“In this novel, an aspiring writer navigates unstable relationships during the early days of the Australian punk scene in the early 1980s.

Skilbeck, the author of Australian Fugue: The Antipode Room (2015) organises the story of Roxanne “Roxy” Bergson around her romantic interactions with two men. Northern Irish Roxy, who was living in Japan, arrives for college in Adelaide with Samuel, her partner of four years – a man with whom, in her estimation , she was “supposed to have split up” weeks before….Roxy’s story is sure to inspire readers to recall their own youthful rebellions, and not just because of its accounts of wild antics but also because of its poeticism…

A sensitive and convincing account of Australian youth culture.” –Kirkus Reviews, Vol. XC, No. 1, 1 January 2022, p. 143. Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2021. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ruth-skilbeck/sayonara-baby/

When Roxy moves to Adelaide to go to university in 1981 she becomes caught up in the intense performance art scene. Her relationships play out against a backdrop of intellectual and emotional contrasts: the brilliant light of the Bay, shadowed by a dark menace stalking the streets, and lonely roads. This new edition has the addition of the poem ‘Slugs’ by the author, first published in LiNQ (Literature in North Queensland), vol 8, no 1, 1980 (pp. 71-72).

Title: Sayonara Baby: An Australian Fugue Novel

Author: Ruth Skilbeck

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780645842241

Publication date: 30 November 2023

Page count: 244

Includes one black and white photographic image and cover art by the author.

An earlier edition of Sayonara Baby by Ruth Skilbeck was first published in 2017 and is also published as a stand-alone novel with the title Cafe Life in the Antipodes by Ruth Skilbeck..

Cover image: Ruth Skilbeck, Nightfall (Lorikeets), 2020

Book orders and delivery costs

$32.99 RRP. Australia-wide deliveries $16.99 shipping (premium tracked delivery) will be added to your order.

Outside Australia deliveries please send an email for shipping costs and details of how to buy the book from Borderstream Books via bank deposit; alternatively ask at your local bookshop if they can order it in for you.

Sayonara Baby is the second novel in the Australian Fugue series.