Hydra

Anja is a young, ambitious antiquarian, passionate for the clean and balanced lines of mid-century furniture. She is intent on classifying objects based on emotional response and when her career goes awry, Anja finds herself adrift. Like a close friend, she confesses her intimacies and rage to us with candour, tenderness, and humour.

Cast out from the world of antiques, she stumbles upon a beachside cottage that the neighbouring naval base is offering for a 100-year lease. The property is derelict, isolated, and surrounded by scrub. Despite of, or because of, its wildness and solitude, Anja uses the last of the inheritance from her mother to lease the property. Yet a presence human, ghost, other seemingly inhabits the grounds.

Hydra is a novel of dark suspense and mental disquiet, struck through with black humour., Adriane Howell beguilingly explores notions of moral culpability, revenge, memory, and narrative all through the female lens of freedom and constraint. She holds us captive to the last page.

'From the treacherous auction houses of Melbourne to the sun-struck islands of Greece, Hydra took me places I never expected to go. Adriane Howell writes with the dreamy precision of Marguerite Duras, the humour-laced disquiet of Patricia Highsmith. A fever dream of a debut elegant, savage, and delightfully unhinged.' Laura Elizabeth Woollett, author of Beautiful Revolutionary and The Newcomer

'A puzzle box of creeping dread, Hydra had me questioning my own grasp on reality. This is sophisticated, genre-defying literary fiction of the first order.' Bram Presser, author of The Book of Dirt

'Hydra crosses planes; it is superb, distinct, and breathtaking. It surprises, disturbs and enthrals at every turn.' Angela Meyer, author of A Superior Spectre and Moon Sugar

Adriane Howell's debut novel Hydra is unsettling and dreamlike. In its folds, the strange and unflinching Anja becomes the reader's friend-because we're privy to her thoughts, because she tolerates our presence, and because there's no-one else. She's an ambitious antiquarian who returns to the office after a period of leave. In a moment of dedication to an antique chair, and to her career, Anja injures a woman and is fired. It's an unjust turn of events and we can feel revenge brewing within her. Anja leaves the world of antiques and stumbles upon a seaside cottage near a naval base. On a whim she signs a 100-year lease and moves in amid the ragged sea air and wild scrub. But something about her new home is not right-she feels like she's being watched, perhaps by an inhuman presence. Anja is not a very likeable person, but she is a very likeable character. We're on her side, rooting for our protagonist despite her unruly inner monologue and questionable decisions. Anja's behaviour almost follows dream logic but her bizarre choices are met with sound responses from the world around her, creating moments of disjunction when her inner life and the outside world clash. Howell's writing is thrilling and haunting. Through it she delves into memory, revenge and the consequences of loneliness. Similar to Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Hydra is a book for readers who love still nights, urban legends and unhinged protagonists. Danielle Bagnato is a book reviewer and marketing and communications professional.

Adriane Howell is a Melbourne-based arts worker and writer who has lived in Paris and Johannesburg. In 2013 she graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Master of Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing. She is co-founder of the literary journal Gargouille. Hydra is her debut novel.

Anja is a young, ambitious antiquarian, passionate for the clean and balanced lines of mid-century furniture. She is intent on classifying objects based on emotional response and when her career goes awry, Anja finds herself adrift. Like a close friend, she confesses her intimacies and rage to us with candour, tenderness, and humour. Cast out from the world of antiques, she stumbles upon a beachside cottage that the neighbouring naval base is offering for a 100-year lease. The property is derelict, isolated, and surrounded by scrub. Despite of, or because of, its wildness and solitude, Anja uses the last of the inheritance from her mother to lease the property. Yet a presence - human, ghost, other - seemingly inhabits the grounds. Hydra is a novel of dark suspense and mental disquiet, struck through with black humour. , Adriane Howell beguilingly explores notions of moral culpability, revenge, memory, and narrative - all through the female lens of freedom and constraint. She holds us captive to the last page. 'From the treacherous auction houses of Melbourne to the sun-struck islands of Greece, Hydra took me places I never expected to go. Adriane Howell writes with the dreamy precision of Marguerite Duras, the humour-laced disquiet of Patricia Highsmith. A fever dream of a debut - elegant, savage, and delightfully unhinged.' - Laura Elizabeth Woollett, author of Beautiful Revolutionary and The Newcomer 'A puzzle box of creeping dread, Hydra had me questioning my own grasp on reality. This is sophisticated, genre-defying literary fiction of the first order.' - Bram Presser, author of The Book of Dirt ' Hydra crosses planes; it is superb, distinct, and breathtaking. It surprises, disturbs and enthrals at every turn.' - Angela Meyer, author of A Superior Spectre and Moon Sugar

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