Shirley

A very astute, very stylish and very funny novel that establishes Ronnie Scott as a tremendously gifted social portraitist. I was enthralled.

Michelle de Kretser

Razor sharp and original writing that is funny and profound. Ronnie Scott is a major talent.

Annabel Crabb, Chat 10 Looks 3

Ronnie Scott’s Shirley is the book I’ve been waiting for: intimate, elegant and gritty. I absolutely adore Shirley.

Laura Jean McKay

Beautifully perceptive, Ronnie Scott’s Shirley unfolds with an elegant tension that is a tantalising delight.

Mirandi Riwoe

Shirley is playful and mournful and utterly captivating. Ronnie Scott's new novel radiates warmth and wisdom, and it confirms him as one of the most exciting writers working today.

Andrew Pippos

Shirley is funny, timely and constantly surprising. There’s no other writer quite like Ronnie Scott.

Victoria Hannan

A beautiful, arresting, and incredibly funny novel about growing into oneself and learning to love without ego.

Ellena Savage

The most interesting protagonist I’ve read in years. Scott is at once our very own Anita Brookner and a unique and distinctly modern author who writes our world, our fears, and our foibles for us.

Laura McPhee-Browne

Scott writes with the narrative intimacy of someone like Helen Garner, inviting you deeply into a life . . . Finishing the book comes with a sense of loss, that you won’t be able to just wander past the house or pop into our narrator’s apartment for a martini.

Bec Kavanagh, The Guardian

Shirley is assured, blackly funny and playful . . . Scott’s struggling, self-perceptive characters see themselves as vulnerable, yet smarter than their therapists. Could existential dread and irony come any funnier or more poignant?

Gay Lynch, The Conversation

Shirley is an engaging read with a dynamic female lead that makes a refreshing change from all the 'sad girl' novels that fill the new release shelves. It sparkles with great dialogue, believable characters, hunger-inducing descriptions of food and a vivid inner-city setting. Its interesting observations about love and trust, foodie culture, work-life balance, and the relationship between employers and their staff are simply an added bonus.

Kim Forrester, Reading Matters