Strange Little Girl

Jessica Knight

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Paperback

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English

Ultimo Press
05 June 2024

Biography: arts & entertainment; Biography: literary; Memoirs; Biography - Australian

My father tells it because he made it up. A little bedtime story of my origin. They are not really my parents, the people who I call Mum and Dad. Those are not my siblings, the kids who I know as my brother and sisters.

‘Rare is the memoir that is filled with such earnest faith, appreciation and true love for a childhood that was not easy or simple. Jessica Knight writes with the clarity, humour and depth as Jeanette Winterson, and there is not a smidgeon of self-pity in this book. I was deeply moved by Strange Little Girl, a resplendent book from a writer with a good heart but a wicked sense of humour.’ –Alice Pung, author of Unpolished Gem and One Hundred Days

I am not really human.

I am an alien from another planet in a far distant constellation.

Jessica Knight grew up on a dairy farm in rural Victoria, her crib next door to where the cows were milked. It’s a loving Mormon household, a God-fearing home. While they don’t have very much, it’s their values and good humour that allows them to laugh at what scares them.

All young Jessica wants is to be good and make her parents and her Heavenly Father happy. She cleans the house and helps out with her siblings; all the while being subjected to intensive medical tests and major surgeries. Doctors consider her a medical mystery.

But what if you decide you want to be open about your fears?

This is the story of how one young woman learned to move on from the life she was expected to have, embraced what she was scared of, and looked to her future with an open heart and mind.

Maybe you don't need heaven, maybe you just need to find yourself.

By: Jessica Knight
Imprint: Ultimo Press
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
ISBN: 9781761151194
ISBN 10: 1761151193
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 05 June 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jessica Knight is a writer, performer and zine maker based in Melbourne. She has participated in the National Young Writers' Festival, the Emerging Writers' Festival and Red Dirt Poetry Festival. She performed a one-woman show entitled Mormon Girl in 2019 at The Melbourne Fringe Festival. Jessica has written poetry and personal essay zines created with artist friend Miranda Costa aka MC drawn. Jessica has been published in a variety of outlets including Archer Magazine, Scum Mag and Meanjin. Jessica received an Arts Access Accelerate: Create grant in 2021 that helped make the writing of Strange Little Girl possible.