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I Want Everything
It starts with a lie. One small lie to get everything he wants. But one lie leads to another, and another. Caught in his own web of deception, how can he recognise the truth? And what is it going to cost him?
The legendary career of reclusive cult author Brenda Shales remains one of Australia’s last unsolved literary mysteries. Her books took the world by storm before she disappeared from the public eye after a mysterious
plagiarism case. But when an ambitious young writer stumbles across Brenda at a Melbourne pool, he realises the scoop of a lifetime is floating in front of him: the truth behind why she vanished without a trace. The
only problem? He must pretend to be someone he’s not to trick the story out of her.
One innocent lie leads to a slew that are definitively not, as Brenda reveals the strange and troubling truth of where her books came from. Yet the more the author unravels about Brenda’s past, the more he begins
to question whether Brenda is a reliable narrator. Is she spilling secrets or spinning tales? Is she, like him, little more than a talented thief ? To write the book that will make his name, he must balance his ethics and ambition and decide what he’s willing to sacrifice to become the next great Australian writer.
This astonishing debut, full of delicious twists and wicked insights, is a dazzling novel of desire and deception, authorship and authenticity, and the costs of creative ambition.
The legendary career of reclusive cult author Brenda Shales remains one of Australia’s last unsolved literary mysteries. Her books took the world by storm before she disappeared from the public eye after a mysterious
plagiarism case. But when an ambitious young writer stumbles across Brenda at a Melbourne pool, he realises the scoop of a lifetime is floating in front of him: the truth behind why she vanished without a trace. The
only problem? He must pretend to be someone he’s not to trick the story out of her.
One innocent lie leads to a slew that are definitively not, as Brenda reveals the strange and troubling truth of where her books came from. Yet the more the author unravels about Brenda’s past, the more he begins
to question whether Brenda is a reliable narrator. Is she spilling secrets or spinning tales? Is she, like him, little more than a talented thief ? To write the book that will make his name, he must balance his ethics and ambition and decide what he’s willing to sacrifice to become the next great Australian writer.
This astonishing debut, full of delicious twists and wicked insights, is a dazzling novel of desire and deception, authorship and authenticity, and the costs of creative ambition.
288 pages, Paperback
First published April 29, 2025
180 people are currently reading
1997 people want to read
About the author
Dominic Amerena
3 books21 followersDominic Amerena is a writer from Melbourne. His work has appeared in places like Australian Book Review, Overland, the Australian, the Lifted Brow, the Age, Meanjin and Kill Your Darlings.
His work has been recognised in a number of awards, most recently the 2017 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize.
His work has been recognised in a number of awards, most recently the 2017 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 158 reviews
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April 2, 2025Our ambitions might just devour us whole. I haven’t loved hating such an empty soulless protagonist in ages. I could kiss this book. In nicely styled prose, Amerena destroys Australian literature and the ethics of telling stories not our own. What would you give to tell a story sure to get you published? What would you take? What lies would you happily tell? It was the emptiness and depravity of the very nature of storytelling that pinned me to the page. Blind ambition is a bitch. Amerena clearly has talent to burn and has my full attention. Damn.
December 31, 2025
I was hooked into this literary mystery, from the very opening - ‘An innocent mistake. Innocent, then progressively less so. I acted immorally, but what did literature have to do with morality? Looking back, it all seemed inevitable, the first mistaken identity leading to the second, leading me to the bedside of the last, great Australian writer, observing her in her natural habitat: captivity.’
A multifaceted and thoroughly enjoyable debut novel, with plenty of psychological tension, morally grey characters and a complicated web of deception.
A multifaceted and thoroughly enjoyable debut novel, with plenty of psychological tension, morally grey characters and a complicated web of deception.
April 7, 2025
I Want Everything is the first novel by Australian author, Dominic Amerena. His lover, Ruth, summarises the protagonist’s situation well: “You recognise a noted recluse, whom no-one has heard boo from in fifty years. You ambush her at her place of residence, and she invites you in for tea and bickies, decides to spill the full, unabridged beans. The great mystery of Australian letters falls right into your lap.” But what Ruth doesn’t know, what he hasn’t told her, is that he was mistaken for the grandson of this mysterious author, an error he didn’t correct. So he’s there under false pretences.
What do we call this unnamed protagonist? The failed novelist? The former editor of a now-defunct journal? The frequent hospital inpatient? Ruth’s lover? The son of a retired anaesthetics nurse? Not Brenda Shales’s grandson? He sees himself as an emerging author currently in a writing rut, now receiving “…manna from literary heaven.”
