Riptides
Finalist, American PEN/Bellwether Prize
Longlist, Bath Novel Award
High Commendation, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards
December 1974. Abby Campbell and her brother Charlie are driving to their father’s farm on a dark country road when they swerve into the path of another car, forcing it into a tree. The pregnant driver is killed instantly.
Abby and Charlie make a fateful decision. They flee, hoping heavy rain will erase the fact they were there. They both have too much to lose.
The siblings decide to keep their crime hidden from their family and closest friends. But the truth is more complicated than they realise. The driver had secrets of her own. And the police have a curious connection with her...
Set in Queensland in a time of tremendous social upheaval, Riptides explores the push-pull of family, dreams, and other people’s expectations. It asks: what is it that you really want from life, and what is it you deserve?
“Riptides is an absolute tour de force, a tempest of a novel that examines the fragility and strength of family, the impacts of our decisions, truth and lies, loyalty and betrayal, set against the backdrop of the pyrotechnic mid-1970s in Queensland…floods, cyclones, Test cricket, Fleetwood Mac, the advent of colour television, the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub massacre, beers on the veranda at Brisbane’s Regatta Hotel, crooked cops, hippie communes, and a relentless sub-tropical humidity that threatens to combust each page of this thrilling book at any given moment. Beating beneath it all is that universal question – what does it mean to be human? I found Riptides simply unputdownable.”
MATTHEW CONDON, Night Dragon, Jacks and Jokers (among others)
Published by:
Penguin Random House (Australia & NZ, February 2020)
Riptides on Spotify
Riptides is set in Australia in 1974 and 1975. These were the years of early disco, pop, funk, reggae, glam rock, hard rock, and heavy metal. Punk and hip-hop were on the horizon. Film scores were elevated to art form. The two narrators of Riptides are in their mid-twenties when the story opens. This is the music they listen to and love.
Listen to Abby’s playlist here.
Listen to Charlie’s playlist here.
Events
EVENT: Monash Libraries WordFest Festival, 8 July 2021, online q&a
EVENT: Brisbane Writers Festival, 17 April 2021, online forum
EVENT: Clunes Booktown on Sundays, 19 April 2020, 2pm
Cancelled due to Covid19
EVENT: In conversation, Avid Reader Bookshop, 26 March 2020, 6pm
Cancelled due to Covid19
EVENT: The Wheeler Centre, 23 March 2020, 6pm
Cancelled due to Covid19
EVENT: Talk at the National Library, Canberra, 18 March 2019
Cancelled due to Covid19
EVENT: Chat 10 Looks 3 Canberra Bookclub night, 18 March 2019
Cancelled due to Covid19
EVENT: In conversation, Fairfield Books, 4 March, 7pm
An evening with Kate Murdoch and Kirsten Alexander. All welcome!
EVENT: Sisters in Crime evening, The Rising Sun Hotel, 21 February 2020, 8pm
An evening with Sulari Gentill, Kirsty Manning, Dr Kelly Gardiner and Kirsten Alexander. All welcome!
LAUNCH EVENT: The Avenue Bookstore, 6 February 2020, from 6pm
Please join us at The Avenue Bookstore, 434 Glenhuntly Road, Elsternwick for wine, champagne, snacks and chat. All welcome!
Media
Herald-Sun newspaper review, 25 April 2020
This novel starts with a bang, an absolutely gripping opener, that draws you into a story that slowly unravels before your eyes, drip feeding titbits and plot twists that will keep you utterly hooked in this cleverly woven family drama.
Australian Women’s Weekly magazine, May 2020
Recommended reading
Newtown Review of Books review, 2 April 2020
With an intricate, flawed and complicated cast of characters, and a backdrop of recent history that many of us will remember, Alexander has given herself the perfect setting to explore issues such as blame, guilt, loss, grief, redemption, responsibility, trust, loyalty and the ties that bind. Riptides is categorised as a crime novel but it’s likewise a very different beast from the usual crime fiction offering. Unlike the McGahan, it isn’t intended to be humorous, but it’s certainly as shocking, revealing what can go wrong in the lives of a lot of people when the maelstrom hits. It should appeal to anybody seeking some understanding of human behaviour at its best and worst.
