The Temperature

Readings Best Books of 2024, Fiction

A tweet. A storm. A secret. A revelation. In this age of isolation, what brings six very different people together?

Fi is about to get fired over a viral tweet.

Lexi Bostick is losing her grip on the environmental organisation she’s devoted decades of her life to. Sidney is avoiding everyone—including the persistent stranger who keeps coming into the café bookstore where she’s been hiding since she dropped out of her PhD. Govita is living in their studio space illegally and taking ketamine instead of working on their art. Somehow, they’ve also managed to adopt a dog. Thirty-something single dad Tomas watches too many movies alone at night—visited by memories of the housemate who once made the place feel like a home.

And then there’s Henry, a Vietnam veteran aging out in rural isolation, writing hateful letters to the person he blames for ruining his life …

Written with an extraordinary range of understanding, The Temperature is a compelling portrait of life in our fracturing society. Following the award-winning Women I Know, it confirms Katerina Gibson as one of the most ambitious, engaging and significant of our emerging writers.

‘Gibson is a masterful storyteller. These characters became kin, their humanity palpable and familiar. I am obsessed.’ Ella Baxter, author of New Animal

‘An exquisite, complex and timely novel … With sharp awareness and a wry playfulness, The Temperature explores the questions, connections and devastating truths of the times we find ourselves in.’ Else Fitzgerald, author of Everything Feels Like the End of the World

‘A smart, tender and sometimes deliciously vicious study of six very different people trying to find their way through broken times.’ Kate Mildenhall, author of The Hummingbird Effect