The Baths, Sorrento
3278 Point Nepean Rd,, Sorrento

Award-winning author and good friend of the Sorrento Writers Festival Jock Serong has a new novel arriving next month. We are thrilled to be hosting an event in Sorrento to welcome the book, and to delve further into the remarkable story of Cherrywood.  

In his new novel, the author of The Rules of Backyard Cricket, On the Java Ridge, Preservation and The Settlement has entered the world of magical realism. This is the story of an old and new world living side by side in a Fitzroy pub. The connector is a magnificent paddle steamer called The Cherrywood – the dream of an early 20th Century Scottish entrepreneur whose plan to ferry passengers across Port Phillip Bay caught the young city’s imagination. Decades later, it also captures the heart of Martha, a young disillusioned solicitor who works with a big Melbourne law firm. On her way to dinner and in need of a bottle of wine, Martha jumps out of her taxi and into another world. And so, the Cherrywood adventure begins.  

HarperCollins publisher Catherine Milne describes Cherrywood as “daring, original, haunting, magical – this novel is a triumph”.  

We look forward to hosting this special lunch in Jock’s honour and hope our Mornington Peninsula and Bellarine Peninsula (via ferry) friends will join us.