Compulsion by Kate Scott is her debut novel set at the arrival of the new millennium when the current
assemblage of teens and twenties are celebrating their youth like never before!
Hedonistic glamour and debauched music reign supreme, as gigs culminate with everyone present
gyrating on stage, often undressed!
Lucy, who is the editor of a music magazine, is fully immersed in the culture and is rapturously seeking
oblivion. As her life becomes totally chaotic, she burns it all down, quitting her job, leaving her failing
marriage, and her stalker, The Creep! She moves to Abergele, the remote seaside town of her childhood,
hoping to start again.
There she recreates her old existence and draws the folk of Abergele around her as a barrier against her
fears. There are new delights to transfix her including Robin, photographer and solitary son of a famous
producer.
As fellow exiles, they meet for daily rambles across the cliffs and converse deeply about music and
philosophy, which function as both high-stakes flirtation and a hidden process for understanding
themselves and each other. This results in them both forming a close bond, which becomes a
compulsion that disarms them both.
How long will this compulsion last before she moves on to her next?
This is a novel inspired by the music, fashion, and art of the 2000s, and by the obsessions of Scott and
her experiences in the music scene. It is a story of the youth of that time, who often made decisions
while under the influence of drink and drugs, and the atmosphere that emanated from the bands and
their music.
Fast-paced, complex, and insightful, it appears to depict human nature at its worst. Or does it only
reaffirm our natural compulsion to release long-sequestered inhibitions?
Compulsion is an intriguing and highly recommended book.
ISBN: 9781761046551
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
Compulsion is available in paperback, e-book, and audiobook
About Kate Scott
Kate Scott was born in Newcastle and grew up in Melbourne, California’s Mojave Desert, Nimbin and
Brisbane. She began her career as a music journalist at age 18, before becoming the editor of the (now
defunct) street press magazine Rave at age 22. She interviewed hundreds of national and international
artists, and her pieces were syndicated nationally. She spent ten years with The Australian Ballet as their
in-house writer, then head of marketing, and was Managing Editor of Luminous: Celebrating 50 Years of
The Australian Ballet, a 360-page coffee table book. She now lives in Thirroul on the NSW south coast,
works as a freelance strategist, and has two rabbits, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed. Compulsion is her debut
novel.
Kate Scott acknowledges the Dharawal people, on whose lands she lives and works. Sovereignty was
never ceded.
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