{"product_id":"sophie-standing-there-by-meg-mason-out-28-july-2026","title":"Sophie, Standing There by Meg Mason (out 28 July 2026)","description":"\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\u003cstyle type=\"text\/css\"\u003e.cs1EF720B{12pt;font-weight:bold;color:#000000;font-style:italic;Times New Roman;} .cs1EFB4FB{12pt;font-weight:normal;color:#000000;font-style:italic;Times New Roman;} .cs1844654{text-align:left;margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;line-height:1.15;text-indent:0pt} .cs13DCAC4{text-align:left;margin:12pt 0pt 12pt 0pt;line-height:1.15;text-indent:0pt} .cs97DFFCB{12pt;font-weight:normal;color:#000000;font-style:normal;Times New Roman;} .cs982313B{12pt;font-weight:bold;color:#000000;font-style:normal;Times New Roman;} .cs3388614{text-align:left;margin:0pt 0pt 10pt 0pt;line-height:1.15;text-indent:0pt}\u003c\/style\u003e\r\n\t\r\n\t\u003cp class=\"cs1844654\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"ST-1\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca id=\"_dx_frag_StartFragment\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003eFrom the award-winning, bestselling author of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EFB4FB\"\u003eSorrow and Bliss \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003ecomes an achingly tender, poignant, funny and bittersweet story of love, loneliness and finding connection in the most unlikely of places.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"cs13DCAC4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs982313B\"\u003e'So smart, so funny, so moving - Mason has done it again, this time using behind the scenes of a literary festival to reveal the complexity of loneliness and how one woman attempts to dig herself out. I absolutely loved it' Bonnie Garmus, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EF720B\"\u003eLessons in Chemistry\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"cs13DCAC4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003eSophie Pattison is such a lovely person. Warm, kind, amazingly positive. She works as a freelance sound technician for literary festivals. She is a massive reader and was recently forced to moved house. She is bracingly lonely.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs982313B\"\u003e*\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun:yes\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eSo much so, the absence of others feels like a physical weight, if that makes sense. But then, Sophie discovers an author through work, and comes to adore her. Her books, her interviews, podcasts, and wisdom and brilliance, her beautiful words. It's like, solace and company. It's almost like love. And Sophie would love to meet her, although she never will, obviously. The author would never come to her festival. She's too famous for that. Too brilliant, too beautiful. And in a way, thank goodness, because that would change everything. Sophie's entire life.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"cs13DCAC4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003eBut ... what if she did?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"cs13DCAC4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs982313B\"\u003e*\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003ealthough she has a best friend called Emma, and an amazing brother. And a husband. But a number of things happened there.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"cs13DCAC4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs982313B\"\u003ePraise for \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EF720B\"\u003eSophie, Standing There\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"cs13DCAC4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003e'A moving examination of what it means to be alone in the world, and what it means to find connection. It is, by turns, heartbreaking, hilarious, and deeply hopeful. Meg Mason is a dazzling talent.' Ann Patchett, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EFB4FB\"\u003eTom Lake\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"cs13DCAC4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EFB4FB\"\u003e'Sophie, Standing There\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun:yes\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eunfolds like a strange origami crane in reverse--so achingly tender and so brilliantly subtle that I could never put it down. The loneliness of our inner world and the quiet movement towards connection--nobody evokes it as breathtakingly as Meg Mason. And by '\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EFB4FB\"\u003eit\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003e', I guess I mean simply being a person. Dazzling.' Catherine Newman, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EFB4FB\"\u003eWreck\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"cs13DCAC4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003e'The lucky reader of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EFB4FB\"\u003eSophie, Standing There\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-spacerun:yes\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003epeers at the world through Sophie's eyes, and wonders how her life shaped this view. When the answers are revealed, we experience a kind of wholeness with her. Or at least the possibility of wholeness. I loved Sophie, and I love Meg Mason's brain and the strange, wonderful, funny stories she gives us.' Ann Napolitano, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EFB4FB\"\u003eHello Beautiful\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"cs13DCAC4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs982313B\"\u003ePraise for \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EF720B\"\u003eSorrow and Bliss\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs982313B\"\u003e:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"cs13DCAC4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003e'Gloriously tender and absorbing ... It is impossible to read this novel and not be moved. It is also impossible not to laugh out loud... Mason pulls off something extraordinary in this huge-hearted novel, alchemising an unbearable anguish into something tender and hilarious and redemptive and wise, without ever undermining its gravity or diminishing its pain.' \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EFB4FB\"\u003eGuardian\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"cs13DCAC4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003e'A raucously funny, beautifully written, emotion-bashing book' \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EFB4FB\"\u003eThe Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"cs13DCAC4\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003e'Devastating and sharply witty' \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EFB4FB\"\u003eBooks+Publishing\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"cs3388614\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs97DFFCB\"\u003e'A book you'll want to devour in one sitting ... fresh and revelatory, sharp, racy and entertaining throughout.' \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cs1EFB4FB\"\u003eThe Saturday Paper\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Red Kangaroo Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43852642680920,"sku":"9781460760666","price":35.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0562\/8343\/1000\/files\/9781460760666_1.jpg?v=1773300285","url":"https:\/\/redkangaroobooks.au\/products\/sophie-standing-there-by-meg-mason-out-28-july-2026","provider":"Red Kangaroo Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}