Fifteen-year-old Monk drifts through a monotonous existence in a grimy Chinatown apartment with her “grumpy brown couch” of a dad, until she meets high school senior Santa Coy online. For a moment, it looks like he might be her boyfriend. But when Monk’s dad becomes obsessed with Santa Coy’s artwork, Monk finds herself shunted to the sidelines as her father and the object of her affections begin to hatch a scheme of their own. To keep up, Monk must navigate a combustible cocktail of odd assignments, peculiar places, and murky underworld connections.
In Jamie Marina Lau’s debut novel, shortlisted for Australia’s prestigious Stella Prize when she was nineteen years old, hazily surreal vignettes conjure a multifaceted world of philosophical angst and lackadaisical violence.
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“Emily Woo Zeller hypnotically mingles edgy tones with sultriness in this noir-style debut novel…Zeller brings out the intensity of visceral descriptions that capture the teen’s experiences of both warmth and disquieting disappointment…Zeller’s powerful performance adds texture to the story, making for an absorbing listening experience for those who enjoy coming-of-age narratives. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
“[A] deliciously disjointed novel…[with] fizzingly short chapters and an ultra-contemporary plot that seems tailor-made to appeal to distracted digital natives.”
— Elle (Australia)Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Jamie Marina Lau is a twenty-three-year-old multidisciplinary writer and artist. Her debut novel Pink Mountain on Locust Island won the 2018 Melbourne Prize Readings Residency Award; was shortlisted for the 2019 Stella Prize, the 2019 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, the 2018 Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, and the Australia Literature Society Gold Medal. Her writing can also be found in various publications. She is currently in the process of writing her second novel, Gunk Baby, working on various projects, and producing music.
Emily Woo Zeller is an artist, actor, dancer, choreographer, and voice artist who has won Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration in 2018. She began her voice-over career by voicing animation in Asia. AudioFile magazine named her one of the Best Voices of 2013 for her work in Gulp. Other awards include the 2009 Tristen Award for Best Actress as Sally Bowles in Cabaret and the 2006 Roselyn E. Schneider Prize for Creative Achievement.