'The daughter of a celebrity must discover who is worthy of her devotion and who is just a fan.
'It's been twenty years since her mother was photographed, blood-soaked, outside the family home. A famous TV food personality, she fled the country. Since that time, the girl has grown up. She's bought an apartment, learned her own cooking style, fallen in love. She lives a quiet life, working as a copywriter for a health insurance company. She's found happiness, finally.
'But strange things are in the air. Her easy-going boyfriend has started sleeping with men. Her mother is selling the infamous family home. And a glamorous, pregnant neighbour has moved into the apartment downstairs, calling into question everything the girl believes about her own desires.
'How are we supposed to understand our past when all we have is our present? Do people still love us if they'd rather be anywhere but with us? And in a world of conspiracies, dubious loyalties, and mercenary impulses, how do we work out who is worthy of our devotion and who is just a fan?
'Equal parts funny and contemplative, Shirley charts a search for meaning in a world where the fracturing of ambitions - work and purpose, real estate and home, family and love - has left us uncertain how to recognise ourselves.' (Publication summary)
'One of the most famous opening lines in literature comes from Dante’s Inferno, the first part of his Divine Comedy, when halfway through the journey of his life he finds himself in a gloomy wood, having lost his way. In the middle of our life’s journey, I found myself in a dark wood.
'In the face of the Covid pandemic, many of us felt a similar sense of isolation and uncertainty, confined to our homes, disconnected, and grappling with the unknown. Which led many, presumably including Melbourne writer Ronnie Scott, to the page.
'As a creative writing lecturer at RMIT, Ronnie Scott knows a few tricks of the writing trade, and in his second novel, Shirley, he deploys them with undeniable flair — such as keeping his readers in suspense until nearly halfway through the book as he leads them on a journey without telling them who or what Shirley is.' (Introduction)
'An opaque book that navigates the liminal spaces between relationships.'
'The unnamed narrator of Ronnie Scott’s second novel, Shirley, is a socially engaged thirty-something foodie from Melbourne’s inner north. She works as an internal copywriter for a health insurance company. She has an encyclopedic knowledge of the vegan-friendly bars and eateries within a five-kilometre radius of her small apartment in trendy Collingwood. She also cooks: scrambled tofu and vegan chorizo soup; Korean vegan pancakes and Cantonese soy sauce noodles; pan-fried gnocchi with blended basil and gochujang. She might wash these down with a glass of wine or whisky, or even a michelada, followed by the occasional menthol cigarette. She has been confined to her apartment alone for 262 cumulative days of lockdown (‘and the wild, long days that have fallen between them’), imposed by the Victorian government to curtail Covid-19. She also happens to be the daughter of a celebrity.'(Introduction)
'Ronnie Scott is an RMIT academic and co-founder of the literary journal The Lifted Brow. His debut novel, The Adversary (2020), set mainly in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, was a wry exploration of the nuances of house sharing and online dating.'
'The author’s second novel is impressively constructed, following a young woman who was raised by a group of men beholden to her celebrity mother' (Introduction)
'The unnamed narrator of Ronnie Scott’s second novel, Shirley, is a socially engaged thirty-something foodie from Melbourne’s inner north. She works as an internal copywriter for a health insurance company. She has an encyclopedic knowledge of the vegan-friendly bars and eateries within a five-kilometre radius of her small apartment in trendy Collingwood. She also cooks: scrambled tofu and vegan chorizo soup; Korean vegan pancakes and Cantonese soy sauce noodles; pan-fried gnocchi with blended basil and gochujang. She might wash these down with a glass of wine or whisky, or even a michelada, followed by the occasional menthol cigarette. She has been confined to her apartment alone for 262 cumulative days of lockdown (‘and the wild, long days that have fallen between them’), imposed by the Victorian government to curtail Covid-19. She also happens to be the daughter of a celebrity.'(Introduction)
'One of the most famous opening lines in literature comes from Dante’s Inferno, the first part of his Divine Comedy, when halfway through the journey of his life he finds himself in a gloomy wood, having lost his way. In the middle of our life’s journey, I found myself in a dark wood.
'In the face of the Covid pandemic, many of us felt a similar sense of isolation and uncertainty, confined to our homes, disconnected, and grappling with the unknown. Which led many, presumably including Melbourne writer Ronnie Scott, to the page.
'As a creative writing lecturer at RMIT, Ronnie Scott knows a few tricks of the writing trade, and in his second novel, Shirley, he deploys them with undeniable flair — such as keeping his readers in suspense until nearly halfway through the book as he leads them on a journey without telling them who or what Shirley is.' (Introduction)
