Her Fidelity, by Katherine Pollock

Unashamedly riffing on Nick Hornby’s Hi Fidelity, this cautionary tale is set in contemporary Brisbane rather than 80s London. Music nerd Kathy doesn’t own or even run Dusty’s Records, but she has worked there for more than a decade, since she was a teen. Rampant sexism and misogyny, with a smidge of sexual assault, are the hallmarks of Kathy’s work and life experience and, despite her sass, she rarely snaps back, but lets it shape her. A curious mixture of smart and naïve for someone who is 29, Kathy seems to be trapped in a kind of extended adolescence – spongeing off her parents, eating badly and drinking too much. She is the centre of her own universe, with little scope for mature relationships of any flavour. In fact Kathy has a deep well of simmering anger and a couple of triggers bring this to the surface to finally spark some changes in her life. Many characters are caricatures and the tone is hyper-real, most likely a deliberate choice to provide a lighter way into the serious issues Kathy confronts on her way to belated adulthood. Ultimately a salute to enduring and sustaining female friendship, the book does acknowledge the good guys; not all men, but most of them.