'A heartbreaking exploration of a very complex mother-daughter relationship.'
Bri Lee & Jaclyn Crupi

“Exploring the complexities of trust and betrayal within family relationships, Fernanda Dahlstrom’s memoir is a searing study of identity and justice. Set in Darwin and Victoria and criss–crossing the author’s adult life as a lawyer and a childhood where her mother is regularly convicted of fraud but claims to be innocent, Dahlstrom asks what it is to be deceived by the person she trusts the most.”
– Queensland Literary Awards 2023, Judges’ comments

★ A Narrative of Familial Rifts Born from Judicial Crisis
“I grew up with a mother behind bars. But her innocence wasn’t the only lie I was sold…” Rooted in the author’s mother’s true experience of wrongful imprisonment, this book weaves together a child’s tender recollections of family life with a lawyer’s dispassionate examination of the legal proceedings that led to her conviction. By interlacing childhood memories, the mother–daughter bond, and the judicial process into a meticulously constructed, suffocating “web of evidence,” the narrative plunges readers into a vortex of justice and controversy, forcing them to confront the stark, harrowing reality of systemic flaws that persisted for years.

★ A Perfect Fusion of Literary Artistry and Documentary Precision
The manuscript was shortlisted for the 2023 Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer and received high acclaim in the 2024 Next Chapter competition. Written from the perspectives of a rising literary voice, an adult daughter, and a practicing attorney, the work boasts delicate prose and a tightly crafted structure. It combines the intimate warmth of memoir with the suspenseful tension of a legal thriller. Transforming personal trauma into a broader reflection on institutions and identity, the book transcends individual storytelling. For anyone intrigued by themes of betrayal, institutional fairness, or the complexities of human nature, this is an immersive reading experience marked by profound tension and introspection.

Mum handed me some papers. 'Here's the brief of evidence if you want to read it.'
Brief of evidence?
This was a surprise.
I retreated to the study to peruse it. Two bank tellers gave statements describing the person who had completed a fraudulent transaction. Blonde, overweight, in her twenties. My mother was forty-five, slim, and was sometimes asked if she was Greek or Italian.
Another witness statement, equally inconclusive. A receipt for payment for three CDs and a bunch of other random documents.
Those cops had just collected bits of paper and called it evidence. Any jury would be able to see this did not prove anything.

When Fernanda Dahlstrom was eight, her mother went to jail and their idyllic life in rural Victoria was shattered. Now a young lawyer in Darwin, Fernanda tells her new partner about her chaotic past and her determination to show the world how her mother was framed. The Framing explores the complexities of trust and betrayal in family relationships, through a searing study of identity and justice.

Fernanda Dahlstrom
Fernanda Dahlstrom was born in Melbourne and later settled in Darwin and Brisbane. She practiced law in the Northern Territory and Queensland for eight years. She is currently a PhD candidate at Queensland University of Technology.
Dahlstrom’s work has been published in the Sydney Review of Books, Kill Your Darlings, Overland Literary Journal, Mascara Literary Review, Art Guide Australia, and The Guardian.