Lola Bensky
  • Published: 24 April 2013
  • ISBN: 9780143569190
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $24.99

Lola Bensky

Formats & editions
EBook
25 Sep 2012
Paperback
24 Apr 2013
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A funny and moving novel based on Lily Brett's time as a rock journalist in London and the States in the sixties.

Lola Bensky is a nineteen-year-old rock journalist who irons her hair straight and asks a lot of questions. A high-school dropout, she's not sure how she got the job – but she's been sent by her Australian newspaper right to the heart of the London music scene at the most exciting time in music history: 1967.

In London, New York and LA, Lola interviews the biggest rock stars of the day, including Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger and Janis Joplin. But she begins to wonder whether the questions she asks are really a substitute for questions about her parents' past that can't be asked or answered. With time, she discovers the question of what it means to be human is the hardest one for anyone - including herself - to answer.

Drawing on her own experiences as a young journalist, Lily Brett shows in Lola Bensky just why she is one of our most distinctive and internationally acclaimed authors.

'Brett has created in Lola a typically winning character: curious, self-conscious, naive and neurotic, a wary Jewish girl locked in trench warfare with her waistline.' The Age

'Funny, warm and insightful.' Herald Sun

'A book that will entertain legions of readers.' Courier Mail
  • Published: 24 April 2013
  • ISBN: 9780143569190
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $24.99
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About the author

Lily Brett

Lily Brett was born in Germany and came to Melbourne with her parents in 1948. She is one of Australia's most loved, prolific and successful authors. She has published six works of fiction, nine books of poetry and four essay collections to much critical acclaim in Australia and around the world. She was awarded the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for her novel Too Many Men, and France's Prix Médicis Étranger for Lola Bensky. Lily Brett is married to the Australian painter David Rankin. They have three children and live in New York.

portrait photo of Lily Brett

Also by Lily Brett

Treasure: The film tie-in of Too Many Men
Old Seems to be Other People
Too Many Men
Only in New York
See all

Praise for Lola Bensky

Brett delivers an entertaining story that is also full of heart.

Australian Bookseller and Publisher

A touching look at a woman's quest for self-understanding.

Who Weekly

Funny, warm and insightful.

Herald Sun

For Brett, resolution has come through creative remembering and retelling, and by constructing a fine comic novel from an unspeakable tragedy.

Australian Book Review

A witty novel you'll struggle to put down.

Grazia

A book that will entertain legions of readers.

Courier Mail

An entertaining story that is also full of heart.

Bookseller+Publisher

Lily Brett's heroines exude curiosity and Lola Bensky is no exception.

Sun-Herald

Brett's sixth book hooks you in, not just because of her characteristic wit, but because she was a rock journalist herself back in the day.

Melbourne Times Weekly

Lola Bensky will thrill [Brett's] fans: finally a book based on her extraordinary experiences as a reporter for Australia's first music magazine, Go-Set, during the most exciting era in pop music history.

Australian Jewish News

Awards & recognition

ALS Gold Medal for Australian Literature

Longlisted  •  2013  •  General Category

Australian Book Industry Awards

Shortlisted  •  2013  •  Literary Fiction

International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

Nominated  •  2013  •  General

The Miles Franklin Literary Award

Longlisted  •  2013  •  General

International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

Longlisted  •  2014  •  Best Book