Like a House on Fire (short story collection)

Last updated

Like a House on Fire
Like a House on Fire cover.jpg
Author Cate Kennedy
GenreFiction
Publisher Scribe
Publication date
26 September 2012
Publication placeAustralia
Pages288
Awards Steele Rudd Award
ISBN 9781922070067

Like a House on Fire is a 2012 collection of fifteen short stories by Australian author Cate Kennedy. [1] [2] The collection was the winner of the 2013 Steele Rudd Award at the Queensland Literary Awards and was shortlisted for the Nita Kibble Literary Award and the Stella Prize. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Reception

Like a House on Fire received positive reviews. In a review in Australian Book Review , Anthony Lynch praised the realism of Kennedy's stories and wrote that her "subtle, insightful renderings of character achieve great poignancy". [2] In the New Zealand Herald , John McCrystal wrote that the collection was "short fiction at its best". [6] Meg Whelan gave the collection 4 out of 5 stars in a review for Bookseller+Publisher magazine, describing it as a "heartfelt and moving collection" and praising Kennedy's "evocative prose". [7] Reviewers praised the stories Seventy-two Derwents, told from the perspective of a child witnessing her mother's abusive relationship, and Laminex and Mirrors, a story about a hospital cleaner who helps an elderly patient to defy the hospital's rules. [2] [6] [7]

Awards

Awards for Like a House on Fire
YearAwardCategoryResultRef.
2013 Queensland Literary Awards Steele Rudd Award Won [3]
Stella Prize —Shortlisted [5] [8]
Nita Kibble Literary Awards —Shortlisted [4]
ALS Gold Medal —Longlisted [9]

References

  1. ↑ "Like a House on Fire". Scribe. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 Lynch, Anthony (November 2012). "Anthony Lynch reviews Like a House on Fire by Cate Kennedy". Australian Book Review. No. 346. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
  3. 1 2 Bochenski, Natalie (3 September 2013). "Women dominate Queensland Literary Awards". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
  4. 1 2 Morris, Linda (25 July 2013). "Kibble award for author after memoir takes on a life of its own". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
  5. 1 2 "Like a House on Fire – Cate Kennedy". Stella Prize. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
  6. 1 2 McCrystal, John (9 February 2013). "Book Review: Like A House On Fire". NZ Herald. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
  7. 1 2 Whelan, Meg (September 2012). "Review: Like a House on Fire". Bookseller+Publisher. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
  8. ↑ Lea, Bronwyn (17 April 2013). "Carrie Tiffany wins a Stella Prize of her own". The Conversation. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
  9. ↑ "ALS Gold Medal longlist announced". Books+Publishing. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.