Weekend West newspaper (Perth), 28 March 2020
Canberra Weekly, Book Talk, 26 March 2020
Set in Queensland during the turbulent 1970s, this is a powerful and tragic Australian drama that is hard to put down.
New Idea magazine, 9 March 2020
Must-read: 7 Thrillers to Keep You Gripped This Month. A captivating and powerful read.
Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, Spectrum magazine, 7 March 2020
…there is a widening downward spiral in this well-crafted page-turner as more and more people and problems become involved in the investigation. Kirsten Alexander's suspenseful plot and evocative recreation of the time and place cover a range of topics including police corruption, which becomes a central element of the plot.
Sunday Age newspaper, 1 March 2020
Sunday Life Loves… Set in Queensland in the 1970s, Kirsten Alexander's Riptides is the riveting tale of siblings Charlie and Abby and the repercussions that follow their fateful decision to leave the scene, and the victim, of a car accident.
InStyle magazine, 1 March 2020
Kirsten Alexander Alexander's second novel, this taut thriller and family drama is set in the tumultuous 1970s in Queensland, and has drawn serious critical acclaim.
Canberra Times review, 22 February 2020
Alexander tackles questions of responsibility, dishonesty and the possibility of atonement and redemption in this fascinating book. (…) you will return again and again to the issues raised by the novel after finishing it. Riptides is inescapably engaging.
The Saturday Courier Mail (Brisbane) and Hobart Mercury newspapers, 22 February 2020
An interview with Arts Editor Phil Brown
Canberra Times review, 22 February 2020
Kirsten Alexander tackles questions of responsibility, dishonesty and the possibility of atonement and redemption in this fascinating book. You may be infuriated by the main characters, but you will return again and again to the issues raised by the novel after finishing it. Riptides is inescapably engaging.
Town & Country Magazine, 22 February 2020
A fascinating book that forces readers to take sides.
Vision Australia Radio, 20 February 2020
Interview with Frances Keyland
Sunday Times (Perth), 16 February 2020
Kirsten Alexander's second novel explores the strength and vulnerability of our most important relationships through vibrant dialogue and a first-person narrative shared by Abby and Charlie. Set in 1970s Queensland, the sticky heat radiates off the pages, and the siblings' inner turmoil through every plot twist is visceral. As in her debut, Half Moon Lake, Alexander examines how the choices we make can impact our identities and what makes us human.
ABC Radio Friday Review, 14 February 2020
Victorian Postcard segment with Brian Nankervis and Jacinta Parsons
Who Weekly magazine, 10 February 2020
From the author of last year's acclaimed Half Moon Lake, this is a suspenseful read about guilt and grief.
ABC Radio Melbourne, 5 February 2020
Interview with Jacinta Parsons
So You Want to be a Writer, 5 February 2020
Podcast interview with host Valerie Koo from the Australian Writers’ Centre
ABC Radio Perth, 4 February 2020
Interview with Barry Nichols
Words and Nerds podcast, February 2020
A conversation with host Dani Vee
BNE Magazine, 1 February 2020
Reader’s Digest magazine, 1 February 2020
A taut psychological thriller set in 1970s suburbia, Riptides offers insight into human grief and impulse decisions.
WHO Weekly magazine, 31 January 2020
Book review
Weekly Times (Melbourne), 29 January 2020
Riptides is a ride on a rolling barrel wave. Exhilarating from start to finish with unstoppable momentum, the chapters fly by so easily, and it's over disappointingly quickly. Kirsten Alexander's writing is punchy and evocative.
The Winding Narrative, 16 January 2020
An interview with Andrea Barton