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'An emotionally charged novel of female friendship, for readers of Elena Ferrante and Diana Reid.
''When we spoke, I never knew what Olive would reveal to me. There were nights where she would lie next to me and pour herself out into the darkness, and others where it seemed she was hardly there at all.'
'Millie is in her final year at a Catholic girls' school, subdued by the conformity of her life and her parents' quiet pain. But when her schoolmate Olive moves in next door, it marks the beginning of an intoxicating friendship that changes everything. In all the ways Millie feels unsure and half-formed, Olive, an aspiring actor from a devoutly Catholic family, seems at ease with her place in the world.
'On the precipice of freedom, the two young women seize nights out and a school retreat as opportunities to further their own increasingly uncertain ends. Olive urges Millie on in her sexual encounters, but Millie is only becoming more consumed by Olive. When they're not staying up all night talking, they're watching each other from their bedroom windows - their selves are becoming blurred, their lives intimately mirrored.'
That makes it all the more excruciating when, seemingly out of nowhere, Olive cuts off all contact. For all her efforts, Millie cannot understand what's changed between them. Has she missed something? Or was their friendship, for Olive, just another performance?
An emotionally charged novel of expectation, compulsion and desire, Lead Us Not charts the unseen currents of tension and control that shape a friendship. (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Queer Love and Yearning
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2024;
— Review of Lead Us Not 2024 single work novel'A few years ago, I had a crush on my best friend. I remember the panic, of beginning to suspect that these feelings might be something more than friendship, the desperate need to pretend that I wasn’t falling in love with someone who was then presenting as the same gender. I remember the tension and the yearning, the way that they became the centre of my universe and later I the centre of theirs.' (Introduction)
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Abbey Lay Lead Us Not
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 2 April 2024;
— Review of Lead Us Not 2024 single work novel'Reading Abbey Lay’s debut novel, I was beset by a case of déjà vu. The narrative follows protagonist Millie, a smart but insecure teenager who develops an obsession with her thespian classmate Olive. Their relationship is saturated in unease – there is always a sense that something important is not being said. At sleepovers they philosophise about sex, intimacy and self-knowledge, and at school they ignore each other. Eventually Olive ghosts Millie, and Millie cannot for the life of her work out why. She wraps herself in self-pity and refuses to see the obvious truth.' (Introduction)
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Bold’, ‘extremely Fun’, ‘luminously Written’ : The Best Australian Books Out in March
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 6 March 2024;
— Review of 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem 2024 selected work poetry ; The Silver River 2024 single work autobiography ; One Another 2024 single work novel ; Appreciation 2024 single work novel ; Loving My Lying, Dying, Cheating Husband 2024 single work autobiography ; Servo : Tales from the Graveyard Shift 2024 single work autobiography ; The Cancer Finishing School : Lessons in Laughter, Love and Resilience 2024 single work autobiography ; Thanks for Having Me 2024 single work novel ; Lead Us Not 2024 single work novel ; Always Will Be : Stories of Goori Sovereignty from the Futures of the Tweed 2024 selected work short story
-
Bold’, ‘extremely Fun’, ‘luminously Written’ : The Best Australian Books Out in March
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 6 March 2024;
— Review of 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem 2024 selected work poetry ; The Silver River 2024 single work autobiography ; One Another 2024 single work novel ; Appreciation 2024 single work novel ; Loving My Lying, Dying, Cheating Husband 2024 single work autobiography ; Servo : Tales from the Graveyard Shift 2024 single work autobiography ; The Cancer Finishing School : Lessons in Laughter, Love and Resilience 2024 single work autobiography ; Thanks for Having Me 2024 single work novel ; Lead Us Not 2024 single work novel ; Always Will Be : Stories of Goori Sovereignty from the Futures of the Tweed 2024 selected work short story -
Abbey Lay Lead Us Not
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 2 April 2024;
— Review of Lead Us Not 2024 single work novel'Reading Abbey Lay’s debut novel, I was beset by a case of déjà vu. The narrative follows protagonist Millie, a smart but insecure teenager who develops an obsession with her thespian classmate Olive. Their relationship is saturated in unease – there is always a sense that something important is not being said. At sleepovers they philosophise about sex, intimacy and self-knowledge, and at school they ignore each other. Eventually Olive ghosts Millie, and Millie cannot for the life of her work out why. She wraps herself in self-pity and refuses to see the obvious truth.' (Introduction)
-
Queer Love and Yearning
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2024;
— Review of Lead Us Not 2024 single work novel'A few years ago, I had a crush on my best friend. I remember the panic, of beginning to suspect that these feelings might be something more than friendship, the desperate need to pretend that I wasn’t falling in love with someone who was then presenting as the same gender. I remember the tension and the yearning, the way that they became the centre of my universe and later I the centre of theirs.' (Introduction)