From Publishers Weekly
In Lyons's dark second novel (following The Water Underneath), Lucy Monaghan's almost-12-year-old daughter, Florence, has disappeared from their scruffy Sydney home. With Flo gone, former punker Lucy has fled the city (without trying to find her) to take refuge with Leo, a fisherman in the south. As the novel opens, Lucy's former companion, Archie, calls Lucy to say he has sent her pictures of Flo that he's unearthed. A teen when Flo was born, Lucy got caught in a cycle of poverty, speed and a violent affair with a local dealer while making a home with sweet but drug-addled Archie. On seeing the photos of Flo, Lucy decides to return to the city with the hope of finding her daughter. Told through a confusing series of flashbacks, the novel slowly adds pieces to the puzzle, leaving the reader ungrounded. Lyons has a gift for metaphor, but extended descriptions of Lucy, Archie and Flo's depressing milieu, and Lucy's deeply internalized first-person, do little to propel the action forward. A host of unlikable characters, an improbable plot line and an abrupt, abortive ending prove insurmountable.
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Review
With bold characters and a narrative that glistens with poisonous emotion, The Corner of Your Eye is impressive and acutely composed from an author whose star is on the rise.' The AgeLyons delineates these characters ... with great skill. Her terse, unsentimental style is perfectly pitched to her subject matter ... her signature tone, a burst of astringent observations, gives the novel its immediacy...' Weekend AustralianLyons is a skilful writer ... the story horrifies and satisfies while maintaining its momentum until the final revelation in the closing pages.' The Courier Mail
