“It ticks boxes actually: sexual abuse, sexual assault, promiscuity, self-medication. “My story is fairly representative of women who have severe problems,” Valentish told Guardian Australia when we sat down with her in May. Woman of Substances: A Journey into Addiction and Treatment by Jenny Valentish (Black Inc.) Old relationships are complicated by the new, and then there is her own diagnosis to contend with.Īn intimate and moving examination of love, family, friendship and betrayal.Īvailable now. Astronomer Lotte has been living at an observatory in South America for years, but now she’s home again surrounded by friends and family that no longer feel like the people she once knew. Gravity Well is another shift in gear, delivered with the same empathetic, observant, confident prose. Her second book, A Long Time Coming, was a collection of essays on ageing and the elderly, which argued, among other things, that aged care should be a feminist issue. Her first novel was the literary thriller Berlin Syndrome (2011), which was made into a film by Cate Shortland and premiered this year at the Sundance film festival. Melanie Joosten’s literary output is as assured as it is eclectic.