I can highly recommend journalist Carrie Cox's new novel. She writes with warmth, humour and compassion and her characters, especially Nessa, are authentic in their struggles and vulnerabilities. The passages about Nessa's insecurities due to facial scarring and her "routine" to cover the scars before leaving the house rang true. I was not at all surprised to read that the author has similar issues. Storylines is about how sharing stories can bind us together and help us overcome life's difficulties and how stepping outside your comfort zone can bring unexpected growth and satisfaction to life.
My thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an advance review copy.

Storytelling is an ancient practice of connection. The way a few words or the right question can spark and create threads of stories that lead to other stories is magical. Storylines by Carrie Cox is a delightful, easy read that weaves the magic of storytelling through some heavy hitting topics, reminding us of the power of authentic, vulnerable human connection in our lives.

Cox takes us on a leisurely bushwalk through aged care, female beauty standards, and the impact of social media, both positive and negative. Through Cox’s artful imagery, humour and gradual release, we observe the effect of body dysmorphia, the ripple of a non-fatal accident after the fact, and the brutality of online trolls and teen bullying. We are not bogged down by this though and are instead guided expertly towards self-love, healing and safety in community.

The way Cox uses setting as a plot driver drew me in. Navada (an imaginary retreat d’outh or ‘down south’ for non-Perthies) acts as the glue holding Nessa in limbo between past trauma and future freedom. She also works at an aged care home, helping her to keep her future at arms length while she stays there and avoids taking Navada to the next level. The parallels between Navada and the aged care home highlight how we as a society these days need forced connection to experience the enlightenment and positive benefits that come with it.

In this way, Cox connects her readers to her characters too. The aged care home ‘lovelies’ and Navada associates help Nessa to realise that sharing stories and facing hard truths are the only way to move forward. I particularly loved the slow unfolding of Nessa’s story and her personal journey, the comfort of the friendship between her and Campbell, and the twist in her relationship with her family, particularly her sister, Maya.

If you love a good character arc and quality storytelling then you will love Storylines by Carrie Cox.

Storylines is the third novel by Australian journalist and author, Carrie Cox. While she finds her job nursing at an aged care facility rewarding, Nessa Byrne hopes that the women’s wellness retreat she has been running several times a year will sufficiently take off that she can do it full-time. Navada is located a few hours south of Perth, rustic simplicity in a bushland setting, offering a range of activities that include yoga, massage, bush walking, art, sound therapy, kayaking on the dam, and delicious meals.

Nessa sees herself as the scaffolder and observer at Navada, having engaged the services of a yogi, a masseuse/artist, a sound therapist and a talented cook. By the end of each retreat, she is always inspired by the possibility of connection, the unique capacity of humans to understand each other.

The resort gets plenty of positive feedback, but Nessa’s older sister Maya tells her she needs to update the resort’s online profile. To that end, her seventeen-year-old niece, Lily’s expertise with social media might help shape a brand, lifting Navada out of the crevice it is stuck in.

Leaving her lovelies, as she calls her residents at Layton Park, will not be easy, though. Aged care is always in need of dedicated personnel, and “people either have an empathy chip inside them or they don’t.” Nessa plainly does, enough to arrive early for her favourite, Hannah, with whom stories, real, imagined and dreamed, are regularly exchanged.

Her sister, Maya (we both know you can be the funny one and the pretty one because life’s assets aren’t dished out with measuring cups) is tireless in her support, locating supplies and resources for Navada, which she dubs “Dad’s guilt voucher”, as well as an endless supply of entertaining posts from PunHub, while brother-in-law Rohan is unstinting in his practical contributions to maintenance at Navada.

This happens against the backdrop of a beloved father slowly dying of bone cancer, Nessa’s insecurities about her appearance, (having a face that scares people and stops people seeing you), and a lunch-sharing work colleague who seems to want their friendship to progress into something more.

Nessa sees Campbell Jones as a frustrated philosopher poured into scrubs; he has a fascination with end-of-life utterances and his efforts to define beauty tell the reader he might see more of Nessa than she realises. When he incorporates the story-telling idea into a resident activity, Nessa observes “it’s not just about telling your story but about having the chance to rewrite it. To tell it the way you want it to be understood.”

Cox gives the reader a wonderful cast of characters, appealing for all their faults and failings and complications, with whom you’d love to spend time, and Navada, with all it offers, sounds like a place we’d all like to discover. As well, readers of Cox’s previous novels will delight in recognising some of those characters when they pop up. Cox gives her characters wise words and insightful observations: in his final days, Artie Byrne tells his daughter “you can’t keep out the world’s meanness, Nessa, without keeping out the nice stuff.”

This is a story that examines body image and the double-edged sword that social media can be, as well as how people handle adverse prognoses. Guilt and grief, love and joy and sadness also feature. Topical and thought-provoking, clever and funny, ultimately heart-warming and uplifting, this is Cox’s best yet.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Affirm Press.