Something Bad is Going to Happen (Jessie Stephens, Macmillan)

When Jessie Stephens’s debut novel opens, protagonist Adella is almost 30 and spending New Year’s Eve in a psychiatric hospital. Something bad, it seems, has happened. The novel rewinds to Adella at 20, full of high hopes for career and relationship success, and charts the formative experiences that contributed to her devastating spiral in the opposite direction. As executive editor at Mamamia and author of the hit narrative nonfiction book Heartsick, Stephens has an undeniable talent for connecting with young women. Something Bad is Going to Happen will naturally appeal to fans of other chroniclers of the 20-something female experience (Dolly Alderton, Diana Reid and Indyana Schneider, to name but a few). Stephens’s novel shares many of the genre’s hallmarks: bad sex, dysfunctional relationships, career uncertainty, and drifting friendships. The novel’s unflinching portrayal of the reality of living with mental illness is what distinguishes it. As Adella grapples with a family history of depression, the compounded anxieties of money struggles and class barriers, and the daily practicalities of navigating symptoms and treatment options, her struggles are never glamorised. Stephens is also unafraid to let Adella be unlikeable, acknowledging the isolating self-absorption of depression. In straightforward, observational prose, the author meticulously notes small details and mood shifts in her quest to document ‘what happens not to a person but within a person’. This modern-day Bell Jar is packed with valuable insights.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Megan Koch is a writer and bookseller based in Adelaide. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Category: Reviews