Bondi Literary Salon November Book Club: All Fours

Join the Bondi Literary Salon for our second of two November book clubs. This book club will be hosted by Kelly Doust and Emma Harcourt! In our gathering, we will discuss Miranda July's novel, All Fours.

WHEN: Wednesday, 13th November 2024, at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore; please arrive at 6.45pm for a prompt 7pm start.

TICKETS: Admission; $25.00 (excluding external fees). Your ticket includes a drink on arrival and nibbles during the evening.

The New York Times bestselling author of The First Bad Man returns with an irreverently sexy, tender, hilarious and literary novel about a woman upending her life.

About the book: All Fours

A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country from LA to NY. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, beds down in a nondescript motel and immerses herself in a temporary reinvention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey.Miranda July's second novel confirms the brilliance of her unique approach to fiction. With July's wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, All Fours tells the story of one woman's quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic and domestic life of a 45-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectations while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman. Once again, July hijacks the familiar and turns it into something new and thrillingly, profoundly alive.

About the author: Miranda July

Miranda July is a writer, filmmaker and artist. Her most recent book is The First Bad Man, a novel. July's collection of stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You, won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and has been published in 23 countries. Her writing has appeared in the Paris Review, Harper's, and the New Yorker; It Chooses You was her first book of non-fiction. She wrote, directed and starred in The Future and Me and You and Everyone We Know, which won the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and a Special Jury Prize at Sundance. In 2020 she debuted her third feature film, Kajillionaire. July lives in Los Angeles.

“A frank novel about a midlife awakening, which is funnier and more boldly human than you ever quite expect . . . nothing short of riveting.” —Vogue

About the host: Kelly Doust

Kelly Doust is a book publisher at Affirm Press who specialises in commercial fiction and non-fiction for women readers. A writer of 8 books of her own - on various topics from craft and fashion to positive ageing and two works of historical fiction - her most favourite novels are feminist, epic and nuanced. Think Brother of the More Famous Jack, Isabel Allende’s House of the Spirits and more recently, Natalie Haynes’ Stone Blind, Maggie O’Farrell’s The Marriage Portrait and Emily Perkins’ Lioness.

About the host: Emma Harcourt

Emma Harcourt is an author, researcher and journalist. She began writing historical fiction while completing the Faber Academy Writing a Novel course and now spends all her available hours either researching history or writing about. As a young adult she travelled to Florence to learn Italian and fell in love with the place. From there she moved to London where she lived for ten years before eventually returning to Australia to raise her son. She's now based in Sydney with her teenage daughters. When she's not writing or researching history, you'll find her reading in her garden.

About The Bondi Literary Salon

Bondi Literary Salon was established in 2018, it is the in-house book club of beloved Bondi institution, Gertrude & Alice. The Bondi Literary Salon endeavours to explore the vast world of literature each month, with a selection that reflects a focus on diverse writers and stories; delving into both classic and contemporary fiction, as well as non-fiction. 

Our philosophy has always been to use language and literature not only as a tool for connection and community, but as an insight into worlds we have not had the pleasure of visiting ourselves. We welcome all - young and old, those with a life-long love of literature, or whose relationship may be only beginning. Join us in the unmatched comfort of an after-hours bookstore, accompanied by wine and cheese, for an evening spent discussing books and building community. 

About Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore

Rated as one of the top 10 bookstores in the world by National Geographic, Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore is an oasis for writers, readers, and coffee lovers. Books overflow from the shelves of their store, featuring a mix of new, second-hand, antiquarian and rare books. Stay a while & enjoy some home made chai, and amazing coffee, and unearth a book treasure or two. Read more about the bookstore's story here, and about the real Gertrude & Alice here.

“All Fours has spurred a whisper network of women fantasizing about desire and freedom. . . . It’s the talk of every group text.”—The New York Times