Evelyn is on the brink of becoming a star. After years of opera singing and acceptance into the Royal Institute of Music in London, she has won the lead role in a production of The Magic Flute. But one night, mid-performance, Evelyn unexpectedly loses her singing voice. As quickly as her fame started, it is taken away. She is immediately replaced and so returns to her parents’ home in Sydney – to find all her friends are getting married or embarking on exciting new careers, and to her ex-boyfriend who moved on more quickly than she would have liked. Now, voiceless and alone, Evelyn must confront what she truly wants in life, and what on Earth she is going to do next.

Although I know nothing about singing and the performing arts, this novel was still extremely relatable. I’ve recently graduated from university with a Bachelor of Arts, and so I have experienced many times the painful existential dread whenever someone asks, ‘What are you going to do with your degree?’ or ‘What jobs can you do with a [insert unemployable discipline/subject area here] major?’. Like Evelyn, I’ve never been extremely fuelled by ambition for a super high-achieving career and I also believe there are more important things in life, such as family, friends, and travelling, etc. And yet, that specific shame hits like a brick when society, especially the people around you, expect something from you – something bigger, something more.

One of Evelyn’s friends repeatedly states that they believe ambition to be a capitalist ploy to enslave people into the workforce. While that may be true, Eleanor Kirk reassures us that, despite a competitive profession, environment, or entire society, there is nothing shameful about not being sure of what comes next. Kirk’s hilarious and candid debut is ultimately about chasing your dreams, whatever they may look like, and not caring about anyone’s opinion but your own.