An evening with Kathy Lette…

Kathy Lette and I go way back. I was a skinny, book-reading teenager when I discovered Puberty Blues, the novel Kathy Lette wrote with Gabrielle Carey when they themselves were teenagers. Because of its content, I had to read the book in secret. It made for an astonishingly compelling and bewildering read. I grew up in Wollongong, known both for its industry and its beaches, in particular North Beach - for families and uncool people -  and South Beach for the cool kids. I was not a cool kid and my pale skin burned quickly. So despite being raised by the water, I had little knowledge of beach or surf culture. Puberty Bliues filled in the gaps - in graphic sexual detail - , fascinating and shocking me in equal measure,

 These days, Kathy Lette lives in London and counts King Charlies amongst her friends, On Monday night, she was in conversation with Danielle Asciak at The Women's Club in Sydney, where she entertained a (sold out) crowd of women and a sprinkling of men. Kathy Lette's new novel, The Revenge Club, is the story of four friends who have been friends forever and, following a series of professional betrayals, vow to wreak revenge. Despite her manuscript being rejected by a long-standing publisher -no-one wants to read about middle-aged women, he said - the book is a bestseller.