
Award winning Skimming Stones is a novel about love, hope and power of human connection.
Set in a paediatric oncology ward and at Lake Clifton in Western Australia, Skimming Stones follows a nurse named Grace, who on the one hand cares for and guides her young patients, but on the other must navigate her own past as a child who once bore witness to her sister’s leukaemia.
Join Grace throughout an affair gone wrong, a hospital emergency that threatens to break her heart and a much needed journey back to the only place that can teach her what it really means to speak the language of love, illnesses and siblings who watch from the sidelines.

Maria Papas
writes, teaches and tells stories. Her debut novel Skimming Stones won the City of Fremantle Hungerford Award.
Read Maria’s non-fiction
In addition to novels and short stories, Maria also writes non-fiction. Her writing process often involves holding a question in mind, and then exploring this question imaginatively and reflectively. This means some of the themes explored in her novel writing are also explored in memoir and in personal and academic essays. Feel free to read a selection of this work below.

Diary and events
Find out more about upcoming events, follow Maria’s blog and see Maria in the media.
Get in touch
To purchase Skimming Stones and to view book club notes, media releases and media quality images please click here.
For publicity enquiries and booking requests including author talks, appearances, workshops, panel discussions, readings and other literary events, please complete the Fremantle Press author booking form here.
Otherwise, feel free to get in touch via Maria’s socials.
Thank you
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