James Ley (@jamesley.bsky.social)

Catriona Menzies-Pike reviews ‘The Ruin of Magic: Longing and belonging in strange times’ by Kate Holden Kate Holden made a striking début with her 2005 memoir of addiction and sex work. In My Skin was both a critical and commercial success; in it, readers encountered a frank, opulent stylist possessed of a remarkably compassionate point of view. In My Skin pre-empted the boom in life writing by women that has been a fixture of Australian literature this century. If the tropes of recovery lit are more familiar now than they were in 2005, the brisk confidence of Holden’s voice and the curiosity of her gaze remain impressive. Holden refined and hybridised her approach in her next book, The Romantic (2010), a memoir that incorporated travel writing and literary criticism. These early works won Holden a devoted readership and she continued to publish new material as a columnist and cultural journalist over the next decade. https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/current-issue/catriona-menzies-pike-reviews-the-ruin-of-magic-longing-and-belonging-in-strange-times-by-kate-holden