The Mule's Foal - Tapa blanda

Winner, Australian/Vogel Literary Award 1992 Winner, Best First Book, South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Commonwealth Writers Prize 1992 'Like ancient story-telling The Mule's Foal draws the reader into another world, yet there are signposts everywhere that lead to contemporary life. Mystical, sensual, intense: this writer has a poetic vision.' Andrea Stretton In one despairing moment Theodosios abandons his wife and gorilla child and then spends a lifetime trying to get them back. But what's a lifetime in a place like this? One minute you're a woman. The next you're a bear. There's a woman here who is neither man nor woman. And a man who's both man and beast. Here nothing belongs to you - not even your grief. People steal your letters and gossip your thoughts before you've spoken them. And when they're desperate - and at some point everyone is desperate - they go to the whorehouse...From the centre of chaos, Mirella, the ancient whore, finds a calm place to tell this unforgettable, timeless tale.

Fotini Epanomitis was born in 1969, the year her family migrated from Northern Greece to Perth where she has lived most of her life apart from one year spent living on her grandparent's farm in Greece. The Mule's Foal is her first novel.