Addition

Grace Lisa Vandenburg counts.

The letters in her name (19). The steps she takes every morning to the local café (920); the number of poppy seeds on her slice of orange cake, which dictates the number of bites she'll take to finish it. Grace counts everything, because numbers hold the world together. And she needs to keep an eye on how they're doing.

Seamus Joseph O'Reilly (also a 19, with the sexiest hands Grace has ever seen) thinks she might be better off without the counting. If she could hold down a job, say. Or open her kitchen cupboards without conducting an inventory, or make a sandwich containing an unknown number of sprouts.

Grace's problem is that Seamus doesn't count. Her other problem is...he does.

Addition is a fabulous debut novel. Grace is witty, flirtatious and headstrong. She's not a bit sentimental but even so, she may be about to lose track of the number of ways she can fall in love.

* Longlisted, 2009 Miles Franklin Literary Award
* Shortlisted, 2009 Barbara Jefferis Award
* A Women's Weekly Great Read
* Best Debut Fiction, The 2008 Indie Awards
* Shortlisted, Best General Fiction Book, 2008 Australian Book Industry Awards
* Shortlisted, Best Newcomer, 2008 Australian Book Industry Awards
* Best Themed Fiction, UK Medical Journalists Association 2008