All the Words We Know

‘Astonishing and beguiling … This is literary art at the most ambitious level, yet All the Words We Know remains a lucid, enjoyable read for anyone.’ The Sydney Morning Herald

‘A charming, warm-hearted whodunnit.’ The Guardian

In the beginning is the whatsitsname. The woman in the car park. She wears a nightgown and lies on her back, looking up at the sky. The nightgown is white and embroidered at the neck with blue … what do you call them? Forget-me-nots. A small crowd is gathered around her. All in their unicorns. Uniforms. All younger than the woman, much younger. They look at each other. They look up at the sky. They look down at the woman. They whisper.

Rose is in her eighties and has dementia, but she’s not done with life just yet. Alternately sharp as a tack and spectacularly forgetful, she spends her days roaming the corridors of her aged-care facility, ruminating on the staff and residents and enduring visits from her emotionally distant children and grand-daughters. But when her friend is found dead after an apparent fall from a window, Rose embarks on an eccentric and deeply personal investigation to discover the truth and exposes all manner of secrets – even some from her own past.

All the Words We Know is a wickedly funny and genuinely moving story about loneliness, language and how we make sense of the world.

‘A rare beast: a page-turner that demands slow reading and ongoing contemplation.’ Australian Book Review

‘A deeply moving, completely charming novel I will be staring out windows thinking on for a long time.’ Tim Rogers

‘From a tumble of language, tricks and puns come clues to a murder – and devastating truths about love. All the Words We Know is both unique and daring.’ Jock Serong

‘Darkly humorous, bewitchingly original, quietly poignant. A stunning accomplishment. The wordplay sparkles, yet it’s the humanity that shines through.’ Chris Hammer

‘A rare, beautiful bird of a novel. All the Words We Know offers readers an immersive experience both playful and profound – I found myself speaking so many of Rose’s musings out loud, revelling in their gorgeous rhythms, even as the tension of the central mystery had me racing through the pages. I loved this book!’ Jacqueline Bublitz

Author Biography

Bruce Nash was awarded a 2022 Varuna Residential Fellowship for an earlier draft of this manuscript; indeed, he has enjoyed three such fellowships for his work. His previous books The Long River of Cat Fisher (2020) and An Island in the Lake (2019) were published by Australian Scholarly Publishing. He has been shortlisted for several writing awards and his short fiction has appeared in Meanjin, Australian Short Stories and anthologies. Bruce is a retired teacher and now lives on the southern New South Wales coast.