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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Seren Heyman-Griffiths

A Short History of Longans by Mirandi Riwoe review – a moving family portrait devoured in one sitting

Composite of author Mirandi Riwoe and her novel A Short History of Longans
Mirandi Riwoe’s A Short History of Longans has a ‘profound sense of connection and continuity … but there’s also deep pain’. Composite: Guardian Design/UQP Australia

It’s the year 2049 and Daniel Connelly is 75 years old. Eccentric and lonely after decades of self-imposed isolation, his existence is “spartan”, a “relentless searching, a yearning for pieces that fit together to make a new whole”. He spends his days making sculptures from broken pottery; the shards of his life.

During a warm winter’s day, Daniel steps outside to find that the longan tree in his garden has fallen during a storm. The tree was an heirloom of sorts – a family emblem of home and belonging for generations before him.

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