Kirjahaku

'Sharp' - The Guardian'Excellent' - Glamour'Darkly funny' - Harper's BAZAAR'Chaotic' - The SkinnyAmelia is no stranger to sex and death.Her job as a cosmetic mortician at her family's funeral parlour might be unusual but she's good at it. When it comes to meeting people who are still breathing she uses dating apps. Combining with someone else's body at night Amelia can become something else, at least for a while.But when a sudden loss severs her ties with someone she loves, Amelia sets off on a seventy-two-hour mission to outrun her grief - skipping out on the funeral, running away to stay with her father in Tasmania and experimenting on the local BDSM scene. There, she learns even more about sex, death, grief and the different ways pain works its way through the body. It'll take a pair of fathers, a bruising encounter wiht a stranger and recognition of her own body's limits to bring Amelia back to herself.Wise and heartbreakingly funny, Ella Baxter’s New Animal is a stunning debut.'Self-destructive anti-heroines are in vogue, but what Amelia's story makes clear is how under-represented female sexuality still is.' – The Telegraph, The Four best Debut Novels to Read'There's a compelling quality to Amelia's honesty that recalls Raven Leilani's Luster or the sex-addicted eponymous narrator of Leïla Slimani's Adele.' - The Irish Times

A thrilling and eccentric novel about what it means to make art as a woman, and about the powerful forces of voyeurism, power, obsession, and online performance Woo Woo follows Sabine, a conceptual artist on the verge of a photo exhibition she hopes will be pivotal, as she plunges deeper into her neuroses and seeks validation in relationships--with her frustratingly rational chef husband, her horde of devoted Gen Z TikTok followers, and even a mysterious, potentially violent stalker. Accompanying her throughout are Sabine's strange alter egos, from hyperrealistic puppets of her as a baby to the ghost of conceptual artist Carolee Schneemann, who shows up with inscrutable yet sage life advice. Ella Baxter approaches the desire to see and be seen that defines both the creative and romantic act with humor, empathy, and a good dose of wildness, driving Sabine to an surreal and compelling climax that forces her--and us--to reconsider what it means to be an artist and a partner.

A thrilling and eccentric novel about what it means to make art as a woman, and about the powerful forces of voyeurism, power, obsession, and online performance Woo Woo follows Sabine, a conceptual artist on the verge of a photo exhibition she hopes will be pivotal, as she plunges deeper into her neuroses and seeks validation in relationships--with her frustratingly rational chef husband, her horde of devoted Gen Z TikTok followers, and even a mysterious, potentially violent stalker. Accompanying her throughout are Sabine's strange alter egos, from hyperrealistic puppets of her as a baby to the ghost of conceptual artist Carolee Schneemann, who shows up with inscrutable yet sage life advice. Ella Baxter approaches the desire to see and be seen that defines both the creative and romantic act with humor, empathy, and a good dose of wildness, driving Sabine to an surreal and compelling climax that forces her--and us--to reconsider what it means to be an artist and a partner.

* 2022 Republic of Consciousness Prize, Longlist.* ABA "Indie Next List" pick for March 2022.* 2022 Best Young Australian Novelists awards, Winner.* Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction, Shortlist.* "A Best Book of 2022" --Glamour, NYLON, Glamour, Refinery29 UK, Harpers BAZAAR UK * "A Most Anticipated Book" --Lit Hub, The MillionsNew Animal is a poignant, darkly comedic look at human connection from a biting and original new voice in Ella Baxter.Amelia Aurelia is approaching thirty and her closest relationships -- other than her mother -- are through her dating apps. She works at the family mortuary business as a cosmetic mortician with her eccentric step-father and older brother, whose throuple's current preoccupation is with what type of snake to adopt. When Amelia's affectionate mother passes away without warning, she is left without anchor. Fleeing the funeral, she seeks solace with her birth-father in Tasmania and stumbles into the local BDSM community, where her riotous attempts to belong are met with confusion, shock, and empathy.Hilarious and heartfelt, New Animal reveals hard-won truths as Amelia struggles to find her place in the world without her mother, with the help of her two well-intentioned fathers and adventures at the kink club.

A thrillingly weird novel about art, obsession, and the feral nature of female creativity. Sabine is a conceptual artist whose latest show, Fuck You, Help Me, is about to launch, when her world begins to unravel. Stalked by a mysterious figure whose approaches grow increasingly threatening, she spirals deeper into her neuroses as exhibition day approaches and her fear transforms into something primal and untamed. Accompanied by her strange alter egos — from hyper-realistic baby puppets to the ghost of performance artist Caroline Schneemann — Sabine hurtles toward a surreal climax that forces a reckoning with what it means to create, to be seen, and to survive as a woman artist in a voyeuristic world. Ella Baxter delivers a blazing work that dissects creativity and obsession with visceral humour and unflinching intensity. Part psychological thriller, part artistic manifesto, Woo Woo is a strange and haunting feast that pulses with rage and crackles with dark energy — a literary firestorm unlike anything else.