Chloe Hooper and Sarah Ferguson

Best-selling author of The Tall Man and The Arsonist, Chloe Hooper’s Bedtime Story is a personal tale about death, life and the enchantment of stories. Following the release of a stunning hardback edition, Chloe speaks with ABC 7.30’s Sarah Ferguson about this profound and moving exploration of the dark and light of storytelling.

When Chloe Hooper’s partner is diagnosed with a rare and aggressive illness, she has to find a way to tell their two young sons. By instinct, she turns to the bookshelf. Can the news be broken as a bedtime tale? Is there a perfect book to prepare children for loss?

Chloe embarks on a quest to find what practical lessons children’s literature – with its innocent orphans and evil adults, magic, monsters and anthropomorphic animals – can teach about grief and resilience in real life. From the Brothers Grimm to Frances Hodgson Burnett and Tolkien and Dahl – all of whom suffered childhood bereavements – she follows the breadcrumbs of the world’s favourite authors, searching for the deep wisdom in their books and lives.

Chloe Hooper is the bestselling author of The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire. Her book The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island won the Victorian, New South Wales, West Australian and Queensland Premiers’ Literary Awards, as well as the John Button Prize for Political Writing, and a Ned Kelly Award for crime writing. She is also the author of two acclaimed novels, A Child’s Book of True Crime and The Engagement. Her most recent book is Bedtime Story. She lives in Melbourne with her partner and her two sons.