{"product_id":"the-office-as-a-boat-9781763847590","title":"The Office as a Boat","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn the office you have to leave your dreaming behind, and live in the front of the head where all the analysis is done, where the facts of history are plotted, where logic operates, where emotion is scantily represented.’\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn unending heatwave heightens the strange claustrophobia of the nine to five. Lou, Sarah, Verity, Susan, Casey, Isabel, Nell and Audrey all work together; they know the intimate details of each other’s lives, but also nothing at all. They are co-conspirators and competitors, support network and enemies. They track the moods of the men in charge on a menstrual chart while dreaming of escaping to their gardens.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn Moya Costello’s incisive and dreamlike prose, \u003ci\u003eThe Office as a Boat\u003c\/i\u003e, first published in 2000, provides a deadpan field study of working days – with their gossip, banality and missing stationery – while suggesting the possibility of breaking free. This new edition, with an introduction by bestselling author Holly Gramazio, makes for a quirky and very funny desk companion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘A joy.’ \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Canberra Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘Beautifully clear and visually precise.' Katharine England, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Advertiser\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘There is wit, irony and comedy in the writing, and also an assured seriousness and high intelligence.’ \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Age\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘Recodes the banal as sublime … delightful, provocative, funny.’ Jen Webb, Idiom\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e‘Costello slips easefully from slice-of-life realist prose to magic realism, from social history to imaginative fancy.’ Imago\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9781763847590\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 144\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 01 Sep 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Pink Shorts Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: Australia\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 21(H)x13.5(L)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMoya Costello\u003c\/b\u003e wrote five books – two of short creative prose (\u003ci\u003eKites in Jakarta\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSmall Ecstasies\u003c\/i\u003e), two short novels (\u003ci\u003eThe Office as a Boat\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHarriet Chandler\u003c\/i\u003e) and one collection of prose poems (\u003ci\u003epressed specimen\u003c\/i\u003es) – and many, many pieces, published in journals, anthologies, newspapers and catalogues. Moya was a Sydney girl but also sampled life in Melbourne, Adelaide, Northern Rivers and Tasmania. She died in 2025.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHolly Gramazio\u003c\/b\u003e is a game designer, curator and writer, originally from Adelaide and currently based in London. Her first novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Husbands\u003c\/i\u003e, was an international bestseller and is being adapted into a series by Apple TV.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e","brand":"Moya Costello","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49279483609305,"sku":"9781763847590","price":32.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9781763847590.jpg?v=1789818493","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/the-office-as-a-boat-9781763847590","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}