Body Friend

A 28-year-old woman who experiences chronic illness is released from hospital after a major operation. She begins swimming in a hydrotherapy pool as part of her recovery, where she meets Frida (named for Frida Kahlo), another women experiencing chronic illness. Later, she meets another woman suffering from chronic illness named Sylvia (named for Sylvia Plath) in a park. She forms a friendship with both women, who each encourage a different kind of relationship with her body and illness. Frida encourages the narrator to resist her pain and to push through it by continuing to swim, while Sylvia encourages her to rest through her pain.

Brabon was inspired to write the novel by her own experience of rheumatoid arthritis, saying in an interview in the Sydney Morning Herald that she "wanted to capture the experience of a body in pain and the mental processes the person goes through in that state and how they can be very changeable".{{cite news |last1=Steger |first1=Jason |title=Diagnosed with arthritis at 21, she struggled to find words to describe the pain |url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/diagnosed-with-arthritis-at-21-she-struggled-to-find-words-to-describe-the-pain-20240403-p5fh06.html |access-date=17 April 2025 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=4 April 2024}}

The novel was first published in Australia by Ultimo Press in September 2023 ({{ISBN| 9781761151781}}).{{cite web |title=Body Friend |url=https://ultimopress.com.au/products/body-friend |website=Ultimo Press |access-date=17 April 2025 |language=en}} It was published in the United States by Bloomsbury Publishing in July 2024 ({{ISBN|9781639734511}}).{{cite web |title=Body Friend |url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/body-friend-9781639734511/ |website=Bloomsbury |access-date=17 April 2025}}

The novel received generally positive reviews. In a review in The Saturday Paper, Fiona Wright wrote that Body Friend was a "deeply interior, thoughtful book", and praised its language for being "startling for its poetic tendencies – it is rhythmic and observant, and liltingly musical – as well as its clarity and sharp concision".{{cite news |last1=Wright |first1=Fiona |title=Body Friend |url=https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/culture/books/2023/09/30/body-friend |access-date=17 April 2025 |work=The Saturday Paper |date=9 September 2023 |language=en}} Sarah L'Estrange wrote for ABC News that the book had "an intimacy to its measured observations that will propel you to its concluding remarks".{{cite news |last1=L'Estrange |first1=Sarah |last2=Smyrk |first2=Katherine |last3=Heath |first3=Nicola |last4=Fry |first4=Declan |last5=Tan |first5=Cher |title='Visceral', 'provocative' and 'assured': The six books vying for the $60,000 Stella Prize |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-04/stella-prize-2024-shortlist-reading-guide/103661886 |access-date=17 April 2025 |work=ABC News |date=3 April 2024}} Writing in The Conversation, Julianne Lamond described it as a "hypnotic, uncomfortable novel about chronic pain and female friendship" and commented that its "structure is cyclical and the pacing is slow, but it is gripping nonetheless".{{cite news |last1=Lamond |first1=Julieanne |title=Unruliness, activism and emotional intensity: your guide to the 2024 Stella Prize shortlist |url=https://theconversation.com/unruliness-activism-and-emotional-intensity-your-guide-to-the-2024-stella-prize-shortlist-228503 |access-date=17 April 2025 |work=The Conversation |date=1 May 2024}}

Reviewers particularly praised Brabon's poetic use of language. In a review in the Sydney Morning Herald, Vanessa Francesca wrote that the book made her feel "an intense awareness of the presence and beauty of language",{{cite news |last1=Francesca |first1=Vanessa |title=This piercing novel is a paean to living with chronic pain |url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/this-piercing-novel-is-a-paean-to-living-with-chronic-pain-20231012-p5ebpw.html |access-date=17 April 2025 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=20 October 2023 |language=en}} while Alison Huber praised Brabon's "careful and artful prose" in a review for Readings Monthly.{{cite web |last1=Huber |first1=Alison |title=Body Friend by Katherine Brabon |url=https://www.readings.com.au/reviews/body-friend-by-katherine-brabon |publisher=Readings Monthly |access-date=17 April 2025 |date=September 2023}} A review in Meanjin described Brabon's voice as "contemplative and lyrical" and wrote that the novel was a "sensitive narrative about grappling with a sick body and the difficulty of balancing movement and rest".{{cite web |last1=Perse |first1=Elena |title=In Sickness and In Health |url=https://meanjin.com.au/books/in-sickness-and-in-health/ |publisher=Meanjin |access-date=17 April 2025}}

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Category:2023 Australian novels

Category:Novels about disability