The book
Shortlisted for the 2021 Queensland Literary Awards
A group of housemates in Sydney’s inner city contend with gentrification, divisive politics, stalled careers, their own complicated privilege as second-generation Australians, and the evolving world of dating in this moving, funny, and stylish debut novel.
Sydney’s inner city is very much its own place, yet also a stand in for gentrifying inner-city suburbs the world over. Here, four young housemates struggle to untangle their complicated relationships while a poignant story of loss, grieving, and recovery unfolds.
The nameless narrator of this story has recently lost her father and now her existence is split in two: she conjures the past in which he was alive and yet lives in the present, where he is not. To others, she appears to have it all together, but the grief she still feels creates an insurmountable barrier between herself and others, between the life she had and the one she leads.
Wry, relatable, lyrical, and beautifully told, a book about politics, desire, youth, relationships and friends, Friends and Dark Shapes introduces a bold new Australian voice to American readers.
The author
Kavita Bedford
Kavita Bedford is an Australian-Indian writer with a background in journalism, anthropology and literature. Her writing has appeared in Guernica, The Guardian and she was a recent Churchill Fellow exploring migrant narratives. She works and teaches in Sydney in media and global studies. Friends and Dark Shapes is her first novel.
Press
- Aug 4 2021
“A tale of coexistence, kinship, and grief.”
— Queensland Literary Awards Shortlist - May 13 2021
“The Mundane and Alienated Life of a Freelancer.”
— The Nation - May 4 2021
“Genuinely impressive."
— The New York Times Book Review - Apr 14 2021
“An intricately observed mosaic.”
— In Daily - Apr 5 2021
“...a blanket of words that fans of literary fiction will savor.”
— Booklist - Mar 4 2021
“An intimate, epiphanic portrait of millennial city life.”
— The Guardian