Worry Doll by Laura McPhee-Browne

From the author of the acclaimed Cherry Beach comes a thrilling exploration of love and desire – obsessive, all-consuming, and impossible to look away from.

On an ordinary day, two women meet on a train.

Heloise – the older woman – lives with her boyfriend in Melbourne.

Lacey – the other woman – is from Aotearoa and studies the clouds.

What follows is anything but ordinary, a passionate affair that will consume them both in mismatched and maddening ways.

Propulsive and lyrical, Worry Doll examines desire, memory, and the delusion of love.

‘A deliciously seductive and suspenseful novel about the slipperiness of desire and memory, Worry Doll upends expectations at every turn, revealing the way we are all unreliable narrators when it comes to love. Laura McPhee-Browne has arrived at a thrilling new voice – confident, daring, and alive to the dark magic that beats at the heart of erotic obsession.’
-Madelaine Lucas, author of Thirst For Salt

‘An unflinching, unnerving, exquisitely observed double portrait of human longing and discordance.’
-Miles Allinson, author of In Moonland

About the Author: Laura McPhee-Browne is a writer, social worker, and counsellor living in Melbourne on Wurundjeri land. Her short stories have been published widely in Australia. Her first two novels, Cherry Beach (2020) and Little Plum (2023), were published with Text Publishing to critical acclaim.

30 Jun 2026
 

Worry Doll by Laura McPhee-Browne ISBN 9781761381850