The Conversion declares itself a real-estate novel from the opening sentence, “when they saw the FOR SALE sign planted in front of a tall hedge”. That Australian obsession with home ownership shapes Amanda Lohrey’s ninth novel, but not always in predictable ways. The home here is a deconsecrated church, which opens a meditation on the material spaces we choose to live in and the way buildings can inhabit our spirits.
A longtime couple Nick, a therapist, and Zoe, a retired solicitor, lose everything in the financial crisis and decide to leave their handsome federation villa in an unnamed city. Nick is keen to break out of their middle-class cocoon and renovate the 1890 sandstone church they find in a rural valley amid coalmines and vineyards. Zoe is dubious about how to adapt the vertical space with its sombre “churchiness”. But after Nick dies suddenly, she takes the project on as a tribute to him and as a retreat from the ghosts that rear up from their marriage.
