Cover design by W.H. Chong (2020)
Image description: A coral book cover featuring a set of white hands. The title ‘The Shape of Sound’ and author Fiona Murphy.
THE SHAPE OF SOUND
Secrets are heavy, burdensome things. Imagine carrying a secret that if exposed could jeopardise your chances of securing a job and make you a social outcast. Fiona Murphy kept her deafness a secret for over twenty-five years.
But then, desperate to hold onto a career she’d worked hard to pursue, she tried hearing aids. Shocked by how the world sounded, she vowed never to wear them again. After an accident to her hand, she discovered that sign language could change her life, and that Deaf culture could be part of her identity.
Just as Fiona thought she was beginning to truly accept her body, she was diagnosed with a rare condition that causes the bones of the ears to harden. She was steadily losing her residual hearing. The news left her reeling.
Blending memoir with observations on the healthcare industry, The Shape of Sound is a story about the corrosive power of secrets, stigma and shame, and how deaf experiences and disability are shaped by economics, social policy, medicine and societal expectations.
Available now in Australia, New Zealand, UK and North America.
“I devoured this in a day, fascinated, enlightened, moved.”
“A unique voice that reveals the world anew. Mark the name Fiona Murphy.”
“In ‘The Shape of Sound’ Fiona Murphy impressively turns the intimate yet inanimate sense of hearing into a tangible, tactical object to be shared and explored with readers. Through a personal lens, she investigates the social, environmental, economical and political impacts of deafness and disability with rigour, yet without ever losing a pervading humanity. The Shape of Sound is an impressive accomplishment, equally industrious and delicate, and an exciting addition to Australian disability literature.”
“Fiona Murphy is a spectacular writer. Her memoir about keeping a medical secret close, then celebrating disability, Deaf identity and community, highlights the need to remove barriers to access and inclusion. ‘The Shape of Sound’ is brilliant.”
“Powerfully written—books like this restore the world.”
“I have been waiting for Fiona Murphy’s debut: a memoir about the lived experience of deafness and a developing understanding of disability as cultural identity. There is no reading The Shape of Sound without wishing that every Australian would read it too.”
“A beautifully crafted memoir describing the gifts of a life without sound.”
“The Shape of Sound is a game-changer, a book that challenges assumptions not only about what it means to be deaf, but what it takes to truly listen, communicate and connect.”
“The Shape of Sound is an exquisite, eloquent and poetic memoir. Fiona Murphy draws the reader into a different sensory world, and provides a devastating critique of a society that all too often punishes disability. A damn fine read.”
“Full of heart and delving into what it means to inhabit flesh, blood, sound and movement. The Shape of Sound is definitely a book I will return to over the years, and gain more from with each read. A brilliant debut.”