Fruits of Exile

<p>Maggie Shapley's new collection Fruits of Exile explores issues of personal identity and self-realisation as it dramatises a fictional book club's discussions of the work of Australian poets Gwen Harwood and Margaret Scott-'exiles' in the male-dominated spaces of twentieth-century Australian poetry.</p><p></p><p>Through the voices of seven women Shapley's volume speaks powerfully of women's lives shaped by memory and resilience as her poems trace journeys of emigration marriage motherhood and self-discovery. Each poem opens moments of loss longing or quiet triumph-invoking the ache of distance the rituals of domesticity and various notions of belonging. With lyrical clarity and deep empathy Shapley invites readers to reflect on what it means to leave to stay and find home in unexpected places.</p>