One Hundred Days

<strong>"A powerhouse story, a powerhouse voice, that wrestles with intragenerational fractures and complicated entanglements. At the center of the book is an obsessive kind of love, a love that gives but also takes, but a love that only forms from bonds forged in fire."-Weike Wang, award-winning author of <em>Joan Is Okay</em> and <em>Chemistry</em></strong>

<strong>From one of Australia's most celebrated authors comes a powerful mother-daughter drama that explores the fault lines between love and control-<em>My Year of Rest and Relaxation</em> meets <em>Freshwater.</em></strong>

Sixteen and pregnant, Karuna finds herself trapped in her mother's Melbourne public housing apartment for one hundred days, awaiting the birth of her child-and her mother's next move in a shocking power struggle over who will raise the baby. She writes to her unborn child, so there's a record of what really happened.

Karuna's pregnancy is the result of a heady whirlwind of independence, lust, and defiance-but it wasn't entirely by accident, either. Karuna's mother, already overprotective, confines her to keep her safe from the outside world-and make sure she can't get into any more trouble. Stuck inside for endless hours, Karuna battles her mother and herself for a sense of power in her own life, as a new life forms and grows within her. As the due date nears, the question of who will get to raise the baby festers between them.

At times tense and unnerving, <em>One Hundred Days</em> nevertheless brims with humor and warmth. Alice Pung's authorial voice is crisp and relatable, channeling the angst of youth with grace.

This realistic coming-of-age fiction book set in Melbourne's public housing will captivate readers with its psychological drama and exploration of motherhood, poverty, and power struggles.