He begins to write something that is not a straight-out biography but includes himself as the writer. He knows that “what I was concocting was not literature, but the story of a parasite and his perfect host. Or maybe I was the host, infected by Brenda’s story.” He’d confessed to Brenda his desire to be the next great Australian writer, “a notion which struck me now as ludicrous overreach.”
But he’s a man many would find lazy, lacking integrity, whose occasional feelings of guilt are quickly dismissed for the sake of getting his name on the cover. Watching him desperately trying to cover his lies is entertaining, but by the time he’s doing a deep self-analysis, it’s hard to muster any sympathy for him.
There’s a lot to like in this tale: Brenda is candid and down-to-earth; her dialogue is a delight, insightful, expressive and observant: “Writing a book is like assembling a chicken coop in the middle of a tornado. One moment it’s a patchwork of jottings, and the next it’s a single, unified thing. There’s no better feeling in the world.” There’s plenty of black humour, a clever plot, and then there are some excellent twists that soon have the reader wondering, “Is either narrator entirely reliable?” Is anyone quite who they claim to be?
Amerena has eschewed the use of quote marks for speech, a trend that many readers won’t appreciate; he denotes speech with a dash at the start, better than nothing, but picking dialogue apart from narrative can be confusing. And during Brenda’s interviews, his occasional switches between the two first-person narratives do require a reset in the reader’s mind. An impressive debut.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by Good Reading Magazine and Simon & Schuster Australia.
What do we call this unnamed protagonist? The failed novelist? The former editor of a now-defunct journal? The frequent hospital inpatient? Ruth’s lover? The son of a retired anaesthetics nurse? Not Brenda Shales’s grandson? He sees himself as an emerging author currently in a writing rut, now receiving “…manna from literary heaven.”
He begins to write something that is not a straight-out biography but includes himself as the writer. He knows that “what I was concocting was not literature, but the story of a parasite and his perfect host. Or maybe I was the host, infected by Brenda’s story.” He’d confessed to Brenda his desire to be the next great Australian writer, “a notion which struck me now as ludicrous overreach.”
But he’s a man many would find lazy, lacking integrity, whose occasional feelings of guilt are quickly dismissed for the sake of getting his name on the cover. Watching him desperately trying to cover his lies is entertaining, but by the time he’s doing a deep self-analysis, it’s hard to muster any sympathy for him.
There’s a lot to like in this tale: Brenda is candid and down-to-earth; her dialogue is a delight, insightful, expressive and observant: “Writing a book is like assembling a chicken coop in the middle of a tornado. One moment it’s a patchwork of jottings, and the next it’s a single, unified thing. There’s no better feeling in the world.” There’s plenty of black humour, a clever plot, and then there are some excellent twists that soon have the reader wondering, “Is either narrator entirely reliable?” Is anyone quite who they claim to be?
Amerena has eschewed the use of quote marks for speech, a trend that many readers won’t appreciate; he denotes speech with a dash at the start, better than nothing, but picking dialogue apart from narrative can be confusing. And during Brenda’s interviews, his occasional switches between the two first-person narratives do require a reset in the reader’s mind. An impressive debut.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by Good Reading Magazine and Simon & Schuster Australia.
May 9, 2025
Yellowface if it was written by a man. Very verbose to the point of being a littttle pretentious. Also the authors choice to use em dashes to represent dialog in lieu of quotation marks was frustrating and at times made following the conversations between characters a chore.
July 12, 2025
Any book that describes the ups and downs of trying the rainbow of Cheaper By Miles TimTam gets 5 stars from me.
June 24, 2025
This book was gifted to me recently for my 70th birthday- the gift was unexpected but proved to be most enthralling given my avid commitment to reading especially literary styles and writers new to me.
I was definitely engaged from the outset and not just because I knew of the author from familial connections.
The narrative itself was compelling and the premise upon which that narrative was based both clever and intriguing. The writing was refreshing and it contained considerable humour and irony as well as unexpected twists as the account unfolded.
The geographic setting was very familiar to me and that made the storyline locations quite intimate.
Thank you, Dom, for the opportunity to read this debut novel and to be so thoroughly entertained by its adopted perspective on writers and writing. A really impressive and I trust introductory novel to what should be an illustrious writing career.
