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y separately published work icon Manhattan Dreaming single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2010... 2010 Manhattan Dreaming
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Lauren is a curator at the National Aboriginal Gallery in Canberra. She's good at her job, passionate about the Arts, and takes work seriously. It's easy for Lauren to focus on work, that is, when she's not focussing on Adam.

Lauren is smitten with, or as her friends say, obsessed with Adam - the halfback for the Canberra Cockatoos. But Adam is a player, on and off the field. To everyone other than Lauren, it is clear that Adam doesn't want to be in a relationship at all, even though he likes being with Lauren. In a few short months Adam is involved in one too many scandals that make the press. She is shattered and breaks it off though she can't quite let go...

When she tries to convince her friends that she is waiting for Adam to have his epiphany and realise they are meant to be together, her friends decide to do an intervention on her. Under pressure from them, Lauren successfully applies for her dream job at the Smithsonian in New York. She leaves for the Big Apple, telling herself, that Adam will miss her so much he will see the light and eventually come begging.

Once landing in NYC, Lauren's life goes into overdrive with the preparation of the exhibition, finding her way around the city and marvelling at the city that never sleeps.

There are a lot of men in New York who flirt with Lauren, in fact, there are men everywhere. In the street, on the subway, in cafes and restaurants, in Central Park and even in her apartment building. They really like her, and they LOVE her accent. They fuss over her and just like being around her. Adam had never really been like that with her at all. She goes on dates trying to get Adam out of her system and eventually starts to think that she might never have another boyfriend again, because it is much more fun, and better for her self-esteem to be single in New York.

But when Adam appears on her doorstep six months later, having apparently had the epiphany she was waiting for, Lauren is confused. Adam says he wants her back. He catches Lauren at a weak moment - the exhibition she has been working on is complete and she has to make some big decisions: The Man or Manhattan?' (From the publisher's website.)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • North Sydney, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Random House Australia , 2010 .
      image of person or book cover 2230549843120583558.jpg
      Image Courtesy of Publisher's Website.
      Extent: 304p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 01 March 2010
      ISBN: 9781741668926 (pbk.), 1864711280 (ebook), 9781864711288 (ebook)
    • Cammeray, Cremorne - Mosman - Northbridge area, Sydney Northeastern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Simon and Schuster Australia , 2023 .
      image of person or book cover 598295427944592416.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 320p.
      Note/s:
      •  Published 2 August 2023

      ISBN: 9781761109959

Other Formats

  • Braille.
  • Sound recording.
  • Large print.

Works about this Work

Educating the Reader in Anita Heiss’s Chick Lit Imogen Mathew , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Contemporary Women's Writing , November vol. 10 no. 3 2016;

' In this essay, I use a close reading of Anita Heiss’s five chick lit novels to argue that racial identity profoundly affects the relationship between the chick lit novel and advice manual genre. In Cosmopolitan Culture and Consumerism in Chick Lit, Caroline Smith contends that the chick lit novel critiques and satirizes regimes of female control through its engagement with the domestic advice manual. This relationship, however, does not always work in the way Smith assumes because the protagonist is not always white: she may be Latina, Chinese, South-East Asian, or, as Anita Heiss shows, Aboriginal Australian: Heiss’s fiction serves as an advice manual, designed to expose readers to the correct norms and behaviors for interacting with Australia’s First Peoples.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

“The Pretty and the Political Didn’t Seem to Blend Well” : Reconciling Competing Ideological Imperatives in Anita Heiss’ Chick Lit Imogen Mathew , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 15 no. 3 2015;
'In recent decades, chick lit has become a ubiquitous – if not always celebrated – feature of the contemporary literary, social and cultural landscape. In Australia, Anita Heiss is one of the genre’s preeminent practitioners, and the only Aboriginal author writing chick lit for a mainstream, middleclass audience. A close reading of two of her novels (Not Meeting Mr Right and Manhattan Dreaming) reveals a deep political engagement running through her fiction. On the one hand, this political engagement is expressed by Heiss’ commitment to foregrounding the lives and experiences of young, urban, Aboriginal women. On the other hand, the narrative is peppered with references to, and discussion of, urgent political issues: from banning the burqa in France to protesting the Northern Territory intervention in Melbourne. While Heiss’ political engagement is of an unapologetically, left-wing, liberal cast, the analysis undertaken in this article will show that a surprisingly conservative bias forms the subtext to many of the political interventions in Heiss’ fiction. Galvanised by the question of why there should be such competing ideological imperatives at work in her fiction, this article will argue that the demands of an inherently conservative genre restrain and limit the extent to which chick lit can be used to promulgate a socially progressive vision.' (Publication abstract)
Anita's Dreaming Madelaine Sealey , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: Heart , February 2011; (p. 13-16)
Sassy and bold, Aboriginal author Anita Heiss has been dubbed the Carrie Bradshaw of Indigenous literature. She reveals that she is many things, above all passionate about her culture and a woman with a cause.
Michael Leslie Wins Red Ochre 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Artery , no. 13 2010; (p. 3)
Changing the World through… Chick-Lit? Alice Richard , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Women's Book Review , vol. 22 no. 1 2010; (p. 24-26)

— Review of Manhattan Dreaming Anita Heiss , 2010 single work novel
Fiction Cameron Woodhead , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 6 March 2010; (p. 27)

— Review of Manhattan Dreaming Anita Heiss , 2010 single work novel
Books William Yeoman , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 9 March 2010; (p. 6)

— Review of Manhattan Dreaming Anita Heiss , 2010 single work novel ; Lord Sunday Garth Nix , 2010 single work children's fiction
Spelling It Out in Black and White Madeline Healy , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 13 - 14 March 2010; (p. 25)

— Review of Manhattan Dreaming Anita Heiss , 2010 single work novel
Untitled Lachlan Jobbins , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , March vol. 89 no. 6 2010; (p. 36)

— Review of Manhattan Dreaming Anita Heiss , 2010 single work novel
In Short : Fiction Kerryn Goldsworthy , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 27-28 March 2010; (p. 34)

— Review of Manhattan Dreaming Anita Heiss , 2010 single work novel
What Anita Heiss Wants... Tara Ali , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: Australian Women's Health , March 2010; (p. 88-90)
'Dubbed Indigenous Australia's answer to Carrie Bradshaw, the multi-talented writer shares her secrets for creating the life that want- via a few stops st Tiffany's.' Source: Women's Health (March 2010)
Dream Time Ara Jansen , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 6 March 2010; (p. 37)
Capital Subplot's Hot Spots Karen Hardy , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: Sunday Canberra Times , 28 March 2010; (p. 3)
Serious Intent Phil Brown , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: Brisbane News , 24 - 30 March no. 776 2010; (p. 24)
Michael Leslie Wins Red Ochre 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Artery , no. 13 2010; (p. 3)
Last amended 16 Jan 2024 09:24:23
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  • Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,
  • Manhattan, New York (City), New York (State),
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