Gala Night of Storytelling 2016: The Book that Changed Me: Susan Carland
At the 2016 Gala Night of Storytelling, Australian studies researcher Susan Carland shares the story of the book that changed her life: Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables.
Susan CarlandI don’t remember the first time I read Les Miserables, but what I do remember is how deeply a particular scene in the book affected me. It’s an exchange between two characters that was so unexpected and such an example of how someone can exemplify audacious grace, that I couldn’t stop turning it over in my head for days afterwards. Even now, I often reflect on that moment and what I can learn from it.
Who?

Susan Carland
Susan Carland is an academic, author, and social commentator. She has a PhD from Monash University’s School of Social Sciences, and she is the director of the Bachelor of Global Studies, also at Monash University.
Her first book, Fighting Hislam, was published by Melbourne University Publishing in 2017, and her writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Age, the Saturday Paper, in academic publications and in numerous anthologies.