I was definitely engaged from the outset and not just because I knew of the author from familial connections.
The narrative itself was compelling and the premise upon which that narrative was based both clever and intriguing. The writing was refreshing and it contained considerable humour and irony as well as unexpected twists as the account unfolded.
The geographic setting was very familiar to me and that made the storyline locations quite intimate.
Thank you, Dom, for the opportunity to read this debut novel and to be so thoroughly entertained by its adopted perspective on writers and writing. A really impressive and I trust introductory novel to what should be an illustrious writing career.
June 17, 2025
Not really much to say for this one. I struggled to finish it, I think because I never took a liking to the main character so honestly didn’t care to follow his story. And it was further than a “unlikeable” character, I felt rather icked at times.
In saying that, that is a personal review, and generally the plot twists were enjoyable. Just felt like a long time coming and blown out.
In saying that, that is a personal review, and generally the plot twists were enjoyable. Just felt like a long time coming and blown out.
August 4, 2025
This book felt very self consciously 'clever'. The characters lacked authenticity and felt like art house movie stereotypes. I expect this will be popular but I wouldn't recommend it. 3 stars
October 20, 2025
Plot: Sad self loathing author idolises another sad self loathing author, with a twist.
Everyone in this book was insufferable - the main guy (never got his name), Ruth, the friend. Was enjoying Brenda’s story till the end, then she also disappointed me (mainly how she treated her friend).
I can see what the author was trying to do and it was a good idea - it just wasn’t written well enough to achieve it.
Everyone in this book was insufferable - the main guy (never got his name), Ruth, the friend. Was enjoying Brenda’s story till the end, then she also disappointed me (mainly how she treated her friend).
I can see what the author was trying to do and it was a good idea - it just wasn’t written well enough to achieve it.
May 26, 2025
I can’t talk about this one because I’ll spoil it. WHAT A RIDE.
November 2, 2025
An enjoyable literary detective novel—I Want Everything would reward a re-read with a highlighter looking for every allusion and reference to Australian literature contained within. This really is a love letter of sorts to Australian literature and certainly has echoes of Helen Demidenko and the Ern Malley Affair, as well as perhaps more mundane Australian literature such as Chopper Read’s memoirs (ie total fiction…or not?).
That being said, the narrator is—apart from his one action of pursuing Brenda Shales for her story—fairly apathetic. He is a failing short story writer, some previous but no recent success, submissive both sexually and romantically (as well as perhaps financially) to his girlfriend Ruth, a successful essayist whose career waxes as his wanes. He uncritically Hoovers up what Brenda tells him—despite some warnings in the text, ie at one point he wonders about verifying the details of Brenda’s story before deciding that would be too much work—and finds himself falling into a series of cascading lies with both Brenda and Ruth that threaten to unravel the project and his personal life.
This unravelling reminded me of the structure of an Ian McEwen novel (for example, Solar), where the narrator finds himself in a series of self made problems which increasingly come together into a looming crisis—but with this I just didn’t feel the tension rising the way it would in a McEwen novel. The twist is fairly easy to see coming—indeed the blurb of the novel tells us that Brenda is an unreliable narrator (I wonder if it would have been better not to mention this and leave the reader to figure it out themselves?) so we know there will be a twist and there are only realistically two options for what that twist will be (mentioned below for those interested).
The ending felt fairly unclimactic in that respect. But, maybe that’s not the point.
The novel is fairly easy to read (apart from another author who uses em dashes instead of quotation marks) and enjoyable—the narrator is pretentious and annoying and very much of the Melbourne arts scene, as are his friends and associates, and it’s all good fun. As said, if you are an Australian literature nerd this is peppered with allusions and references some of which I picked up and I am sure there would more if I were minded to go back and look—this would make a good book for a university course on Australian literature for that reason.
Overall—recommended.
Spoilers ahead—
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The plot twist really only can be that Brenda is either just totally making everything up; or that Brenda/Maria have switched roles.
I just felt the novel was a let down in the sense that it tells us that Brenda is making everything up on the blurb but there are few in text clues as to her unreliability (aside from the obvious) and I just wonder if it would have been better not to tell us up front about this but let it seep out from the text itself and slowly become apparent that the narrator should not accept this story at face value.
Though maybe the author wanted to explore issues more related to who has the right to tell a story than the truth/fiction of the story itself…?
