Good On Paper

Winner Melbourne Lord Mayor's Creative Writing Awards, 2010

Somewhere out there, among the wounded egos and frustrated ambitions, among the mangled manuscripts, murky motives and missed deadlines — the great Australian novel is waiting to be discovered.

When infamous author Josh Henry resurfaces from obscurity, a Melbourne independent publisher of the old school can't believe his luck. Enter freelance editor Nettie Brown with a simple brief: Make contact, get the manuscript, deliver the inevitable masterpiece.

But this is no ordinary novelist and no ordinary novel — Nettie is enlisted to help produce a new, improved version of one of the most spectacular failures of the previous decade.

It should be a simple job. Instead, she finds herself caught between her desperate employer, an unhinged author, and her own conflicted feelings. Can she read between the lines and discover the truth before the author, the publishers and her livelihood succumb to the final cut?

Part mystery, part satire, Good on Paper casts a cool editorial eye over the unbelievable characters, implausible events and underdeveloped ideas that make the books we love. A witty and elegant parody of the world of publishing.