Stephanie Bishop author of Man Out Of Time
Australian author Stephanie Bishop has written three novels; The Singer, The Other Side Of The World and most recently Man Out of Time. The Other Side of the World was awarded the 2015 Readings Prize and shortlisted for the Australian Vogel, NSW and Victorian Premiers Award, longlisted for the Stella Prize and named literary fiction book of the year at the ABIAs.
Man out of Time was published in 2018 and tells the story of a disappearing father and the trails of logic that his daughter Stella and wife Frances must follow through memory and time. They have a troubled visual relationship and draws heavily on autobiography—but the book was almost never finished.
About the book
When Stella’s father, Leon, disappears in September 2001, the police knock at her door. She baulks at their questions, not sure how to answer. ‘What if I just write it down for you.’
One summer, a long time ago, Stella sat watching her father cry while the sky clouded over. He had tried to make amends: for his failures, for forgetting to buy the doll she once hoped for, for the terrible things he had done.
The first time Stella sensed that something was wrong was on her ninth birthday. There was an accident, and when she opened her eyes there was the tang of blood in her mouth. Leon was beside her. But not quite there. In the winter, when her father finally came home from hospital, he looked different. Looked at her differently.
Now he was missing, and Stella held the key to his discovery. But did he want to be found? And after all that has passed, could Stella bring herself to help him?
