Sydney event: Harry Hartog, 22 July 2026
Date
6-8pm, Wednesday 22 July, 2026
Location
Get directions
Harry Hartog
888 Military Rd, Mosman NSW 2088
Join us on the 22nd of July for a book talk with Cynthia Banham and Jane Messer as they chat about their new novels Mother Shadow & Raven Mother.
Mother Shadow
“Her act changed the course of all our lives. Whatever shame and other torments befell her happened because she was poor, unlucky, and a woman. Her suffering had been wiped from the official record, rendered invisible, silent, like it had never happened.”
A poignant telling of the legacies of mothering, Mother Shadow is a meditation on what it means to be a 'good mother' where two women – separated by continents and time but connected by blood – each find themselves enchained by social and personal forces that seek to limit them.
Raven Mother
In a powerful work of memoir, history and biography, Jane Messer retraces the tragic and hopeful steps of her Jewish German grandmother, Bella. From pre-war Berlin to Tel Aviv to Melbourne, Messer follows Bella’s journey and tries to understand her choices, including why she abandoned her son Michael in England before the war. Along the way, she speaks with historians in Germany, peace activists, scholars and refugees in Israel and Palestine, and, constantly, to her beloved father.
About Cynthia Banham, author of Mother Shadow
Cynthia Banham is a writer, journalist and lawyer. She is the author of three non-fiction books. Liberal Democracies and the Torture of their Citizens was based on her PhD. A Certain Light: A Memoir of Family, Loss and Hope, was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Her most recent book is Mother Shadow: A Meditation on Maternal Inheritance, published by Upswell.
About Jane Messer, author of Raven Mother
Jane Messer is the accomplished writer of novels, short stories and essays, is a regular contributor to The Conversation, and is a former Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Macquarie University. She is the founder and director of Story SALOON, a live show and podcast dedicated to Australian short stories.
