WINNER OF THE 2010 VICTORIAN PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARD PRIZE FOR AN UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2012 NSW PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARD UTS GLENDA ADAMS AWARD FOR NEW WRITING

Bonnie has given up her life as a musician to become a stay-at-home mum. She tells herself she has no regrets, but sometimes the isolation and the relentless demands of three small children threaten to swamp the love between Bonnie and her partner, Pete.

Then an old mate of Pete's arrives. Doug is eccentric and intrusive, and his unsettling presence disrupts Bonnie's world further. Yet as the cracks really start to show in the life Bonnie and Pete have built together, it seems the dangers might also come from within.

House of Sticks is a revealing portrait of contemporary family life, its joys and compromises, and how quickly things can unravel. It's about trying to stay connected in our disconnected society; a story of identity and community, loyalty and love.

PRAISE FOR PEGGY FREW

'[House of Sticks is] the kind of tune that hovers in the air well after the last note has sounded.' The Sunday Age

'Her [Frew's] prose is deceptively powerful ... House of Sticks is vivid and contemporary on the page.' The Weekend Australian