The Competition
Frances quite honestly isn’t that excited about the SpeechMakers annual national conference and public-speaking competition. What she’s excited about (relatively speaking) is that this year there’s a major prize. Frances has a few small problems and forty thousand dollars would go a long way to sorting them out.
Keith is Frances’s probably-ex-mentor, it’s hard to tell since she’s not talking to him, and he disapproves of the prize money. He thinks SpeechMakers should be about self-improvement, not self-enrichment. He wants to win the competition, though. He thinks it might help the situation with his wife Linda.
Neil doesn’t care about the competition at all but Judy, his mother and coach, does, so.
And Rebecca…
Actually, what the hell is Rebecca doing here? Rebecca belongs to Frances’s past, not her present. And certainly not her (hopefully) less-disastrous future.
‘Katherine Collette’s debut, The Helpline, was one of the most delightful novels I’d read in years. So, I was thrilled to pick up her latest, The Competition. It’s another sharp, insightful Australian comedy with an unlikely rag-tag cast…This is the feel-good redemption story of the summer.’
Primer
This book is so funny and also heart-warming and moving…It’s just really, really good.’
Sally Hepworth
What distinguishes The Competition is that, among the dry humour and deft plot twists, there are some compelling questions raised about ordinary and often ugly human behaviour.’
Debra Adelaide, Australian Book Review
‘Colette’s writing is funny, propulsive and smart. She continues the compelling comedic flair of her debut, The Helpline, which also saw a complicated, “oddball” heroine portrayed in a nuanced, sensitive manner. She has been involved heavily in Toastmasters in the past – this real-life experience comes through in her storytelling – and as a reader, her evocative depictions of the cut-throat world of competitive speech-making is delightfully welcome at a time when indoor gatherings still seem like a fantasy.’
Jessie Tu, Sydney Morning Herald