Iluka

Publisher details

Author
Cassie Stroud
Publisher
HarperCollins
Genre
Fiction
Released
28 January, 2026
ISBN
9781038933652

Iluka

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Synopsis

After their grandfather's death, siblings Helen, Sylvie and Brendan, and Helen's daughter, film student Tig, are gathered together at Iluka, a typical fibro beach house in a small town on the south coast. Iluka is the house they grew up in when their troubled mother ran away to the bright lights of the city, leaving their grandparents to raise them.

As they slowly clear the house for sale and relive various memories, they find a bundle of letters addressed to each of them from their missing mother, Marguerite, that were sent long after they'd been told she died.

Their world shifts on its axis, as the siblings begin to question everything they have been told. Why did their grandmother hide these letters? Was their grandfather complicit? And could the mother they thought they had lost still be alive?

Viewed through the unsparing eye of Tig's camera, we watch a family first implode then reform around a new reality, a reality that brings with it profound change in the way they view themselves and each other.

Cassie Stroud
About the author

Cassie Stroud

Cassie Stroud is a writer, editor and bookseller. She lives in a 1950s house on Sydney's north shore with her husband, son and their Siamese cat. Iluka is her first novel. 

Books by Cassie Stroud

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                1. Jonnys says:

                  Iluka’s quiet revelations about hidden family letters and fractured bonds struck deep—mirrored my own moment last summer when dusty attic finds exposed letters from my long-lost father, sparking a raw but freeing emotional reset. To lift the weight and shift focus, I prepped for a new remote role requiring a spotless background check. Real user experiences with Checkr reviews helped me breeze through confidently and sidestep common snags. Now the book’s themes of truth and second chances feel even more hopeful as I step forward stronger!