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Joyous storytelling at its best I was enthralled SARAH WINMAN author of Still Life

I bloody loved this a gorgeous heartbreaking examination of so much more than cricket ROBBIE ARNOTT author of Limberlost

Not since Jasper Jones have I been so utterly spellbound by the next ball the state of the pitch and the intricacies of scoring KATE MILDENHALL author of The Mother Fault

From the critically acclaimed author of Mr Wigg comes an enthralling literary novel about a batmaker and a gifted young cricketer set around the time the game began changing For fans of Chad Harbachs The Art of Fielding and Joseph ONeills Netherland

Cricket has a willow heart Batmakers around the world have tried everything crafting bats from birch maple ash even poplars After two hundred years cricket bat making is still beholden to a single species Salix alba caerulea or white willow

Reader Cricket Bats one of the last traditional batmakers back in England has a contemporary home in the Antipodes with Allan Reader keeping the family business alive in a small workshop in Melbourne

When Todd Harrow a gifted young batter catches Allans eye a spark is lit and Allan decides to make a Reader bat for him selecting the best piece of willow hes harvested in years to do so

As Harrow charts a meteoric rise to the highest echelons of the sport leaving his equally talented sisters dreams in his wake Allans magical bat takes centre stage as well awakening something in him But can Allans fledgling renaissance hanging as it does on the magic of that bat carry on after Harrow is stricken by injury and a strained personal life

Set as the new short form of the game began to gain prominence Willowman is a love letter to the art and beauty of cricket and a meditation on the inner lives of certain kinds of men and women for whom it is a way of life Awardwinning author Inga Simpson writes exquisitely about a national sport you will never view the same way again

Heartfelt Uplifting Simpson explores family priorities the pain of making difficult choices and the knowledge that its never too late to start over This is an uplifting book that will satisfy both cricket lovers and readers who enjoy loving stories about beginning again BOOKSPUBLISHING

What a wonderful book What a read A love story to cricket to families to craft and to music Beautifully written MICHAEL BRISSENDEN

A fabulous novel Inga Simpson brings all her craft and sensitivity to a story that has never been told and now that she has done it it feels like this was a story that was needing to be told With her art Inga joins the likes of Meg Lanning Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy in the vanguard of crickets exciting new revolution Long may it last MALCOLM KNOX

Moving gripping authentic so tenderly told at once a pageturner and a lifegiving meditation Willowman is just magic BROOKE DAVIS

Delightful JOHN DOYLE aka Rampaging Roy Slaven