Soft Serve

by George Kemp, Rebecca Macauley (Narrator)

Stuck in a regional McDonald's, as bushfires close in, three 20-somethings and their dead friend's mum all face a reckoning. Fern longs for Ethan, Ethan longs for Jacob, and Jacob struggles to long for anything. Meanwhile, Pat just wants her grief to ease up.

Soft Serve proves that small-town lives are huge, and that anyone can get stuck in limbo between their past and their hoped-for future. From celebrated Australian playwright and actor George Kemp comes this charming and poignant it's drive-thru Chekhov… and full of heart.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Audible Audio

Published February 3, 2026

Reviews

[Sophie McComas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet and funny and sad and human. A gorgeous debut.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

“This place holds her grief in its hands,”

Grief is all encompassing as a bushfire. The embers sparking kilometres away.

Beautiful and devastating. And as someone who’s lived through several days that start with ‘black’, it was all too real and I loved them all.

And yes, I cried like a baby.

[Saoirse Smith-Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️ I bought this as I am currently travelling Australia and I have seen it in all the bookshops. SO GOOD! Read it in a sitting. A tender exploration of grief and love with a backdrop of wildfire fear. This will stay with me for a while.

[Rohan McCartney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soft Serve is an absolutely fantastic portrait of small town Australian life and the way in which people deal with trauma and crisis. Reading this, I was instantly transported back to my own small town facing the crises of bushfires and my own personal struggles. Kemp writes with such clarity and reliability I was completely transfixed with the story, the characters and the emotions that swallowed me whole.

[Allie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very Australian so is relatable. Maccas being the main setting, also relatable and with a country bushfire on its way to destroy the town. Also relatable.
Pat works at Maccas after some trauma of losing her son Taz in a hand gliding accident.
Then there is the young adults trying to navigate their relationships and friendships, including same sex relationships. And beginning to work out what they want from their futures.
The story jumped around a bit and although it was good I feel like it lacked a bit of depth.

[Seán Coireall M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Soft Serve, George Kemp captures the uneasy stillness of another Australian summer overshadowed by the threat of bushfires. Set in a small rural town, the story focuses on the rhythms of everyday life — work shifts, familiar faces, idle conversations — all pressed flat beneath relentless heat.

Kemp’s restrained prose builds a quiet tension, where the fires feel less like an event and more like a constant presence shaping moods and relationships. The result is an understated yet evocative portrait of small-town life simmering on the edge of change.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this exploration of grief, growing up, sexuality and responding to a fire. After the death of Taz, his mother Pat is devastated, her marriage disintegrates and her life is shrunk. His three friends also cope in different ways, while trying to find their own way in life. Through flashbacks, we learn more about the characters and their lives.

[alex l · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite liked this. Thought it was a bit light-on at the start, but ended up making me unexpectedly cry towards the end. While the characters weren’t always likeable, there was generally an endearing quality to them all, like the people you meet and know in country towns.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great debut fiction by George Kemp - I reviewed this for the Saturday Paper (31 January) here https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/c...

[Garth Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Low-key devastating, this throbs with small town yearning for a future that’s already in locomotion.