The Life to Come: A Novel

By Michelle de Kretser

Winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award
Shortlisted for the Stella Prize
Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award



“For a novel concerned with dislocation, there's a lot of grounding humor in The Life to Come. Most of it comes at the expense of Pippa and her ilk, but de Kretser's observations are so spot on, you'll forgive her even as you cringe.”—Amelia Lester, New York Times Book Review

Set in Australia, France, and Sri Lanka, The Life to Come is about the stories we tell and don’t tell ourselves as individuals, as societies, and as nations. Driven by a vivid cast of characters, it explores necessary emigration, the art of fiction, and ethnic and class conflict.

Pippa is a writer who longs for success and eventually comes to fear that she “missed everything important.” Celeste tries to convince herself that her feelings for her married lover are reciprocated. Ash makes strategic use of his childhood in Sri Lanka, but blots out the memory of a tragedy from that time. Sri Lankan Christabel endures her dull job and envisions a brighter future that “rose, glittered, and sank back,” while she neglects the love close at hand.

The stand–alone yet connected worlds of The Life to Come offer meditations on intimacy, loneliness, and our flawed perception of reality. Enormously moving, gorgeously observant of physical detail, and often very funny, this new novel by Michelle de Kretser reveals how the shadows cast by both the past and the future can transform and distort the present. It is teeming with life and earned wisdom—exhilaratingly contemporary, with the feel of a classic.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Mar 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781936787838

Michelle de Kretser

Michelle De Kretser was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her family emigrated to Australia when she was a teenager, and she was educated in Melbourne and Paris. She is the author of five previous novels, including the Miles Franklin Award winners Questions of Travel and The Life to Come and the Man Booker Prize long-listed The Lost Dog. An honorary associate of the English department at the University of Sydney, she lives with her partner, the poet and translator Chris Andrews, in Sydney.

Reviews for The Life to Come

[sarahstenhouse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A plot line little confusing, but some great descriptions of Australians and writers, and insightful and thought provoking characterisations.

[pamelad_570511 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The writing draws attention to itself. The narration is sardonic, and permeated with dislike for the characters.

[ldvoorberg · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Stages of life portrayed through sveral short stories but all connected by one character who appears in each. Is there a point or main time to the stories? Hard to say. They were ok, but not terribly gripping.