Join us on Thursday 16 July for a special author event with Sally Piper in-conversation with Kris Olsson for Sally's latest novel, People Like Us.

Brave, compassionate and humorous, People Like Us is a novel about the very best kind of friendships.

After Tina Lamb loses her family home in a bitter divorce, she finds herself living in a caravan on the city’s fringes. Having raised four children and nursed her dying mum, she was not anticipating making a new start alone or from scratch. And while some of her new neighbours are welcoming, she soon finds herself getting far more attention than she bargained for.

When Tina finds work caring for a wealthy elderly woman, it is a welcome break from an ageist, sexist job market. But Mrs Bell is anything but predictable. Highly educated, acerbic and intimidating, she is not the straightforward charge that Tina had hoped for. As the two women form an unlikely friendship, they soon discover that financial security is about more than having money.

Topical and absorbing, People Like Us celebrates the power of female friendships and the promise of new beginnings found in unexpected places.

Sally Piper is the author of three novels: Grace’s Table (2014); The Geography of Friendship (2018), which was shortlisted for the ABIA Small Publishers’ Adult Book of the Year; and Bone Memories (2022), a finalist in the Queensland Literary Awards for a Work of State Significance and the People’s Choice Book of the Year Award, and longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and a Davitt Award. Her short fiction and non-fiction have been published in Australia and the UK, including in Griffith Review, The Saturday Paper, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Weekend Australian. Sally holds a Master of Arts (Research) in Creative Writing from QUT. She is an active member of the Queensland writing community, where she presents workshops, leads in-conversations and mentors other writers.

Kristina Olsson is an award-winning author based in Meanjin/Brisbane. Her memoir Boy, Lost won the 2013 Queensland Literary Award, the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award, the Western Australian Premier’s Literary Award, and the Kibble Literary Award; and was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, the Stella Prize, and The Courier-Mail Book of the Year People’s Choice Award. Kristina’s journalism and non-fiction have been published in the Australian, the Courier-Mail, the Sunday Telegraph and the Griffith Review. She has worked extensively as a teacher of creative writing and journalism, and as an advisor to government. Her latest novel is Shell.

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All our events are free to attend, but bookings are required as seats are limited.

Contact the host of Books@Stones event: People Like Us by Sally Piper