The new novel by the bestselling author of The WeekendA Book of the Year for the Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald and ABC'The fact that Stone Yard Devotional not only stays aloft but soars would seem to deny the laws of literary physics' Ron Charles, Washington Post'A beautiful, mature work that does not flinch from life' Sunday Times'Exquisite, wrenching' New York Times'I have rarely been so absorbed by a novel' Guardian'It leaves the reader feeling kinder, more brave, enlarged' Anne EnrightBurnt out and in need of retreat, a middle-aged woman leaves Sydney to return to the place she grew up, taking refuge in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of rural Australia. But disquiet soon interrupts this secluded life. First, the skeletal remains of a sister who disappeared decades before are returned to the monastery, resurfacing years of grief and pain.

And then, an unexpected and troubling visitor plunges the narrator further into her past... ? Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award? Shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year? Shortlisted for the ABIA Award for Literary Fiction? Longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award