Beatrix & Fred — Emily Spurr

Beatrix is a loner. She has a love-hate relationship with her one friend, Ray, a hate-hate relationship with everyone else in her office and a genuine attachment to a stuffed canary named Horatio. She drinks alone far too much. Lately she's been finding the edge of the railway platform dangerously seductive.

Her life needs to change. Then she crosses paths with an old woman who seems to be stalking her, and that's exactly what happens. Eighty-something Fred is smart, earthy, funny and not the harmless elderly lady she appears to be. She is, in fact, quite literally something else. But what?

When something happens to Ray, Fred decides to reveal herself. And Beatrix realises she has some agonising choices to make.

Beatrix and Fred is an off-kilter love story wrapped in a satisfying layer of moral complexity and tied up with a ribbon of sheer fun. Warm, witty, more than slightly weird -- it takes the age-old question of what it is to be human beyond humanity itself.

Originally from Tasmania, Emily Spurr lives in Melbourne with her partner, their twins and the ghost of a deaf, geriatric cat. Emily's first novel A Million Things was shortlisted for the prestigious Victorian Premier's Unpublished Manuscript Prize, voted BookBrowse Best Debut Novel of 2021, longlisted for the 2022 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award and Highly Commended for the 2022 Barbara Jefferis Award. Beatrix and Fred is Emily's second novel.

‘In this excellent debut…Spurr delicately illustrates the complexity of loss and isolation. Fans of Liane Moriarty should take a look.' Publishers Weekly on A Million Things

‘It is not hard to see why A Million Things was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award Unpublished Manuscript Prize last year. Spurr is a subtle writer, and though she writes genuinely dramatic incidents, the story is not overblown, and actions and reactions are written with a light touch…Spurr does a deft job of showing that people can surprise in good ways as well as bad.' Weekend Australian on A Million Things