{"product_id":"how-to-love-the-world-9781761635328","title":"How to Love the World","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePerhaps motherhood is always a promise that cannot be kept.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen her children are born, Nellika vows she will be the perfect mother. Motherhood is sacred, mythic: it will remake everything that is broken in her. But as her children grow, something buried is awakened, and the myth begins to crack.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOnly the cool, green silence of the forest, where Nellika walks every day, can soothe what is repeatedly torn apart by family life. One morning, deep in a remote part of the forest, she is struck by a falling manna gum branch. Shockingly injured and unable to move, her only hope is that someone will find her.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs darkness falls on what might be her last day, Nellika must reckon with herself and the place where she lies. Is this fallen branch an accident or a punishment? As death draws close, the forest asks her: why should you live? And in the dark heart of her memories, she discovers that there is an answer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA powerful meditation on nature and healing, \u003ci\u003eHow to Love the World\u003c\/i\u003e finds hope where none seems possible.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9781761635328\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 26 May 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Simon \u0026amp; Schuster Australia\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: Australia\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 23.4(H)x15.3(L)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eIlka Tampke is an award-winning author, academic and teacher. Her first two novels explore the druidic culture of Ancient Britain and its disruption by Roman colonisation. Skin (2015) was published in eight countries and nominated for the Voss Literary Prize and the Aurealis Awards. Songwoman (2018) was published in five countries and won the Small Press Network Book of the Year Award in 2019. Ilka was the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre Writer in Residence in 2019 and has lectured and presented at many festivals and organisations around Australia. She teaches creative writing at RMIT University and is currently completing a PhD in Australian forest poetics at La Trobe University.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e‘I devoured this book, enlivened by the gorgeous depictions of the natural world and captivated by the robust meditation on love, anger, and regret. Ilka Tampke captures both the exquisite beauty of the forest alongside the light and shade of a life. Hypnotic, poetic, and devastating, \u003ci\u003eHow to Love the World\u003c\/i\u003e explores the uneven texture of motherhood, and artistry, with painful precision and courageous depth.’  \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  -- \u003cb\u003eGEMMA PARKER, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Mother is Restless and She Doesn’t Know Why\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘A soaring hymn of praise – to motherhood, to nature, to the fragility of human existence. I’ve never been so breathlessly invested in a fictional character’s fate.’\u003cbr\u003e   -- \u003cb\u003eSIAN PRIOR, author of \u003ci\u003eShy: A Memoir\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘\u003ci\u003eHow to Love the World\u003c\/i\u003e is a remarkable book. It conveys a tender love for Country and family, while recognising the destructive potential of both. This is also a story of courage and nail-biting drama. Ilka Tampke is a writer who deeply values language and storytelling. This is a book that will not leave you.’\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e   -- \u003cb\u003eTONY BIRCH, author of \u003ci\u003eWomen \u0026amp; Children\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘A gritty, luscious, eucalyptus-scented novel shot through with anxiety and the dark beauty of forest. \u003ci\u003eHow to Love the World\u003c\/i\u003e unpicks the paradoxes of motherhood – the love, the suffocation, the violence, the joy – weaving ideas of belonging and un-belonging, roots and deracination, blood, soul, and longing into an entanglement that for Nellika the protagonist is equally destructive and regenerative.’ -- \u003cb\u003eMIRANDA DARLING, author of \u003ci\u003eThunderhead\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘What does it take to remake yourself? \u003ci\u003eHow to Love the World\u003c\/i\u003e doesn’t shy away from the intensity and challenges such as reckoning demands.  The result is a book that is as life- affirming and beautiful as it is shattering.’ -- \u003cb\u003eSOPHIE CUNNINGHAM, author of \u003ci\u003eThis Devastating Fever\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘A fierce, tender, unflinchingly honest novel about motherhood, selfhood, the meaning of home and the fragile miracle of being alive. Compelling, wise and impossible to forget. I adored it.’ \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  -- \u003cb\u003eEMILY MAGUIRE, author of \u003ci\u003eRapture\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Tampke’s sentences gleam. A vivid and courageous book.’\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  -- \u003cb\u003eCARRIE TIFFANY, author of \u003ci\u003eExploded View\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Ilka Tampke","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48808781578457,"sku":"9781761635328","price":34.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9781761635328.jpg?v=1781329115","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/how-to-love-the-world-9781761635328","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}