How to End a Story Collected Diaries 1978-1998 by Helen Garner

Helen Garner’s acclaimed three volumes of diaries are collected here in one sumptuous book. Spanning two decades-from the publication of her lightning-rod debut novel in the late 70s, to the throes of a consuming affair in the late 80s, and the messiness and pain of a disintegrating marriage in the late 90s-the diaries reveal the life of one of the world’s greatest writers.

Devastatingly honest and disarmingly funny, How to End a Story is a portrait of loss, betrayal, and the sheer force of a woman’s anger-but also of hard work and resilience, moments of hope and joy, the immutable ties of motherhood, and the regenerative power of a room of one’s own.

Collected in this gorgeous boutique hardcover are all three volumes of Helen Garner’s diaries in which, as Nigella Lawson notes, ‘she’s at her acute, rigorous, pitch-perfect best’

About the Author:

Helen Garner writes novels, stories, screenplays and works of non-fiction. In 2006 she received the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature, and in 2016 she won the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize for non-fiction. She was honoured with the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature in 2019. And in 2023 she was awarded the ASA Medal for her outstanding contribution to Australian literature. Her works include Monkey Grip, The Children’s Bach, The First Stone, Joe Cinque’s Consolation, The Spare Room, This House of Grief, The Season and three volumes of her diaries. She lives in Melbourne.

04 Nov 2025
 

How to End a Story: Collected Diaries 1978-1998 by Helen Garner ISBN 9781923058101