A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing

Author(s): Jessie Tu

Aust Fiction

Growing up is always hard, but especially when so many think you're a washed-up has-been at twenty-two. Jena Lin plays the violin. She was once a child prodigy and now uses sex to fill the void left by fame. She's struggling a little. Her professional life comprises rehearsals, concerts, auditions and relentless practice; her personal life is spent managing the demands of her strict family and creative friends, and hooking up. And then she meets Mark - much older and worldly-wise - who consumes her. But at what cost to her dreams? A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing explores female desire and the consequences of wanting too much and never getting it. It is about the awkwardness and pain of being human in an increasingly dislocated world - and how, in spite of all this, we still try to become the person we want to be.

Matilda Bookshop Review


In her debut novel, Tu has cleverly and unashamedly confronted female desire and the consequences of wanting more than the world is willing to give. Jena’s awkwardness and pain as she struggles to adjust to an ordinary life in an increasingly complex world compelled me, at times, to feel utterly hopeless and frustrated. The opening pages are confronting and left me questioning what I was getting myself into, but Tu’s handling of sex as escapism and Jena’s quiet desperation to feel something - anything - speaks to a whole host of twenty-somethings.


Tu writes with a deftness and boldness that emphasises the monotony of Jena’s existence. I loved this book in all its messy, unflinching and confronting glory. Kasey


Product Information

2021 Stella Prize Longlist Shortlisted for the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year 2021 Shortlisted for the ABIA Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year 2021 Shortlisted NSW Premier's Multicultural NSW Award 2021 Shortlisted for the Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction 2021

General Fields

  • : 9781760877194
  • : Allen & Unwin
  • : Allen & Unwin
  • : 383.0
  • : June 2020
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : FA
  • : 304
  • : 823/.92 823.4
  • : English
  • : Paperback
  • : Jessie Tu