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SOFT SERVE

George Kemp

A Novel

A gem of a debut novel by award-winning playwright George Kemp, about small-town lives and the search for genuine sustenance in a fast-food world.
Stuck in a regional McDonald's, as bushfires close in, three twenty-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 playwright and actor George Kemp comes this charming and poignant novel: it's drive-thru Chekhov, and full of heart.

GEORGE KEMP is an emerging writer based on Gadigal land in Sydney. He won the Australian Theatre for Young People Foundation Commission Award in 2020 for his play Shack (published by Playlab). He is currently a resident artist at the Australian Theatre for Young People, and in 2023 was a playwright mentor at the organisation's flagship writing program, National Studio.
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Published 2026-02-03 by UQP

Comments

Full of spark and love, Soft Serve is fiercely tender and moving.

A scorching novel about small-town grief, queer yearning and the rituals that keep us connected. George Kemp's debut is full of complicated humanity, dark laughs and endless compassion and makes him one to watch.

A new and glorious voice has arrived on the Australian literary scene compelling, lyrical, evocative and utterly original.

Soft Serve is an irresistible debut; it will thaw the hardest heart. George Kemp delivers a tale of first love, loss and the inexorable pain of growing up.

This exquisite book grabbed my heart and held it long after it ended. Every character is drawn with the greatest affection, exploring the beauty and fragility of loss and love.