{"product_id":"2026100010922-secondhand-a-descant-for-gossips","title":"A Descant For Gossips","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Worn\/faded, no tears\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the suffocating intimacy of a small Australian town, where every whisper carries the weight of judgement, A Descant for Gossips chronicles the quiet devastation wrought by community cruelty upon two outsiders whose only crime is their difference. Thea Astley's debut novel centers on Vinnie, a sensitive schoolgirl, and her fragile friendship with the enigmatic new teacher, Rowlands, as the town's relentless gossip machine conspires to destroy them both with ruthless, almost casual efficiency.\n\nAstley writes with a surgeon's precision and a poet's sensibility, dissecting the moral cowardice that lurks beneath the surface of ordinary suburban life in mid-twentieth-century Queensland. Her prose is taut and ironic, illuminating how conformity weaponises itself against individuality — a theme she would return to throughout her celebrated career, which earned her four Miles Franklin Awards. A devastating and beautifully rendered portrait of innocence crushed under the heel of small-minded provincialism, this novel asks a question that lingers long after the final page: who, truly, are the monsters in our midst?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50572712706267,"sku":"2026100010922-SECONDHAND","price":45.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/4b12c87e-773f-420f-b78f-c3305eda8e08.png?v=1791167321","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026100010922-secondhand-a-descant-for-gossips","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}