Miles Franklin award-winning author Sofie Laguna was in conversation with Karen Viggers on her new novel The Underworld.

The Underworld is for every reader you know; thinkers, laughers, empaths, quirky folk, queer folk, nostalgists, the young and those getting on. Readers seeking a happy ending and anyone ready to feel. Anyone who has ever been fourteen.

Martha Mullins is a misfit. Her mother is glamorous, aloof and judgemental. Her father, mostly absent. Academic and shy, Martha finds herself fascinated by the underworld, a place she learns about in Roman mythology classes at school. To Martha, the underworld and its divine inhabitants provide a place of refuge, escape, imagination and desire. But Martha also finds joy in friendship. Connection. Intimacy. It’s Martha’s band of friends who show her the value in spontaneity, fun, laughter. Until things go wrong. How will Martha find her way in the world where she cannot be herself? Will she ever find a home for the love she feels?

The Underworld is a wondrous novel from an author who wields her considerable powers with assuredness and grace. Funny, brave, insightful and clever, Martha will break your heart – then mend it – many times over.

Sofie Laguna has written four novels for adults which have won numerous literary awards including the Miles Franklin Award, the Colin Roderick Award and the Indie Award. She has also been shortlisted for the Stella Prize, the ALS Gold Medal, the Voss Award, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. Sofie’s many books for children have been published in the US and the UK and in translation in Europe and Asia, and been named Honour and Notable Books by the Children’s Book Council of Australia.

Karen Viggers is a Canberra writer, veterinarian and podcaster , who loves nature, bushwalking and animals. She is the author of five novels, which have been bestsellers in France as well as Australia: The Stranding, The Lightkeeper's Wife, The Grass Castle, The Orchardist's Daughter and Sidelines. She is co-host with Irma Gold of the Secrets From the Green Room podcast.

The vote of thanks was given by Sally Pryor, Features Editor of The Canberra Times.