Katherine Collette

A big-hearted comedy about what happens when being the brainiest person in the room doesn't mean things work out the way you imagined The feel-good book for 2018—The Helpline is one of those delightful and all too rare 'up-lit' books you can recommend to anyone as a pick-me-up or ideal gift Such an appealing novel that Text is offering a money-back guarantee readers will love it: see back page for details The author was inspired to write The Helpline after meeting one Trump-like president of a senior citizens centre. This obnoxious 85 year-old in a motorised wheelchair was furious at a Chinese group for playing mah-jong in the bingo room and threw out a cake plate belonging to the Miniature Train Society because she was angry with them. The council, feeling she had to go, arranged a sort of coup and had her replaced. Katherine Collette loved that the same things that play out on the world stage: power, ambition, politics, etc. where playing out at this level To be supported by a major marketing and publicity campaign including a trailer and social media strategy Bound proofs available Katherine Collette is a sewerage engineer who lives in Preston, Victoria

The Helpline

An eccentric woman who is great with numbers—but not so great with people—realizes it’s up to her to pull a community together in this charming, big-hearted, “fun read, full of unique characters” (Associated Press)—perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and The Rosie Project. Germaine Johnson doesn’t need friends. She has her work and her Sudoku puzzles. Until, that is, an incident at her insurance company leaves her jobless—and it turns out that there are very few openings these days for senior mathematicians with zero people skills. Desperate, Germaine manages to secure a position at City Hall answering calls on the Senior Citizens Helpline. But it turns out that the mayor has something else in mind for Germaine: a secret project involving the troublemakers at the senior citizens center and their feud with the neighboring golf club—which happens to be run by the dashing yet disgraced national Sudoku champion, Don Thomas. Don and the mayor want the senior center closed down and at first, Germaine is dedicated to helping them out—it makes sense mathematically, after all. But when Germaine actually gets to know the group of elderly rebels at the senior center, they open her eyes to a life outside of boxes and numbers and for the first time ever, Germaine realizes she may have miscalculated. Filled with a unique and (occasionally) cranky cast of characters you can’t help but love, The Helpline is “delightful feel-good fun” (Toni Jordan, author of Addition) that is bound to capture your heart.

A Novel

A charming, big-hearted debut novel in the vein of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and The Rosie Project about an oddball heroine named Germaine Johnson who is great with numbers but not so great with people. Germaine Johnson doesn’t need a lot of friends. She has her work and her Sudoku puzzles. Until, that is, an incident at the insurance company she works for leaves her jobless—and she realizes that there are very few job openings for recently laid-off senior mathematicians with no people skills. With some luck (read: bad luck) Germaine manages to secure a position at city hall answering calls on the Senior Citizens Helpline. But it turns out that the mayor herself has something else in mind for Germaine: a secret project involving the troublemakers at the senior citizens’ center and their feud with the neighbouring golf club—which happens to be run by the rakish yet disgraced national Sudoku champion, Don Thomas. Don and the mayor want the centre closed down and Germaine wants to help—because it makes sense economically, and because she’s succumbing to Don’s charms. But things get complicated when she starts getting to know the “troublemakers,” and they open her eyes to a life outside of numbers and boxes.

Katherine Collette’s much-anticipated and hilarious follow-up to The Helpline, the debut Aussie novel that charmed the world

The Competition

Germaine kann von Zahlen, Wahrscheinlichkeiten und Sudoku nicht genug kriegen. Davon versteht sie was – ein bisschen nerdig ist sie ja schon. Und nun nimmt ausgerechnet sie einen Job im sozialen Bereich an: Bei der Seniorenberatung ihrer Heimatstadt soll sie alten Menschen mit Rat und Tat zur Seite stehen – was ihr mehr schlecht als recht gelingt. Als das örtliche Seniorenheim von der Schließung bedroht ist, ist es an Germaine, die Hiobsbotschaft zu überbringen. Doch als sie die Bewohnerinnen persönlich kennenlernt, öffnen diese ihr die Augen für eine Welt außerhalb von Statistiken und Zahlen, und zum ersten Mal in ihrem Leben lässt Germaine ihr Herz sprechen ... Katherine Collette hat mit Das Einmaleins des Glücks einen witzigen, unterhaltsamen und warmherzigen Roman zum Wohlfühlen geschrieben – mit einer liebenswerten Protagonistin, die uns zeigt, was im Leben wirklich zählt.

Katherine Collette

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