A dazzlingly funny and charming debut novel

THE HELPLINE
by Katherine Collette
Text Publishing, September 2018

This is a witty, big-hearted comedy featuring an unlikely oddball heroine, in the vein of “Addition” by Toni Jordan or “The Rosie Project” by Graeme Simsion.
Germaine Johnson is great with numbers—with people, not so much. And, unfortunately, as she discovers after the incident at Wallace Insurance (and the subsequent disputed allegations), there are very few openings these days for senior mathematicians.
So when her cousin gets her a job at the local council, Germaine isn’t in a position to refuse—even if it’s a job answering calls on the Senior Citizens Helpline. And it turns out that Mayor Verity Bainbridge has something else in mind for Germaine: a secret project involving the troublemakers at the senior citizens centre, and their feud with the neighbouring golf club which happens to be run by the strangely attractive Don Thomas.
Don and the mayor want the seniors closed down. Germaine wants what Don and the mayor want. But things get more complicated when she’s forced to get to know the ‘troublemakers’…

Katherine Collette is a writer and environmental engineer who lives in Melbourne.