Open Wounds

Unflinching Australian Short Stories

Assaulted by her mother’s boyfriend, a fourteen-year-old girl longs to be loved by her teen-aged crush. An immigrant woman who fled her homeland is forced to travel across the country by the man who promised her a better life. An acutely sensitive eleven-year-old girl is despised by her fifth-grade teacher. A war veteran’s family falls apart as he combats the consequences of PTSD. An Anglican nun struggles to comfort a woman who’s been sentenced to the gallows. These people exist in different times and have vastly different lives, yet all of them suffer from the devastating effects of trauma.

Everything about a person, from the way they think, remember, learn, work out how they feel about themselves and others and the way they view and understand the world, is affected and shaped by the trauma they experience. Australia is known as the lucky country, but as we know, luck is relative.

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Open Wounds will take readers on a journey that transcends the boundaries of time, space, and perspective. As each story unfolds, the wounds of the characters are laid bare, exposing raw emotions and vulnerabilities. From broken hearts to shattered dreams, from personal tragedies to collective pain, these narratives embody the depth and complexity of the human condition. With every turn of the page, readers will find themselves mesmerised by the author's lyrical prose and poignant moments that linger long after the last word.

Open Wounds is a collection of unflinching Australian short stories that shines light on those moments in life that are as profound as they are traumatic.

• Format: short stories

• Genre: contemporary/trauma fiction

• Pages: 54

• Publisher: Dixi Books UK