Prima Facie by Suzie Miller

About the book:

Tessa is a thoroughbred. A young, brilliant barrister. She has worked her way up from a working-class background to be at the top of her game: defending, cross-examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case. Her masterful line of questioning in the courtroom has netted Tessa win after win, freeing men accused of rape and sexual assault. As controversial as it is, this is her job – it’s just about the facts and who can game the system.

Working late one night, Tessa falls into a casual relationship with Julian, a coworker, an attorney who comes from an elite, wealthy family. A light-hearted affair, with a man she admires. She begins to wonder if perhaps there is a future for the two of them.

One sickening night, though, Julian makes a choice and Tessa finds herself in a position countless women – one in three – have before her. And she’s faced with a gut-wrenching, life-changing decision: will she take the stand to testify about her rape, with the full awareness that the system has not been built to protect her?

Drawn from the internationally acclaimed play, Prima Facie is a propulsive, raw look at the price victims pay for speaking out and the system that sets them up to fail. With breakneck prose and a devastating emotional intensity, this is a novel for our times, by one of Australia’s most important writers.

About the author:

Suzie Miller is a contemporary international playwright, screenwriter and novelist. Based in both London, UK, and Sydney, Australia, Miller’s work has been produced around the world winning multiple prestigious awards, including the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play 2023, for her smash hit one-woman play Prima Facie, which had a soldout season on London’s West End and opened on Broadway in New York, April 2023. Miller is educated in science and law, with a doctorate in drama and mathematics. She practised human rights law before writing full time and is currently developing major projects in theatre, literature and screen.

If you are intested in reading about the justice system and women you might be interested in the following books:

See What you made me do by Jess Hill
How many more Women?
 

Publisher: Picador Australia
Published: 26 September 2023
Format: Paperback, 352p
ISBN: 9781761262258
Category: Modern and contemporary fiction