Transit Lounge is excited to introduce a major new novel by internationally acclaimed Australian author Bem Le Hunte. Elephants with Headlights will be released 1 March 2020. And what a glorious novel it is. The characters in the novel have such strong individual voices that the reader will be sad leave them behind. Set in India and Northern New South Wales, it is a novel about love, death and purpose in life that speaks to the meaning that the world’s most abiding stories have always been tasked to address. Bem Le Hunte has dedicated it ‘to the women of the world—the eternal flame of the sacred feminine, to the transformational hopes of our mothers, and to my mother, who inspired in me the love of literature.’ The novel is both literary and hugely entertaining.

‘Bem Le Hunte is quite simply, a wonderful novelist.’
—Geraldine Brooks

In the tradition of Bem Le Hunte’s acclaimed novels, The Seduction of Silence and There, Where the Pepper Grows, this book is a spiritual and emotional journey like no other—a richly realised and hugely entertaining story that straddles cultures, continents and generations.

An encounter with Elephants with Headlights is a collision between east and west, modernity and tradition—between driverless cars and ancient lore—and a world that needs revolutionary reappraisal. In this world, Savitri, named after a Goddess, refuses outright to marry anyone. Her brother, Neel is intent on marrying an Australian girl called Mae, much to the displeasure of their mother, Tota, and father, Siddarth. But do they have the power to command love or destiny? Only the family astrologer, Arunji, knows, yet his truth is tempered by obligations to the family that transformed his life.

Characters who we come to love and care for, teeter on the brink of a radically altered future, leaving questions in their wake. What is the generative legacy of tradition? Can spiritual values survive amidst personal challenges, the tragedy of a death foretold, and the momentous changes of our times? A warm and engaging novel touched with love, wisdom and soulfulness, Elephants with Headlights is a breathtaking story for the threshold era we all navigate.

Bem Le Hunte is the author of the novels The Seduction of Silence and There, Where the Pepper Grows, which have become number one bestsellers and been published internationally to critical acclaim. She is also an Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney, where she’s the founding director of the Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation, a transdisciplinary, future-facing degree that teaches creativity across 25 different disciplines. Bem was born in Kolkata to an Indian mother and British father, and has a BA and MA in Social Anthropology from Cambridge University and a Creative Doctorate from the University of Sydney. Writing has always been her elemental passion, and the gift of this calling has allowed her to flourish in many ways and worlds. She lives in Sydney with her partner Jan Golembiewski and their three children.

Read the first chapters of Elephants with Headlights here.

The first five readers to email info@transitlounge.com.au will receive an advance reading copy. Don’t forget to include your postal address.