AustLit

'In the throes of lockdown, the desire for certainty is unequivocal. The pandemic has shattered the predictability of our everyday lives, making the future precarious. Where to seek solace? In nostalgia, perhaps. The sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past.' (Introduction)

'Four people, figuring out sex, love, and how to ‘adult.’ Sydney – one of those places that just consumes you. A private school boy, a tortured drug dealer, a starving artist and a gay outcast, try to do their best as they navigate through the unspoken rules which govern the fast paced, status obsessed harbour city.

'Benji: desperate to stand on his own, and be perceived as separate to his overachieving family.

'Francesca: plotting her remarkable and glamorous future.

'Leo: the confident gay-sian, but despite the pretence, lacks a sense of identity and self-worth.

'Hamish: fell into drugs to distinguish himself.

'Four stories interlaced together. Anxiety masked as confidence. Ambitions as arrogance. Insecurities which fester … until the cracks appear in the perfect façade.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Pretty Girls is a visceral narrative of violence, personal tragedy and female resilience set against the backdrop of one of Australia’s most politically charged communities, Redfern, where sinister racial tensions underpin everything.

'Evie is a woman in her mid-thirties who returns to her hometown to meet with her dying father. In coming back to the place where she grew up she has to revisit her history of violence – the death of her mother, the suicide of her brother and the domestic violence that occurred in her home. Her father only has a short time to live – she expects to find him a changed man. But he’s not. He’s unrepentant and unapologetic for his actions. Evie has to reclaim her story – she’s not just a pretty girl, she won’t just sit down, be quiet, stay still – but getting there is more than tough, more than an ordeal – it’s a mammoth display of tenacity and strength. 

'Pretty Girls is ultimately a story of triumph. Evie rises from the ashes of a hellish past and re-writes her story. There is a part of Evie in every woman and Pretty Girls seeks to start a movement'

Source: publisher's blurb