Author(s): Katharine Pollock

Classics

A very funny confessional novel set in one of the only Australian independent record stores still functioning, if barely. This is High Fidelity with a female gaze. Her Fidelity is the comedic, confessional story of 29-year-old Kathy, who is in a state of arrested development. Kathy has accidentally continued working at Dusty's Record, an independent record shop in Brisbane, for fifteen years. She started there as a total fangirl high schooler, stayed through university, and oops, suddenly 30 is on the horizon and she's still dealing with mansplaining music bros both at and behind the counter, and measuring her self-worth by her knowledge of Nick Cave's back catalogue. When the daily grind of working in the male-dominated record industry gets her down, Kathy finds solace in her two best friends- fierce forty-seven year old colleague Mel, and Alex, whom Kathy has known since preschool, a straight-laced accountant and mother of a young son. When Mel announces that she is leaving the Rocking Donkey and moving to Sydney, cracks appear in Kathy's comfortable indie bubble. Her friends are clearly moving on with their lives, while Kathy is stuck in a cycle of record store, pub, repeat. A fight with Mel and Alex makes her realise that she has internalised much of the misogyny she has experienced over the past fifteen years and that she can be more than her taste in music. In fact, it's actually okay to like Beyonce even if Beyonce doesn't write acoustic ballads about alcoholism. Meanwhile, Kathy meets shy, self-effacing Patrick. Their burgeoning romance is impeded by bungling interactions, and a one-night-stand with Jake, who she met at a party at her boss's place. After a stealthing incident, Kathy realises this is less bad sex, and more bad guy. Jake embodies everything that Kathy realises she needs to fight. She and Mel take measures to show the guys at the Rocking Donkey, and elsewhere, that the times, they are a-changin'. This is a funny, pop-culture-saturated feminist coming-of-age story that will appeal to anyone who loved the bookish musicality of Taylor Jenkins Reid's Daisy Jones and the Six, the wicked humour of Caitlin Moran, or anyone who has ever turned to Stevie Nicks for advice while ignoring the sensible people around them.