Amelia Westlake

From Ampersand Prize-winning author Erin Gough comes this ferociously funny romp through an elite private school, and a brilliant feminist hoax that could change – or ruin – everything.

Harriet Price has the perfect life: she’s a prefect at Rosemead Grammar, she lives in a mansion, and her gorgeous girlfriend is a future prime minister. So when she decides to risk it all by helping bad-girl Will Everhart expose the school’s many ongoing issues, Harriet tells herself it’s because she too is seeking justice. And definitely not because she finds Will oddly fascinating. Will Everhart can’t stand posh people like Harriet, but even she has to admit Harriet’s ideas are good – and they’ll keep Will from being expelled. That’s why she teams up with Harriet to create Amelia Westlake, a fake student who can take the credit for a series of provocative pranks at their school.  But the further Will and Harriet’s hoax goes, the harder it is for the girls to remember they’re sworn enemies – and to keep Amelia Westlake’s true identity hidden. As tensions burn throughout the school, how far will they go to keep Amelia Westlake – and their feelings for each other – a secret? 

Perfect for fans of David Levithan and Becky Albertalli, this triumphant queer YA rom-com explores politics, privilege and power, and has a gloriously uplifting teen romance at its heart.  

Winner of the 2018 Readings Prize for Young Adult Books, 2019 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards: Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Fiction, 2019 International Youth Library White Raven Book
Shorlisted for the 2018 Queensland Literary Awards, 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards: Writing for Young Adults, 2019 Indie Book Awards: Young Adult, 2019 ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children 
Longlisted for the 2019 Gold Inky
A 2019 CBCA Notable Book of the Year for Older Readers

Author Biography

Erin Gough is a Sydney-based writer whose award-winning novels for young adults have been published internationally. Her first novel, The Flywheel, won the Hardie Grant Ampersand Prize, and her second, Amelia Westlake,was winner of the Readings Young Adult Book Prize and the NSW Premier’s Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult Fiction. Erin’s short fiction has appeared in journals and anthologies including The Griffith Review, Kindred: 12 Queer #LoveOzYA Stories, and Best Australian Stories. Into the Mouth of the Wolf is her third novel.