image of person or book cover 5519592555867763597.jpg
This image has been sourced from Amazon
y separately published work icon If You Go single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2024... 2024 If You Go
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'When Esther wakes with a breathing tube down her throat, she has no idea where she is or how she got there. In terrible physical condition, Esther is tended to by Grace, the only other person in the building.

'In the half-consciousness of her recovery, Esther is desperate to get back to her young kids and grapples with the events of her life as they come flooding back: a childhood spent between warring parents; the demise of her marriage; the struggles she faced when her children were born.

'Suspicious of Grace, Esther takes drastic action to escape. But there are certain facts about the reality of her situation - her place in time, her history and her life - that she will need to uncover first.

'If You Go is a moving, captivating and unforgettable novel about hope and grief and family, exploring what we inherit and what we pass down.' (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Mulgrave, Ashwood - Mulgrave area, Melbourne South East, Melbourne, Victoria,: Affirm Press , 2024 .
      image of person or book cover 5519592555867763597.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Amazon
      Extent: 304p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date 25 June 2024

      ISBN: 9781923022836
Form: audiobook
    • Leicester, Leicestershire,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      W. F. Howes ,
      2024 .
      image of person or book cover 4332445080522469275.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Audible
      Extent: 8 hrs and 37 minsp.
      Note/s:
      • Published 4 July 2024
      ISBN: 9781004170180

Works about this Work

A Trick of Time Megan Cheong , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2024;

— Review of If You Go Alice Robinson , 2024 single work novel

'A woman ‘comes to’ in darkness, eyelids and mouth taped shut, thoughts leaden and lagging. A second woman tends to the first, rubbing life back into her cold limbs in a grotesque pantomime of birth. Even as Esther’s awareness of the world around her grows, her thoughts compulsively circle back to her children, Wolfie and Clare. ‘Where am I?’ she asks Grace after her breathing tube has been removed. Then: ‘Where are my kids?’'(Introduction)   

Alice Robinson If You Go Maria Takolander , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 20-26 July 2024;

— Review of If You Go Alice Robinson , 2024 single work novel
'Science fiction is often concerned with reproduction, which is typically figured as an incursion of the alien upon the human – exemplified by the horrific inseminations and chest-cracking faux-births in that classic of science-fiction cinema, Alien (1979). Mothers and motherhood are common themes in these films, as we see in the second instalment of the Alien franchise, in which the androgynous hero Ripley faces off against a grisly, extra-terrestrial, egg-laying mother. The feminist Barbara Creed, author of The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis (1993), has described such films as a figurative expression of an underlying misogyny that casts the reproductive female as “monstrous”, requiring violent repression.' (Introduction) 
Book Review: If You Go, Alice Robinson Ella Pilson , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: ArtsHub , July 2024;

— Review of If You Go Alice Robinson , 2024 single work novel

'The relationships between mothers and children are explored in a futuristic setting.'

Diary of a Book Addict : Divorce, Desire and Dystopia Jo Case , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: InReview , July 2024;

— Review of Anam André Dao , 2023 single work novel ; Only Sound Remains Hossein Asgari , 2023 single work novel ; Wall Jen Craig , 2023 single work novel ; If You Go Alice Robinson , 2024 single work novel

'Divorce and midlife breakdowns are key themes across two memoirs and a speculative novel reviewed by our books columnist this month. She also casts her eyes over the Miles Franklin Literary Award’s eclectic 2024 shortlist.' (Introduction)   

Diary of a Book Addict : Divorce, Desire and Dystopia Jo Case , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: InReview , July 2024;

— Review of Anam André Dao , 2023 single work novel ; Only Sound Remains Hossein Asgari , 2023 single work novel ; Wall Jen Craig , 2023 single work novel ; If You Go Alice Robinson , 2024 single work novel

'Divorce and midlife breakdowns are key themes across two memoirs and a speculative novel reviewed by our books columnist this month. She also casts her eyes over the Miles Franklin Literary Award’s eclectic 2024 shortlist.' (Introduction)   

Book Review: If You Go, Alice Robinson Ella Pilson , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: ArtsHub , July 2024;

— Review of If You Go Alice Robinson , 2024 single work novel

'The relationships between mothers and children are explored in a futuristic setting.'

Alice Robinson If You Go Maria Takolander , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 20-26 July 2024;

— Review of If You Go Alice Robinson , 2024 single work novel
'Science fiction is often concerned with reproduction, which is typically figured as an incursion of the alien upon the human – exemplified by the horrific inseminations and chest-cracking faux-births in that classic of science-fiction cinema, Alien (1979). Mothers and motherhood are common themes in these films, as we see in the second instalment of the Alien franchise, in which the androgynous hero Ripley faces off against a grisly, extra-terrestrial, egg-laying mother. The feminist Barbara Creed, author of The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis (1993), has described such films as a figurative expression of an underlying misogyny that casts the reproductive female as “monstrous”, requiring violent repression.' (Introduction) 
A Trick of Time Megan Cheong , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2024;

— Review of If You Go Alice Robinson , 2024 single work novel

'A woman ‘comes to’ in darkness, eyelids and mouth taped shut, thoughts leaden and lagging. A second woman tends to the first, rubbing life back into her cold limbs in a grotesque pantomime of birth. Even as Esther’s awareness of the world around her grows, her thoughts compulsively circle back to her children, Wolfie and Clare. ‘Where am I?’ she asks Grace after her breathing tube has been removed. Then: ‘Where are my kids?’'(Introduction)   

Last amended 28 Oct 2024 15:49:51
X