by Miriam Zolin
UQP (2003) $19.80

ATHENA FAIRWEATHER can take your pain away. To those who experience her touch, it feels like a miracle. But hers is a healing gift that she fears and does not understand.

When this young Australian woman takes a job in Prospect, Nebraska, she discovers a temporary sanctuary from herself and an unlikely friendship with her neighbour ‘the Princess’.

It is only when Theney meets Aubrey, a jazz musician whose damaged soul is a reflection of her own, that she really begins to understand the gift we all have and how to use it.

Tristessa & Lucido is a haunting debut novel about modern love and old-fashioned faith.

“…vastly entertaining …Theney Fairweather is a great creation…”
The Australian, 31 January 2004

“A gifted debut …Tristessa & Lucido is, emotionally and spiritually, a powerful little book and Zolin a beguiling writer.”
The Sunday Telegraph (Sydney) 17 August 2003

“… one of those reads you don’t want to put down … well written and inspiring debut …”
Good Reading, December 2003

“…a brave and skilled writer…”
The Canberra Times, 27 August 2003