Bri Lee

EGGSHELL SKULL: A well-established legal doctrine that a defendant must 'take their victim as they find them'. If a single punch kills someone because of their thin skull, that victim's weakness cannot mitigate the seriousness of the crime. But what if it also works the other way? What if a defendant on trial for sexual crimes has to accept his 'victim' as she comes: a strong, determined accuser who knows the legal system, who will not back down until justice is done? Bri Lee began her first day of work at the Queensland District Court as a bright-eyed judge's associate. Two years later she was back as the complainant in her own case. This is the story of Bri's journey through the Australian legal system; first as the daughter of a policeman, then as a law student, and finally as a judge's associate in both metropolitan and regional Queensland-where justice can look very different, especially for women. The injustice Bri witnessed, mourned and raged over every day finally forced her to confront her own personal history, one she'd vowed never to tell. And this is how, after years of struggle, she found herself on the other side of the courtroom, telling her story. Bri Lee has written a fierce and eloquent memoir that addresses both her own reckoning with the past as well as with the stories around her, to speak the truth with wit, empathy and unflinching courage. Eggshell Skull is a haunting appraisal of modern Australia from a new and essential voice.

Lally has invested everything into her gallery in Manhattan and the sacrifices are finally paying off. Pat is a scholarship boy desperate to establish himself in Sydney's antiquities scene. When they meet at New York's Armory Show their chemistry is instant - fighting about art and politics is just foreplay. With an ocean between them they try to get back to work, but they're each struggling to balance money and ambition with the love of art that first drew them to their strange industry. Lally is a kingmaker, bringing exciting new talent to the world, so what's the problem if it's also making her rich? Pat can barely pay his rent and he isn't sure if he's taking advantage of his clients or if they are taking advantage of him, and which would be worse? Their international affair ebbs and flows like the market, while their aspirations and insecurities are driving them both towards career-ending mistakes. If love costs and art takes, what price do we pay for wanting it all? The Work is about the biggest intersections of of art and commerce, of intimacy and distance, of talent and entitlement, and of labour and privilege. Dazzling, funny and unforgettable, it is an epic and forensic exploration of modern love and passion, politics and power. The Work announces a brilliant new voice in Australian fiction. A stunning debut novel about art, power, love and money from the acclaimed and bestselling author of Eggshell Skull.'This novel isn't just good; it's superb. Assured, and powerful, and intelligent, and very, VERY hard to put down. I consumed it in a passion.' – Annabel Crabb'Smart, witty and super steamy, The Work oozes intelligence and pulses with energy. I devoured it!' – Emily Maguire'A completely exhilarating, powerful, mesmerising novel, filled with ALL my favourite sex, art and New York City.' – Jessie Tu'A glamorous and dirty capitalist fever dream … complex, opulent and horny.' – Ella Baxter'Caoilinn Hughes' The Orchid and the Wasp meets Andrew Lipstein's Last Resort. A smart, sexy page-turner.' – Madeleine Gray'Work, power, passion, intimacy and vulnerabilities collide, and best of all, SMUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' – Flex Mami'A brilliant meditation on the gap between the person we wish to be and who we actually are. I was completely gripped.' – Bridie Jabour'An ambitious and meticulously modern fable about art, sex, money, power and the perils of self-curation.' – Gina Rushton'Pacy, racy and high-octane, The Work delves into the volatile world of contemporary art, forcefully exposing it as a bedfellow to the world of high finance.' – Caoilinn Hughes

Bri Lee, best-selling and award-winning author of Eggshell Skull, asks Who gets to be smart? in this forensic and hard-hitting exploration of knowledge, power and privilege. In 2018 Bri Lee's brilliant young friend Damian was named a Rhodes Scholar, an apex of academic achievement. When she goes to visit him and takes a tour of Oxford and Rhodes House, she begins questioning her belief in a system she has previously revered, as she learns the truth behind what Virginia Woolf described almost a century earlier as the 'stream of gold and silver' that flows through elite institutions and dictates decisions about who deserves to be educated there. The question that forms in her mind drives the following two years of conversations and investigations: who gets to be smart? Interrogating the adage, 'knowledge is power', and calling institutional prejudice to account, Bri once again dives into her own privilege and presumptions to bring us the stark and confronting results. Far from offering any 'equality of opportunity', Australia's education system exacerbates social stratification. The questions Bri asks of politics and society have their answers laid bare in the response to the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, COVID-19, and the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.

A powerful meditation on beauty and body image from the author of Eggshell Skull. You were either fit and trim or you weren't working hard enough. Your body was how you conveyed wealth and status to your peers, it was a personality trait, a symbol of goodness and values: an ethical ideal. In recent decades women have made momentous progress fighting the patriarchy, yet they are held to ever-stricter, more punishing physical standards. Self-worth still plummets and eating disorders are more deadly for how easily they are dismissed. In Beauty Bri Lee explores our obsession with thinness and asks how an intrinsically unattainable standard of physical 'perfection' has become so crucial to so many. What happens if you try to reach that impossible goal? Bri did try, and Beauty is what she learned from that battle: a gripping and intelligent rejection of an ideal that diminishes us all.