'I’d be in heaven but on the edge of a deeper misery than ever, I’d be on top of the world and then they’d ask me, did you make the right choice Kim? Are you currently, still, making the right choices Kimberley Mueller?
'Over the course of a year in Berlin, an aspiring novelist, Kim, and her historian best friend, Bel, confront their twin acts of creation.
'Kim is becoming a writer, and is determined to write a bestseller. She's been convinced of this idea by Matthew, an American literary agent who is as emotionally unavailable as he is handsome (very). Kim lives in her own carefully constructed reality, which her imagination is constantly pumping full of hot air. As she attempts to buoy herself using other people for external motivation, they poke holes in her fantasies, leading her to wonder if she’s going to come crashing down or somehow stay afloat.
'Meanwhile Bel is becoming a mother, and gives birth to a baby, certain it will fulfil her in ways her career does not seem to. Kim and Bel support and deceive each other as only the best of friends can.'(Publication summary)
'The Melbourne author’s debut tackles the books industry and the rise of a now-ubiquitous genre – staying one step ahead of the reader along the way'
'A fundamentally meta novel that plays with its own understated self-awareness.'
'It’s a tall order to critique the very thing you are creating as you’re creating it. In the wake of Sally Rooney’s dominance over—for want of a better descriptor—‘women’s literary fiction’, perhaps it’s now de rigueur for the white millennial author to interrogate why we all write what we write. The most famous investigation into the ‘literary sad girl’ still comes from Leslie Jamison, who ruminates on the impact of her own memoir The Recovering, and explores many of these women across history.' (Introduction)
'Have you heard about the “sad girl” novel? If your answer is no, then this book probably is not for you. If, however, the genre is familiar and you happen to be a 20-something woman, then get your hands on Pip Finkemeyer’s debut work.' (Introduction)
'Have you heard about the “sad girl” novel? If your answer is no, then this book probably is not for you. If, however, the genre is familiar and you happen to be a 20-something woman, then get your hands on Pip Finkemeyer’s debut work.' (Introduction)
'It’s a tall order to critique the very thing you are creating as you’re creating it. In the wake of Sally Rooney’s dominance over—for want of a better descriptor—‘women’s literary fiction’, perhaps it’s now de rigueur for the white millennial author to interrogate why we all write what we write. The most famous investigation into the ‘literary sad girl’ still comes from Leslie Jamison, who ruminates on the impact of her own memoir The Recovering, and explores many of these women across history.' (Introduction)
'A fundamentally meta novel that plays with its own understated self-awareness.'
