Justine Ettler

Justine Ettler was born in Sydney, Australia. She has a BA and MA from UTS.

Justine burst out of obscurity on to the Australian literary scene with a two-book package deal with HarperCollins. She was labeled "Sydney's Empress of Grunge", after the release of her first published book, the highly acclaimed and overly criticized best seller 'The River Ophelia'.

The River Ophelia is a heavy novel. It is repetitive, confronting, and uncompromising in its depiction of an obsessive, self-abusive woman called Justine and her quest for love. It was highly criticized, and labeled as anti-feminist for portraying most of its women as weak, pathetic victims of themselves, and drug dependency. Interestingly, the coverage of this disturbing side of reality is one of the reasons the book, and Justine have become so popular.

The River Ophelia is an apt representation of Justine Ettler’s writing. Justine is one of the Australian grunge writers who reproduce the urban underside of life in today’s world "with every thrust of a fuck, every snort of a drug and every pocket of grime that coats our cities". Justine is young, intelligent, and articulate. Her writing reflects the candid nihilism, which is ever present in our generation. By doing this she follows in the footsteps of writers such as American Psycho's Bret Easton Ellis.

Justine’s writing portrays an image of femininity beyond individualism. An ever flowing feminism, which is both provocative and unorthodox in its post-modernity. She reflects some of the darker realities of modern society, through characters who are obsessed, paranoid, dependent and desperately fleeing old wounds through the escapism brought about by violence, sex and drug use. While writing through the harsh realities of life, Justine uses tools such as reflection and parody to widen the focus of her novels. She mocks society, while touching on, and sharing knowledge of subjects, which are often dismissed as being too bleak or crude to talk about.

Justine has since released a new novel 'Remember Me', a mystery about sex, fake celebrity and jet-set paranoia. She spends time tutoring literature, and continues to work on further literary projects

Novels by Justine