The city was in the same place. But was it the same city? Alice stands outside her family’s 1950s red brick veneer, unsure if she should approach. It has been sixteen years, but it’s clear she is out of options.

Lydia opens the door to a familiar stranger – thirty-nine, tall, bony, pale. She knows her sister immediately. But something isn’t right. Meanwhile her son, George, is upstairs, still refusing to speak, and lost in a virtual world of his own design.

Nothing is as it was, and while the sisters’ resentments flare, it seems that the city too is agitated. People wake up to streets that have rearranged themselves, in houses that have moved to different parts of town. Tensions rise and the authorities have no answers. The internet becomes alight with conspiracy theories.

As the world lurches around them, Alice’s secret will be revealed, and the ground at their feet will no longer be so firm.

Rhett Davis’ debut novel Hovering is an ambitious and imaginative novel straddling the border between literary and magical realism. It feels like one of those literary novels that is so clever in its imagery and symbolism, you can’t quite capture it all in one sitting.

Rhett’s novel feels unique in its form — with short chapters resembling a staccato stylistic technique, Rhett experiments with form throughout the novel. From HTML code to chat room or forum conversations, interview transcripts, text messages and spreadsheets detailing movements and dialogue, Hovering does make you feel like you’re moving through some sort of surreal tale.

“Some on the forums recommended exercise, so if he felt an attack coming, he tried to go for a run. When he ran, the noise of his blood drowned out the noise of what he thought might be the universe.”

Anyone who has lived away from home, or spent some time living away from where they were raised, will recognise some of the feelings and emotions brought to life in this story — the strange complexity of returning home and feeling like it’s different to what you remembered.

Written in what feels like a staccato voice — short scenes and chapters — we gain glimpses of the main characters like puzzle pieces. Two sisters with damaged history, and a teenage boy who won’t speak. A town that feels disrupted and fractured, like it’s shifted in recent years. It throws the reader into a sense of (intended) unease.

“The next day, the front door of Fay and Luis Montana’s house had been moved several metres to the left. It now opened on their bedroom. Fay stood at the door in a Malinda Banksia Festival 20—t-shirt, looking out at the street in some confusion.”

Themes in the novel include climate change, climate collapse, art and identity, artistic morality and legacy. Hovering explores urban development and how a city can adapt or reconfigure over time, soon becoming something you don’t even recognise.

Admittedly, the novel feels really slow-paced, but I sense that’s intentional. The short scenes counteract this and help keep the story moving without making the reader feel like events are happening too slowly.

“Alice had left Fraser in a rage. She was angry at her sister, at her parents, at her friends, at the city itself. They were all so backwards. They wanted nothing but comfort and gourmet burgers and new screens. They lived off the proceeds of a land that wasn’t theirs and permitted it by acknowledging if before public events and occasionally raising the Indigenous flag.”

Taut and original, Hovering is recommended for readers of literary fiction. Readership skews 30+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hovering
Rhett Davis
March 2022
Hachette Book Publishers

From the outside the parents of the kindergarten class at Darley Heights primary school seem to have it all. Living in the wealthy Sydney suburbs, it’s a community where everyone knows each other – and secrets don’t stay secret for long.

The big date in the calendar is the school’s annual fundraising trivia night, but when the evening gets raucously out of hand, talk turns to partner-swapping. Initially scandalised, it’s not long before a group of parents make a reckless one-night-only pact.

But in the harsh light of day, those involved must face the fallout of their behaviour. As they begin to navigate the shady aftermath of their wild night, the truth threatens to rip their perfect lives apart – and revenge turns fatal.

Ali Lowe’s debut novel The Trivia Night centres around one booze-filled night where a group of married adults decide to partner-swap. Married but fractured, each couple has something to overcome in the wake of the disastrous trivia night.

The novel explores perfection, identity and relationships. It’s about how we see ourselves, how we wish others saw us, and the complexities surrounding adult friendships. The Trivia Night is guilty-pleasure book club fiction — each chapter leads well into the perspective that follows, keeping the reader engaged and moving through the plot with quickened pace.

“Back in the hall with Alice, I was suddenly aware of my empty hands. I needed a drink. Anything would do. I picked up a half-drunk glass of punch from a chair beside the photo booth, complete with a fuchsia lipstick print on the rim, and downed it.”

At its core, The Trivia Night is about relationships and marriage. One couple have been trying so hard to fall pregnant it’s practically a chore now. Another couple are still reeling from the sudden departure from their child’s previous school, and one mother is drinking an alarming amount of alcohol. When these four couples are seated together at a trivia night, it triggers a series of events that force them to each look at their relationship and decide, what do they really want out of their marriage?

The novel very easily slots into the commercial book club category — the events of the story are salacious, sordid and scandalous. But there are many layers to this book and its characters that readers will relate to. Some of these characters are trying so hard to pretend they’re happy, they’re disastrously miserable. Some of these relationships may appear strong at first, but it doesn’t take long to see the cracks. Young parents will recognise the setting of the book as well as the sorts of parents you might meet at the school gate.

“Did she want to destroy me so much that she would do something like that? I must have been wearing a mask of terror, because Alice read it perfectly, as she often did by virtue of the length of our friendship.”

Ali Lowe does spend considerable time setting up each of the characters and their circumstances. Admittedly, it’s not until about halfway through the book that the trivia night actually kicks off, which does feel considerably delayed.

Perhaps there was more room to delve into the aftermath of the trivia night, because there were eight adults present on that night and I felt there wasn’t enough real estate in the latter end of the book to realistically delve into all that occurred. Additionally, the death that’s teased in the blurb definitely appears too late in the novel, almost like an afterthought. The death could’ve been teased throughout the novel from very early on, reeling the reader in with each delicate clue.

Despite this, one of Ali’s strengths is capturing the setting as well the gossipy nature of its residents. From posh households to fast-moving rumours, parents will be able to relate to this setting with ease.

“Let me say at this juncture that Pete was never much of a romantic, so I wasn’t surprised. Neither of us were particularly demonstrative beyond the odd hug and a handhold. We didn’t need to be. We’ve always been pretty secure in our relationship.”

Recommended for readers of commercial domestic fiction — scandalous tales of marriage and sex. The perfect beach read or airport purchase. Readership skews female, 30+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Trivia Night
Ali Lowe
March 2022
Hachette Book Publishers