Small Joys of Real Life

LONGLISTED FOR THE MATT RICHELL AWARD FOR NEW WRITER OF THE YEAR, ABIA AWARDS 2022

'a painful, beautiful novel that is a welcome addition to Australia's growing crop of women-centred millennial fiction' Books + Publishing

The night Eva shared a smile with Pat, something started. Two weeks later, lying together in her bed, Pat said, 'You can't live your life saying you'll get around to doing something you know will make you happy. You just have to do it.'

Eva didn't know how devastating those words would turn out to be. Pat dies and the aftershock leaves Eva on unsteady ground. She is pregnant. And she has to make a choice.

Suddenly, the world that she at times already questioned, her career, her roommates and friends, and life in the inner-city are all even harder to navigate. Her best friends, Sarah and Annie, are also dealing with the shifts and changes of their late twenties, and each of them will at times let the others down.

Small Joys of Real Life is a poignant and unpredictable novel from an exciting new literary talent about how the life you have can change in an instant. It's about friendship, desire, loss and growing up to accept that all you can do is be in the moment and look to find the joys in between.

'It's the little bursts of good in what could be described as a modern-millennial tragedy that makes Allee Richards' debut novel the poignant work that it is' The Guardian

'an exploration and, in many ways, celebration of the untidy years of young adult lives, and all the tragic and surprising loss, love and wonder that entails' The Age

'Richards brilliantly navigates the trials and tribulations of your late twenties' ArtsHub

“Richards has captured a moment in time succinctly and realistically. This is very much a novel of the friendships formed and fortified in our 20s, and of grief, self-absorption and desire. This absorbing story's greatest strength is in the exploration of the space between friends, and the crossroads each has arrived at. - VPLA judgesSMALL JOYS OF REAL LIFE exudes freshness and authenticity; it reads as something utterly of the moment. Richards' writing is punchy and will appeal to readers everywhere. - Richell Prize judges”

'... a tender, perceptive debut novel' NATIONAL [PRINT] Review, The Weekend Australian

Allee Richards' short fiction has been published widely in Australian literary magazines and anthologies, including Kill Your Darlings, The Best Australian Stories, New Australian Fiction, Best Summer Stories, The Lifted Brow, Voiceworks and Australian Book Review. Her debut novel, Small Joys of Real Life, was shortlisted for the 2019 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers and the 2020 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. A Light in the Dark is her second novel. Allee lives in Melbourne and works as a theatre lighting technician.

'a painful, beautiful novel that is a welcome addition to Australia's growing crop of women-centred millennial fiction' Books + Publishing The night Eva shared a smile with Pat, something started. Two weeks later, lying together in her bed, Pat said, 'You can't live your life saying you'll get around to doing something you know will make you happy. You just have to do it.' Eva didn't know how devastating those words would turn out to be. Pat dies and the aftershock leaves Eva on unsteady ground. She is pregnant. And she has to make a choice.Suddenly, the world that she at times already questioned, her career, her roommates and friends, and life in the inner-city are all even harder to navigate. Her best friends, Sarah and Annie, are also dealing with the shifts and changes of their late twenties, and each of them will at times let the others down. Small Joys of Real L ife is a poignant and unpredictable novel from an exciting new literary talent about how the life you have can change in an instant. It's about friendship, desire, loss and growing up to accept that all you can do is be in the moment and look to find the joys in between. 'It's the little bursts of good in what could be described as a modern-millennial tragedy that makes Allee Richards' debut novel the poignant work that it is' The Guardian 'an exploration and, in many ways, celebration of the untidy years of young adult lives, and all the tragic and surprising loss, love and wonder that entails' The Age 'Richards brilliantly navigates the trials and tribulations of your late twenties' ArtsHub

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