Go Lightly by Brydie Lee-Kennedy
“Love was a way of passing the time, Ada thought, as she threw another rock into the water. Did she have a lot of love to give or a lot of hours to fill and was there any difference?”
The debut novel by Australian author and screenwriter Brydie-Lee Kennedy, Go Lightly, was released in 2024. The novel follows Ada, a Sydney-born 26-year-old in the midst of her third summer living in London. Ada is an actress, living gig-to-gig and doing office temp work in between. As the title implies, Ada is a loose 21st Century reimagining of Truman Capote’s Holly Golightly of Breakfast At Tiffany’s; young and beautiful in a big city, Ada is more interested in having a good time, and letting her feelings guide her, than planning for the future.
Ada lives firmly in the present: “Why would you be twenty-one when you could be twenty-six? Why would you be thirty-one? … she had never wanted to be any age other than this one and she was going to be this age for as long as she was allowed.” While she errs on the side of self-absorbed, she does so in a way that does not alienate the reader, resulting in a lovably flawed and realistic protagonist. She feels things deeply, is open about these feelings, and believes the world would be much simpler if everyone else did the same – a refreshing break from the “miscommunication” trope common to many other works in the same genre.
“She felt things so sharply they’d cut her open if she didn’t let them out and her face, her round soft canvas, was the release.”
In the novel’s opening chapters, Ada is introduced to two people: friend-of-a-friend Sadie, a fellow Australian and playwright, whom she sleeps with hours after meeting; and Stuart, a younger Liverpudlian man who sends her a barrage of messages after seeing one of her shows. As her easy-going nature implores her to, Ada pursues both of these romantic potentials. Whether this is out of genuine interest or boredom, it is hard to tell; regardless, it makes for an interesting story. Every second chapter is written in the form of text message exchanges, which helps keep the novel at a brisk and engaging pace, while also nodding to the way many modern-day romances often unfold, at least partly, online.
As both of her lovers slip deeper and deeper into her inner world, Ada’s life is at risk of a collision. Beneath her carefree exterior, however, hides a level of insecurity, and occasionally we are allowed glimpses into a depth that those in her life may not be privy to:
“She worried that without her immediate presence, all her shortcomings became more obvious, her flakiness and irritability looming in a person’s memory without the counterbalance of her body. She didn’t photograph well, needed to be seen in motion and she wondered if she was an experience more than a girl.”
The relationship between Ada and her housemate, Mel, is perhaps Ada’s purest love. The two share the intimate closeness familiar to any woman who has lived with her best friend in her twenties. Their love for each other is clear: every morning, Ada wakes to the sound of Mel’s alarm through the wall and makes Mel a cup of tea, which she leaves outside her bedroom door. Mel works full-time in radio producing, a job she loves, and she accepts Ada’s less-than-employed situation without judgement, occasionally helping her out financially. Their funny exchanges, and almost marital domestic arrangement, are a joy to read.
While the first 100 or so pages are enjoyable, for me the novel really picks up when Ada takes a trip to Florida with her parents. They go to visit Ada’s sister, Gabby, who has recently had a baby, and meet Gabby’s (very American) husband, Hank. Ada and Gabby’s relationship has been strained since they were young, however the Florida chapters are full of unexpected warmth and familial love, showing yet another side of our multifaceted protagonist and filling in the blanks of her past.
As the title suggests, Go Lightly is a light, summery read, perfect for the beach (unfortunately, we in the southern hemisphere may have to content ourselves with cosying up under a blanket instead). While she finds herself in strife throughout the novel’s events, and perhaps makes some frustrating decisions, Ada – and, in turn, the reader – has a firm belief that everything will work out okay. The stakes are never life-or-death, but Ada’s struggles ring true to me, another twenty-something trying to navigate life in the creative industries. Lee-Kennedy’s witty prose is engaging, and the text message chapters feel authentic and true to the characters.
Ada’s journey captures the messiness of being in your twenties, and the importance of familial and platonic love; especially when your romantic life goes awry. This fun, queer novel is an exploration of the bitter lows and joyous highs that come with trying to carve out a creative life in a cold and unfamiliar city.
Macey Smart is a writer and editor from lutruwita/Tasmania. She recently graduated from the University of Tasmania with First Class Honours in English, with a research project on women and food in contemporary literature. You can find her work in Togatus, where she was the Deputy Editor for 2023, as well as swim meet lit mag and Playdough Magazine.