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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A witty, profound and painfully relatable debut novel exploring solitude, desire, and the allure of chasing something that promises nothing.
'Hera Stephen is clawing through her mid-twenties, working as an underpaid comment moderator in an overly air-conditioned newsroom by day and kicking around Sydney with her two best friends by night. Instead of money or stability, she has so far accrued one ex-girlfriend, several hundred hangovers and a dog-eared novel collection.
'While everyone around her seems to have slipped effortlessly into adulthood, Hera has spent the years since school caught between feeling that she is purposefully rejecting traditional markers of success to forge a life of her own and wondering if she's actually just being left behind. Then she meets Arthur, an older, married colleague. Intoxicated by the promise of ordinary happiness he represents, Hera falls headlong into a workplace romance that everyone, including her, knows is doomed to fail.
'With her daringly specific and intimate voice, Madeleine Gray has created an irresistible and messy love story about the terrible allure of wanting something that promises nothing; about the joys and indignities of coming into adulthood against the pitfalls of the twenty-first century; and the winding, torturous and often very funny journey we take in deciding who we are and who we want to be.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
- Large print.
Works about this Work
-
Best of 2023 in Australian Reading
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2024;
— Review of Shirley 2023 single work novel ; Praiseworthy 2023 single work novel ; Search History 2023 single work novel ; Green Dot 2023 single work novel ; Songs for the Dead and the Living 2023 single work novel ; Notes on Her Colour 2023 single work novel ; Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens 2022 single work novel ; Crossing the Line 2023 single work autobiography ; Anam 2023 single work novel -
Sad Girl Novels like Madeleine Gray's Green Dot Are Everywhere Right Now. What's behind This Literary Trend?
2024
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , February 2024; -
The Novel (As Haunted by the Listicle)
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2023;
— Review of Green Dot 2023 single work novel -
Green Dot by Madeleine Gray Review – A Sassy Love Story with a Bleak Worldview
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 27 October 2023;
— Review of Green Dot 2023 single work novel'Debut novel is carried by the self-aware snark of the besotted protagonist – an endearingly messy twentysomething ensnared by insecurities'
-
Madeleine Gray : Green Dot
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 30 September - 6 October 2023;
— Review of Green Dot 2023 single work novel'Is there anything more deeply cursed than being a woman in your 20s? Novelists have been mining this period of life for years, but few get it as well as Madeleine Gray, whose debut, in a droll internet-style voice, hits the nail on the head. Reading this book was like being thrust underneath an X-ray machine and seeing all the most repulsive parts of myself; like picking at a scab repeatedly, knowing it will scar but delighting in the sick sensation. Disgusting! More please!' (Introduction)
-
Madeleine Gray : Green Dot
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 30 September - 6 October 2023;
— Review of Green Dot 2023 single work novel'Is there anything more deeply cursed than being a woman in your 20s? Novelists have been mining this period of life for years, but few get it as well as Madeleine Gray, whose debut, in a droll internet-style voice, hits the nail on the head. Reading this book was like being thrust underneath an X-ray machine and seeing all the most repulsive parts of myself; like picking at a scab repeatedly, knowing it will scar but delighting in the sick sensation. Disgusting! More please!' (Introduction)
-
Green Dot by Madeleine Gray Review – A Sassy Love Story with a Bleak Worldview
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 27 October 2023;
— Review of Green Dot 2023 single work novel'Debut novel is carried by the self-aware snark of the besotted protagonist – an endearingly messy twentysomething ensnared by insecurities'
-
The Novel (As Haunted by the Listicle)
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2023;
— Review of Green Dot 2023 single work novel -
Best of 2023 in Australian Reading
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2024;
— Review of Shirley 2023 single work novel ; Praiseworthy 2023 single work novel ; Search History 2023 single work novel ; Green Dot 2023 single work novel ; Songs for the Dead and the Living 2023 single work novel ; Notes on Her Colour 2023 single work novel ; Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens 2022 single work novel ; Crossing the Line 2023 single work autobiography ; Anam 2023 single work novel -
Sad Girl Novels like Madeleine Gray's Green Dot Are Everywhere Right Now. What's behind This Literary Trend?
2024
single work
column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , February 2024;
Awards
- 2024 shortlisted Booksellers Choice Award BookPeople Book of the Year — Adult Fiction Book of the Year
- 2024 winner Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — The Matt Richell Award for New Writer
- 2024 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — Australian General Fiction Book of the Year
- 2024 longlisted APA Book Design Awards — Best Designed Commercial Fiction Cover designed by Alissa Dinallo.
- 2024 shortlisted Indie Awards — Debut Fiction