LOVE SONG is the story of Lillie Bird, a woman from a locked religious community who one day finds herself in the freedom of a strange new world, England, accused of murdering a man. But it was there, in that land of cold, dark skies and scuffed and tumbling streets that she had first found the pleasure and the sadness, and the love she had, for years, so desperately sought. LOVE SONG is at once a celebration of the human spirit and a powerful story of exile, identity and love. Mesmerising and heartbreaking, this is Nikki Gemmell's finest work to date. 'I found myself caught up by the intensity of the novel, so that the act of reading was more like a strange sort of haunting than just following a narrativeaThe actual writing - the language, the sentence organisation, the visionary emphasis - is brilliant and possessed of a poetic nimbus.' PETER PORTER 'The energy and lust for life governing the work of this young Australian, the spirit with which she inspires her heroines, is at once impetuous and caressing, devastating and full of hope.' LE MONDE 'Gemmell, a writer of great daring and sensuality, has offered us a magnificent novel of exile.' LE JOURNAL DU DIMANCHE 'A striking and memorable workathe voice of Lillie Bird - wild and vulnerable and supercharged - is evoked with immediacy and effect in densely wrought, high energy prose. There are many strengths, many beauties to this bookaa highly individual, original voiceaLove Song will reward a second reading with pleasure in its vigour and love for life and language.' AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW 'Gemmell has created her most memorable character yeta(her) prose is evocative, imaginative, lyrical - a joy to read.' THE BULLETIN