That being said, the narrator is—apart from his one action of pursuing Brenda Shales for her story—fairly apathetic. He is a failing short story writer, some previous but no recent success, submissive both sexually and romantically (as well as perhaps financially) to his girlfriend Ruth, a successful essayist whose career waxes as his wanes. He uncritically Hoovers up what Brenda tells him—despite some warnings in the text, ie at one point he wonders about verifying the details of Brenda’s story before deciding that would be too much work—and finds himself falling into a series of cascading lies with both Brenda and Ruth that threaten to unravel the project and his personal life.
This unravelling reminded me of the structure of an Ian McEwen novel (for example, Solar), where the narrator finds himself in a series of self made problems which increasingly come together into a looming crisis—but with this I just didn’t feel the tension rising the way it would in a McEwen novel. The twist is fairly easy to see coming—indeed the blurb of the novel tells us that Brenda is an unreliable narrator (I wonder if it would have been better not to mention this and leave the reader to figure it out themselves?) so we know there will be a twist and there are only realistically two options for what that twist will be (mentioned below for those interested).
The ending felt fairly unclimactic in that respect. But, maybe that’s not the point.
The novel is fairly easy to read (apart from another author who uses em dashes instead of quotation marks) and enjoyable—the narrator is pretentious and annoying and very much of the Melbourne arts scene, as are his friends and associates, and it’s all good fun. As said, if you are an Australian literature nerd this is peppered with allusions and references some of which I picked up and I am sure there would more if I were minded to go back and look—this would make a good book for a university course on Australian literature for that reason.
Overall—recommended.
Spoilers ahead—
…
…
…
…
…
…
The plot twist really only can be that Brenda is either just totally making everything up; or that Brenda/Maria have switched roles.
I just felt the novel was a let down in the sense that it tells us that Brenda is making everything up on the blurb but there are few in text clues as to her unreliability (aside from the obvious) and I just wonder if it would have been better not to tell us up front about this but let it seep out from the text itself and slowly become apparent that the narrator should not accept this story at face value.
Though maybe the author wanted to explore issues more related to who has the right to tell a story than the truth/fiction of the story itself…?
September 3, 2025
I devoured this book in three sittings - when I wasn’t reading it, I was telling people to read it or trying to decipher what would happen next… I Want Everything is simply brilliant! 👏🏼
August 27, 2025
4.5. those last 10 pages actually had me gasping but you aren’t cool for not using quotation marks.
January 14, 2026
Ένας νεαρός συγγραφέας, αναγνωρίζει τη Μπρεντα Σέιλς, μια συγγραφέα που τα δύο βιβλία της κατέκτ��σαν το κοινό της Αυστραλίας και μετά εξαφανίστηκε. Όντας ο ίδιος σε συγγραφικό τέλμα, την προσεγγίζει κι ανέλπιστα, εισέρχεται στη ζωή της. Αυτά όμως που εκείνη τελικά του αποκαλύπτει, δεν τα φανταζό��αν ποτέ κι αναρωτιέται, ποια ήταν άραγε η Μπρέντα Σέιλς;
Μέσω του απρόσωπου αφηγητή, ο νεαρός Αυστραλός συγγραφέας, μιλά για το θράσος και την ανάγκη της επιτυχίας που νιώθουν ενδεχομένως όλοι όσοι γράφουν. Κι ενώ εσύ νομίζεις ότι θα διαβάσεις ένα τρόπον τινά βιβλίο μυστηρίου, έρχονται εγκιβωτισμένα τα βιβλία της Μπρεντα, σε παρασέρνουν και σε αφοπλίζουν, μιας και μιλούν για τη μητρότητα, την αποικιοκρατία, τις σχέσεις των ανθρώπων και τις πληγές της ψυχής. Ο αφηγητής μας ξέρει ότι δεν θα μπορούσε ποτέ να γράψει κάτι τόσο δυνατό, ως προς αυτό είναι ειλικρινής, αλλά δεν διστάζει να εκμεταλλευτεί την ηλικία της Μπρέντα, προσπαθώντας να ιδιοποιηθεί τη συγγραφική της δεινότητα.
Οι εγκιβωτισμένες ιστορίες μου φάνηκαν περισσότερο ενδιαφέρουσες από την αρχική ιστορία - η γραφή και η υπόθεση μου έδωσε μια αίσθηση του «στημένου». Σαν ο συγγραφέας να προσπαθεί να πείσει ότι μπορεί να γράψει το νέο μεγάλο βιβλίο, ακριβώς όπως κι ο ήρωας του ή μήπως το alter ego του;
January 10, 2026
Good for her.
