Reviews

‘Anton Chekov once gave advice along these lines: “If you want to shock, tell it cold.” One can imagine the scalpel wielded behind this succinct phrase. Such an image comes frequently to mind when reading Susan Varga’s Headlong. The story of a woman’s suicide is told from her daughter’s point of view in uncompromising, minimalist prose that, underneath its surface, conveys a lifetime of emotion. . . the novel takes on the compulsive pace of a thriller, as the characters are faced with a seemingly insoluble dilemma.’

Dorothy Johnston, Sydney Morning Herald

‘There is a complexity and compassion in Susan Varga’s account of a mother seeking to die, a family who diagnoses her as simply depressed and grieving for her husband, and their various attempts to resolve this dilemma. She provides a thought-provoking portrait of a mother-daughter relationship fraught with guilt, pain and the mother’s request for assistance to commit suicide.’

Judges’ report, Barbara Jefferis Award 2010

‘Headlong is an intense, tough and finely nuanced examination of a daughter’s role when a beloved aged mother wants, above all else, to die.’

Joan London, Sydney Morning Herald

‘Headlong is essentially a finely judged study of grief, and its aftermath, of sinking to the depths and rising again into new life. It also considers the question of inner strength, and its creation.’

Lucy Sussex, Sunday Age

‘It is a moving, concise, clear-eyed account of the demands of love and the painful progress of grief.’

Katherine England, Adelaide Advertiser

‘Headlong is a novel written simply and elegantly. Tenderly, painstakingly, Varga builds a landscape of heart-wrenching choices . . .’

Alan Gold, Jewish News

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