It's 1949 and two cousins meet at a Melbourne hotel to discuss a deeply personal matter.
Mary - unwed and pregnant - is newly returned from the reconstruction efforts in post-war Japan.
And Tess, who is married and has been trying to have a child for years, is about to ask her to give her the baby.
It's a captivating hook for the opening lines of Chloe Adams' debut novel The Occupation - it's also based on a true story.
Mary is Chloe Adams' grandmother, whose daughter didn't learn until she was an adult that 'Aunt Mary' was her biological mother.
The Occupation is ultimately a work of fiction, but is set within a true part of history, and contains references to true events. Adams was awarded the 2024 Penguin Literary Prize for the novel.
Photo: Supplied by Chloe Adams
