The Antipode Room

'Know thyself' is a Greek aphorism. But how can she? Something is missing. She can't think what it is. A mysterious amnesiac art dealer, Ruby, is jailed in Australia for the traumatic murder she cannot recall. In her high society life in London, acting the part and role-playing replaced authenticity; she kept up appearances. Then she and her husband Sir Hugo visit Australia, to collect art, and nothing goes to plan. She collides with what she has been running from. Narrated through voices of the main characters, the distinctive, uproarious fragments reveal stories of a performance artist, a musician, and a writer in Australia; a triangular relationship; shattered family life; and the mysteries of amnesia; the gulf between how one appears to oneself and to others. What can't Ruby remember? Has she been wrongfully convicted? Interwoven through the fiction narrative is a series of photographic images by Ruth Skilbeck."Skilbeck's prose is as measured as poetry, and the way the narration shifts between different characters provides an almost cubist view of people and events...Skilbeck creates some memorable characters." -Kirkus Reviews