Author(s): Amy Rudder

Aust Fiction

LONDON. 2001. It's the new millennium, with a minute more of pre-mobile phone, pre-terrorism hysteria, pre-social media life to live. Jackie escapes Sydney suburbia, steps out into the world. She's an outsider with a bad haircut. Wild mood swings. She knows everything. She knows nothing. Why was Sef kicked out of the hostel? Immigration detention, drum and bass, Berlusconi's boys' club. Spearmint Rhinos, capital cash flows, Stephen Lawrence's murder... By Chance the Future is a story that shows how reflecting on where we were 20 years ago can tell us where we are today, at a distance, with hindsight - if only we look. Amy Rudder's debut book blends travel writing, philosophical treatise, self-deprecating comedy and political criticism; the author highlighting both our very human hypocrisy and genuine attempts to connect, and the singularity and the sameness of our youthful adventures as we attempt to individuate from our families and countries of origin.