The Slip

by Miriam Webster

These are stories about the things we can’t hold onto: a marriage drifting out with the tide, a family collapsing like a wave, a young woman’s affair that dissolves as quickly as it ignites.

From Melbourne to regional Victoria and beyond, lovers flounder in the push and pull of desire, and families are caught between duty and disarray. A restless couple are visited by an old flame, a washed-up playwright faces his demons and a woman returns to her childhood home to confront her twin brother’s ghost.

Elsewhere, a one night stand takes a sinister turn, an intoxicated eel writhes its way to the sea and a grieving gardener finds solace in the dirt beneath his nails. Brimming with dark humour, empathy and a sharp eye for the uncanny, this is an electrifying debut from an original new voice.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Literary Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 29, 2025

About the author

Miriam Webster’s fiction and essays have been published in Aniko Magazine, HEAT, Island, Overland, The Suburban Review, swim meet lit mag and certain zines. She is a Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellow and her work has been recognised in major prizes including the Calibre Essay Prize, the Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize, the Olga Masters Short Story Award and the inaugural KYD Nonfiction Essay Prize. She lives in Naarm/Melbourne. The Slip is her first book.

Reviews

[Raquel Gazzola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild, weird and wonderful. I need more!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an amazing debut collection!! Loved every story in this collection, which is unusual!

[Zoe Sounness · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has absolutely no business being this good - devoured it within a day

[perth dirtbag · Rating 2 out of 5]

Each of these stories are individually fine. The author is clearly interested in writing about taboo topics in a way that most writers in their twenties like to. However, there's no clincher that warrants the sum of these stories as a collection.

[BEN PHILLIPS · Rating 4 out of 5]

An invigorating collection of raw and challenging reflections and observations on the complexity and absurdity of life.

[emily faye · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

[Kristy (sometimes_i_read_books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Bridget Wallis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sooo brilliant. Funny, nostalgic, heartbreaking, shocking at times????, beautiful, and tender. Loved it

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gem 💎

[Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great collection!

[Daniel Bickle-Lazarow · Rating 4 out of 5]

glimmer was amazing, and I think im rachel. not sure about the eel one. great work mim