April 12, 2025
*3.5
Reminiscent of Yellowface, but with more pretentious purple prose. The sentences felt a little too bloated at times, however the twists and turns were pretty well done and so ironic. I wish this book had been longer to dig into the mystery & certain characters more. Good potential from a debut aussie author.
Reminiscent of Yellowface, but with more pretentious purple prose. The sentences felt a little too bloated at times, however the twists and turns were pretty well done and so ironic. I wish this book had been longer to dig into the mystery & certain characters more. Good potential from a debut aussie author.
August 18, 2025
pathetic literary ego in the best way - i adore this & the dense prose. sorry if u complain about getting a thesaurus. challenge ur reading.
August 10, 2025
Brenda’s interviews are the highlight of this book. I found the first part before we meet her a bit of a slog, but once we do, I was excited to get back to her. Such a firm grip on the Australian literary landscape and the way he draws Brenda to be a Shirley Hazzard/ Helen Garner/ any female Miles Franklin winner, was gold.
Funny I didn’t even think of the Yellowface comparisons until I read others reviews just now, but of course!
Funny I didn’t even think of the Yellowface comparisons until I read others reviews just now, but of course!
September 11, 2025
Very much enjoyed ‘I Want Everything’, a debut novel by Dominic Amerena. When our narrator has spent his adult life dreaming of become the next great Australian writer, what lines won’t he cross to get the story to bring him success? A chance encounter with a recluse writer he’s admired his whole life brings the ethics of story telling into focus, as well as postmodern notions of truth.
Those things sound heavy but this was written so well - snappy dialogue, a good pace, and a great insight into human flaws, including the little justifications we make for our poor choices.
Those things sound heavy but this was written so well - snappy dialogue, a good pace, and a great insight into human flaws, including the little justifications we make for our poor choices.
September 9, 2025
Love a plot twist!
August 21, 2025
When Leigh Sales recommends a book you must read it. A vivid Australiana read which I thoroughly enjoyed although the plot is hard to follow towards the end (or maybe I just read the ending sleep deprived on a night bus).
August 2, 2025
Damn. I don't think you'd classify this as a thriller per se, but the way everything spirals out of control there's so much tension you could cut it with an analogy. I hate every one of these characters, but they're each brilliant in their myriad of flaws. And there's multiple layers of story, I find myself wanting to know what happens and dreading the inevitable conclusion at the same time. I liked it.
June 24, 2025
A twisty Aussie romp full of misgivings and deception. Oh, and lots of cultural references! It pulled me out of my looooooong reading rut.
November 18, 2025
It tried but didn't deliver... there was a huge contesting point that I was hung up on for majority of the book which was get your story together dude,you can't con someone without doing background research and so the plot twist wasn't really a plot twist because it was sloppy main character with extreme laziness in his efforts,if that was the intention then well the book nailed it,however it felt like I wanted to get to a level like Yellowface did but had no idea where it was going.
The setting is so close to home for me that it was nice living the setting in real life as I read it,made it feel like it was happening to me in real time.
The setting is so close to home for me that it was nice living the setting in real life as I read it,made it feel like it was happening to me in real time.
July 28, 2025
The unnamed narrator is struggling to write, his career on the decline while his partner Ruth's is very much on the rise, when an opportunity too good to miss, at any cost, arises.
A really interesting novel full of twists and turns exploring, amongst other things, the notion of who has the right to tell stories, especially those of other's lives.
An enjoyable, well written, multi-faceted novel. Another great debut.
A really interesting novel full of twists and turns exploring, amongst other things, the notion of who has the right to tell stories, especially those of other's lives.
An enjoyable, well written, multi-faceted novel. Another great debut.
July 9, 2025
3,5
Leuk om een boek te lezen van een Australische auteur. Het verhaal goed, de clue zwak.
Leuk om een boek te lezen van een Australische auteur. Het verhaal goed, de clue zwak.
July 24, 2025
Thriller meets highbrow lit fiction meets satire .. but make it Australian
I liked this one a lot !!
I liked this one a lot !!
Want to read
August 2, 2025Reviewed in newspaper. Looks interesting.
November 3, 2025
DNF - as soon as he talked about putting toenails in his mouth (page 32, mind you), I was done. What a pathetic and creepy protagonist.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 158 reviews