A disturbing tale about a young university student who loses herself in a destructive relationship, The River Ophelia will provoke, sadden and engage. Unconventional, compelling and controversial, this postmodern account of domestic violence deservedly became an instant best-seller making its author a household name.

Justine loves Sade but Sade loves sex; indeed, he’s a brutish sex addict. Despite this, Justine can’t seem to leave: for all her education, she’s looking for love and commitment in all the wrong places. While the feminist lore of previous generations seems to work well in theory, Justine can’t seem to make it work in practise. Owning her power and experimenting with her own sexuality only leaves her feeling more empty and despairing than before.

Both a parodic homage to and subversion of de Sade’s Justine and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Justine Ettler’s second novel recalls the work of Kathy Acker and Bret Easton Ellis.

A dark anti-romance whose sparse, Spartan prose sparks with all the suspenseful chill of a thriller, this twentieth century classic of Australian literature is an electric, confronting read.