One Hundred Days

Karuna is the child of an unhappy marriage. Her father is a white, working-class Australian, and her headstrong mother is an ethnically Chinese woman born in the Philippines. Karuna is 16 and pregnant, trapped in her mother’s Melbourne public housing apartment for 100 days (hence the title of the book) as she awaits the birth of her child. The extended confinement is intended to prevent her from getting into more trouble and ensure the baby is born happy and healthy. Karuna’s mother considers it unforgivably shameful to be pregnant out of wedlock; thus, she’s locked Karuna up so nobody can glimpse her big belly. As the birth approaches, the mother-daughter relationship traverses fault lines between love and control. Pung’s (Laurinda) narrative is fast-paced, full of heated conversations but not without humor. Narrator Siho Ellsmore offers a vibrant performance, fully voicing Karuna’s rage and frustration. Her occasionally harsh tone captures the tension underlying this unnerving, occasionally toxic relationship and will have listeners wondering what will happen when the baby arrives.