Her Fidelity

Katharine Pollock

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A very funny confessional novel set in one of the only Australian independent record stores still functioning, if barely. This is High Fidelity with a female gaze.

Kathy has worked at a beloved Brisbane indie record store for half her life. She arrived as a teenager high on her dad’s supply of Led Zeppelin, stayed through her twenties and suddenly thirty is on the horizon and she’s still there, measuring her self-worth by her knowledge of the Velvet Underground’s back catalogue.

Lately, though, cracks have been appearing in Kathy’s comfortable indie bubble. Her friends – feisty Mel, the only other woman employed at the store, and straight-laced Alex, whom Kathy has known since preschool – are growing up and moving on, while she’s stuck in a cycle of record store, pub, repeat, with the rest of the music bros at the store. But how do you move forward when you’re stuck in a groove? And what happens when you realise that you’ve been working so hard to be part of the boys’ club that you never stopped to wonder if you should be creating a club of your own?

Her Fidelity is a feminist coming-of-age story for anyone who has ever felt that a song understood them more than their own family, for anyone who has ever felt like the culture they love might not love them back, and for anyone who has ever turned to Stevie Nicks for advice while ignoring the sensible people around them.

Published: 16 August 2022
ISBN: 9780143779575
Imprint: Penguin Random House Australia Audio
Format: Audio Download
Narrator: Zindzi Okenyo
RRP: $32.99

Categories:

Humour

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About the author

Katharine Pollock

Katharine Pollock worked in independent record stores in Brisbane and Sydney for many years. She holds a PhD in Humanities and Communication Arts from Western Sydney University’s Writing and Society Research Centre. She was a Writer in Residence at Varuna, The Writers' House in 2020, and Visiting Writer at the National Young Writers’ Festival in 2019. In 2021 she won the Queensland Writers Centre's GenreCon short story competition and had another short story published in ZineWest. Her work has also been published in Kill Your Darlings, Funny Ha Ha and Lip.You can find her online at @thatrecordstoregirl.

Praise for Her Fidelity

Katharine Pollock is the voice that we have been waiting for. Forensically sharp and ridiculously funny. Step aside New York. Pollock brings you Brisbane in all its glory.
Krissy Kneen

Funny and joyous: the secret history of record shop girls.
Susan Johnson

An affecting portrait of people we might encounter often but know next to nothing about. Brimming with heart and humour, Her Fidelity tells us something about how to be and how not to be. Pollock’s writing is rich and relatable. It snapshots contemporary Australian society with precision and awareness. I found myself caring for the characters in the story as though they were my friends.
George Haddad

Like a perfect pop song you can't resist dancing to, Her Fidelity takes you by the hand and heart as it honours the life-defining powers of music and friendship. By turning the tables on the boys-club of record stores, Pollock spins a hilariously acute tale of self-becoming and a feminist future. Fresh and unflinching, it is a sharp debut: immensely fun, deftly wise, and destined for high rotation.
Vanessa Berry