'A brilliant concept, brilliantly executed.' Bri Lee

'Took my breath away.' Sofie Laguna

It starts with a lie. One small lie to get everything he wants. But one lie leads to another, and another. Caught in his own web of deception, how can he recognise the truth? And what is it going to cost him?

The legendary career of reclusive cult author Brenda Shales remains one of Australia’s last unsolved literary mysteries. Her books took the world by storm before she disappeared from the public eye after a mysterious
plagiarism case. But when an ambitious young writer stumbles across Brenda at a Melbourne pool, he realises the scoop of a lifetime is floating in front of him: the truth behind why she vanished without a trace. The
only problem? He must pretend to be someone he’s not to trick the story out of her.

One innocent lie leads to a slew that are definitively not, as Brenda reveals the strange and troubling truth of where her books came from. Yet the more the author unravels about Brenda’s past, the more he begins
to question whether Brenda is a reliable narrator. Is she spilling secrets or spinning tales? Is she, like him, little more than a talented thief ? To write the book that will make his name, he must balance his ethics and ambition and decide what he’s willing to sacrifice to become the next great Australian writer.

This astonishing debut, full of delicious twists and wicked insights, is a dazzling novel of desire and deception, authorship and authenticity, and the costs of creative ambition.

'That rare thing, a great contemporary novel.' Lauren Oyler

Shortlisted for the 2025 Indie Book Awards, Non-Fiction

Gina Chick, the inaugural winner of Alone Australia, tells the story of her extraordinary, indomitable life in one of the most powerful, moving memoirs you will ever read.

From day one of her wildly unconventional childhood, Gina Chick blazed her own trail, which led her to dance through the hidden world of ’90s Sydney nightlife into the arms of a conman. She fled to the wilderness to find healing, began a wondrous love affair with the deepest lessons life – and death – can offer, and found that all the answers are written in the wisdom of the body and the whirling silence of stars.

If you’re ready to get lost in jungles, wander into wolf-dens, sing with storms, rescue orphaned animals, dive to the depths, dance ’til your knees wobble, fall in love, find yourself by losing it all, and most of all be real; this book is for you.

We Are the Stars is a magic carpet ride through the exquisite mystery of the human heart. You’ve never read anything like it.