Recorded for launch by Melbourne author Clare Strahan
Never Look Desperate is Sedaris meets Fleabag, a tragi-comedy romance set in Melbourne 2023. It features: cremation bling, pineapple underwear, grief and vaccinated cruise ships. The central characters Bernard, Goldie and Minh are everything TED Talks tell you not to be.
The story tackles the absurdity of despair in a recovering world, the liberation from isolation and the wild frontier of middle-aged Tinder.
A strong voice in Australian writing…Matthews writes absurdity, vulnerability and resilience exquisitely well… You will not only fall in love with the three central characters…you will see yourself in them.
Cheryl Akle, Weekend Australian
Matthews’ third novel is about healing after loss and it is darkly funny, yes, but it offers a lot more than that too. In alternating chapters, we grow to love three very different people: hapless 49-year-old Bernard, recovering from the death of his wife and father in the wake of Melbourne’s lockdowns; his fierce and unforgiving mother, Goldie, who he is furious with; and the singular Minh, 54 and isolated, who comes across Bernard on a dating app. The character we don’t meet is also the book’s warmest: Marvin, the man Goldie and Bernard both lost, who we hope might bring them together.
Steph Harmon, The Guardian
Matthews writes with unflinching honesty tempered by humour and a wise compassion. Touching, funny and sexy, Never Look Desperate is transgressive but hugely readable.
Clare Strahan, author of Cracked and The Learning Curves of Vanessa Partridge
Matthews’s voice is funny and wry and heartbreakingly honest. She has empathy for everyone – even those of us who, like Bernard, are a little bit hopeless but not entirely without hope.
Toni Jordan, author of Pretty If She Smiled More & Addition
Rachel Matthews understands the pleasures of tragi-comedy and knows exactly how to deliver them – the giggle that turns into a sob, the delight that morphs into insight, the black humour that assuages grief. The vulnerabilities of her characters make you want to scold them, scoop them up and tell them you love them.
Sian Prior, author of Shy: A Memoir & Childless: A Story of Freedom and Longing
Matthews writes with unflinching honesty tempered by humour and a wise compassion. Touching, funny and sexy, Never Look Desperate is transgressive but hugely readable.
Clare Strahan, author of Cracked and The Learning Curves of Vanessa Partridge
Dense, wry, glorious and tragic … figures who lodge deep in the heart … the unravelling and humiliation of being human … with humour, complexity and wit. There are precarious moments evoked in the wider cultural backdrop to this story – the post-viral anxiety runs like a vein beneath the characters’ every thought. This work feels timely and tender.’
Ilka Tampke, author of Skin & Songwoman
Subscribe to get a copy of the first chapter of Rachel’s new book “Never Look Desperate”, as well as regular updates
Subscribe to get a copy of the first chapter of Rachel Matthews’ book “Siren”, as well as regular updates
Subscribe to get a copy of the first chapter of Rachel Matthews’ book “Vinyl Inside”, as well as regular updates