Great love stories don’t land heavily in peoples’ lives every day. When such love engulfs one, it is epic, unfathomable and strikingly beautiful. And love (as we all know) is not limited to the romantic kind. There is also love between a parent and child (including step-children) and love between friends, amongst other types of love. 

Love, in all it’s complexities and timelessness, is astonishingly well examined and explored in stellar Australian author, Emmy Grey’s, latest spectacular novel, Start at the End.

Set predominantly in Canberra, Australia, this novel is dazzling. Our two protagonists, Audrey Sullivan and Fraser Miller (both in their thirties) were always destined to meet. Or were they? 

Audrey is the long-suffering office manager for Bates, Scrivener and Daley Family Law. Because of this, she is the random (or is it?) recipient of an email one ordinary (or is it?) working day from Fraser (a client) to say “Thank you for sending the latest bill. On my calculations, we were overcharged $600…”

There follows emails back and forth towards the pair, Fraser letting Audrey know he will be away for three months. Audrey’s curiosity and subsequent queries to Fraser let her discover that Fraser is travelling to Antarctica for said three months and that he is an “Ocean scientist. Likes penguins”.

Fraser is going through a messy divorce from the hyper-organised and meticulous psychiatrist, Maggie. Young daughter, Parker, is caught perplexingly in the middle of it all. When Parker asks Fraser “what three things I am grateful for today”, Fraser thinks to himself that “The email exchange with Audrey Sullivan floats to mind. But how can I tell Parker the highlight of my day was a few chatty messages about financial administration with the office assistant at the firm handling our divorce?”.

Audrey herself is in a job she is not entirely good at. A job which she finds herself enduring after an academic act of betrayal derailed the prolific music career she was destined for as a twenty-two year old studying music and a working on a PhD.

An email comes to Audrey from “a former university classmate” on the same day that she is corresponding with Fraser. A rather unsettling and disruptive email that reads “Audrey, sorry to contact you out of the blue. Have you heard about this investigation into historic claims of academic misconduct?”.

Then not unpredictably, Audrey is fired from her office job. Among her misdemeanors is the sizeable error of composing “a musical set in a divorce lawyer’s office, starring an unlucky-in-love millennial receptionist -” and printing it out on office time and equipment.

Audrey is now free in her mind. “I tell myself it’s liberating to be unexpectedly jobless. Am I not forever dreaming that fate will force my hand and make me rely on my music to pay the rent?”.

Some months later, Fraser and Audrey find themselves at the same costume party (initially unknowingly). Fraser finds himself “Frankly, …missing the singing of the ice and the creak of the ship’s bow as it slices through the slush, broken ice sheets roaring as they thunder into the ocean. And the boundless space I had on the research trip to get my head together”.

At this party, Fraser is deeply in conversation with  an outgoing woman named Rachael (Audrey’s best friend), who is dressed in a cat costume. When Rachael’s thuggish ex-boyfriend sees them and looks like he’s about to fight Fraser, a woman (Audrey) dumps an enormous amount of ice and water on top of the jealous ex-boyfriend from above. And that is how Fraser and Audrey finally meet.

Another guest describes Audrey to Fraser as someone she “met at the conservatorium. She was brilliant. Gifted, really. Infuriatingly talented but tortured, you know, the way composers can be……But then something awful happened”.

Long story short, Fraser and Audrey get talking at the party and afterwards, during which talks Fraser finds out Audrey’s passion for music (despite the fact that she has been creatively stilted for years). 

Parker also has a passion for and great talent musically, so Fraser comes up with the idea for Audrey to move in with him and Parker to look after Parker and help her musically.

” ‘Seriously, if you were to consider this even for a short while, I figure by the time you pay me for rent and I pay you for music lessons and childcare and dog-minding, you’d be ahead. And the rest of the time would be yours. Maybe you’d have space to finish the musical?”.

And this living arrangement comes to be the catalyst for the ignition of a wonderful love affair between Audrey and Fraser. And a great nurturing of Parker’s musical talent. 

But this story isn’t all roses and sunshine. Two days before Audrey and Fraser’s wedding, there is a terrible accident. And life is never the same for anyone. 

I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but suffice to say there is a ‘sliding-doors’ element to the story. And various iterations of Audrey and Fraser’s futures are looked at.

How does Fraser’s brother Josh (a musical genius, or is he?) fit into Audrey and Fraser’s lives?

Who is Professor Ridges and how does he slot into the story? Is he a hero or villain?

Why is Fraser so melancholy when everything in his life is close to perfect, with the love of his life, Audrey, by his side, and his beautiful daughter, Parker, in his orbit?

There is so much beauty, pathos and wisdom in this book. A warning, you will need the tissues handy, and plenty of them!

Emma writes so eloquently and the end result is explosive brilliance. Your heart will break as you read this novel, yet also explode with joy and happiness. Sometimes the best books sneak up on you, your emotions and intellectually, and this one certainly did me – in all the best ways!

There are “themes of death, grief, depression, suicidal ideation, alcohol dependence and self-harm” contained in the pages of the book. There is a notification before the beginning of the story that there are “sensitive themes” in the novel, and the page to turn to after the end of the story to find them listed. 

So we know that there is great suffering and anguish in the story. This is complimented by the magnificent love echoing throughout and the moments of elation and the beauty of life for the cast of characters.

This book grabbed me strongly and didn’t let me go. It is the sort of story that will have you reflecting on it as you go about your day (all good books have this effect on one).

Bravo Emma! You have written a sparkling gem. You have my respect and admiration. And additionally, I loved that this was written by an Australian and set in Australia (my nationality and country).

I will be lining up to read whatever Emma writes next.