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 contrasts: the brilliant light of the Bay, shadowed by menace stalking the streets, and lonely long distance roads.

This new edition has the addition of the poem 'Slugs' by the author, first published in1980 in LiNQ (Literature in North Queensland). Includes one black and white illustration, a photographic artwork by the author.

"A sensitive and convincing account of Australian youth culture"-Kirkus Reviews

Review:

“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.” –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/

(The above review is for the ebook-kindle edition published in 2021)

Title: Sayonara Baby: An Australian Fugue Novel

Author: Ruth Skilbeck

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780645842241

Publication date: 30 November 2023

Page count: 244

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

Paperback price: $32.99

Australia-wide deliveries only via this website. $16.99 shipping (premium tracked delivery) will be added to your order.

Alternatively ask your local bookshop if they stock it or will order it into their shop for you. It is also available for sale in major online bookshops around the world (with distribution by Ingram), including in the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe, and Australia.

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