Overview

"CLEAVED is the story of Jane and her sister Julie, foot soldiers in the family war, growing up under the same roof, each cleaved to a different parent from birth. Jane is Mum's and Julie is Dad's.The situation is normal, even if Jane's not.""Just tell them you were born that way,"" her mother says when the kids at school taunt her about her ""big leg"", as her mother calls it.There's no name and no cure for the mysterious swelling that means Jane's right leg is a perfectly proportioned bigger version of her left, so it's ignored, subsumed by bigger family problems.The emotional cleaving is made physical when their parents finally separate - until a shocking discovery blows Jane and her mother away from the rest of the family. Jane's leg is later diagnosed as Milroy's disease, a rare genetic form of the incurable and progressive swelling disease lymphoedema.Written with compassion and humour, CLEAVED is a tale of resilience, and of tender and fraught reunions and partings, until Jane finally puts the pieces of the family puzzle together, examining everyone's part in the tragedy, including her own.Illuminating and moving, CLEAVED is the story of two sisters who lost and then found each other."

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9781763508101

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Reviews

"""... an extraordinary story, vividly told ...""-Angela Savage, author of Mother of Pearl ""... candid and compelling.""-Hazel Edwards OAM, Author of Writing a Non-Boring Family History and Patron of The Society of Women Writers (Victoria) ""The veil of secrecy surrounding lymphoedema is stripped away ...""-William Repicci, CEO of the Lymphatic Education and Research Network (LE&RN) ""... I can't put it down. It's warm, honest, brilliant.""-Jan Harkin, Victoria ""I can't put into words how much I enjoyed your book!""-Sheralyn Iljcesen, South Australia ""I just finished it. I'm in bits. Such a beautiful story.""-Susie Penrice Tyrie, Singapore ""Honestly you've touched every emotion and feeling in my heart.""-Magdalini Lazarro, Victoria ""I practically inhaled your book - I found it such a fascinating story, beautifully written.""-Jane Haley, Tasmania"

Author Information

Jane Cafarella is an Australian playwright and former journalist and cartoonist whose work has been widely published in Australia and overseas and whose plays have been performed nationally and internationally. Her cartoon archive is held at the State Library of Victoria.During her 10 years at Melbourne's Age newspaper, Jane wrote and edited the popular Accent section, which focused on women's issues, and for many years wrote the beloved columns A New Life Journal and Family Postcard.What she didn't write about was growing up with what she later discovered was Milroy's disease, a rare form of the incurable and progressive swelling disease lymphoedema - and how she came to be estranged from her family of origin for most of her adult life.When she did, it changed her life.

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