Review by: Anna Frankpitt

Stinkbug is the first novel by Melbourne-based writer, editor and cultural critic Sinéad Stubbins, published by Affirm Press in May 2025. On her website, Stubbins describes her workplace literary thriller as including ‘the kind of corporate feedback that makes you want to clong yourself on the head’ and even her publishers describe the novel as an ‘anxious millennial fever dream.’ Stinkbug has been compared by critics and readers to the likes of Nine Perfect Strangers, Yellowface, Nightbitch and Such a Fun Age. The novel follows hardworking Edith, who was recently broken up with and is also somehow involved in the redundancy of another employee at her workplace. At advertising company Winked, Edith works as a copy writer, and it becomes perpetually clear that in an effort to move forward after her breakup, Edith tells her boss something quite damning. As the story evolves, this babble begins to link more and more with the firing of another employee – that employee being her ex-boyfriend.

Overview of the novel

The bulk of the narrative takes place at a work retreat, Consequi, where a sleepover with colleagues in a strange old nunnery takes on all the hallmarks of a school camp. Alongside creaking floorboards, set bedtimes and rickety single beds, the story relishes in murkiness and loquaciousness by suggesting that only some employees are invited on the retreat. The activities that the group must partake in make Edith feel uncomfortable, and on the bus ride to the venue the topic on everyone’s lips is the upcoming purchase of Winked. The retreat is run by Una and Terry, two characters who traipse around the halls of the old nunnery regularly splitting up the group and telling them the importance of having a ‘work best friend’. What starts off as a lovely nod to the culture of friends at work slowly becomes sinister as new friends trade one another like cards, and the retreat makes Edith even more suspicious when a list of everyone’s salaries is found while at a party. Coupled with the pressure for a ‘work best friend’ many of the attendees become panicked and will do whatever Una and Terry ask of them. Edith watches on, becoming incredibly suspicious and questioning what it takes to be in the corporate world.

Understanding Stubbins’ protagonist

Stubbins herself states that Edith has a ‘flimsy relationship with reality’ and to the reader this comes across in several layers. While she may be able to see through the performance of Consequi, Edith is also holding secrets. It is true that like in most workplaces that exist, Edith works with some annoying and self-important people. But, as the novel is written from Edith’s perspective, it is hard to see past her opinion that she is above her fellow employees and extremely good at her job, and it becomes very clear that she has been painting those around her rather poorly in order to conflate her sense of self. Stubbins creates Edith as both an unreliable narrator and an example of the need to criticise the corporate machine. This is balanced well in its reminder to both Edith and the reader that people are more than they seem.

Edith is a character who I believe would speak to most women entering or existing in the workforce. She is quite completely lost, but at the same time strong in how she sees herself and what she stands for. What is fabulous about her paradox is that it allows for an unreliable narrator who can be loved and seriously questioned all at once. Stubbins creates the perfect environment for a reader to feel incredibly attached to Edith, but also hopelessly worried for her. It was hard not to want to talk to Edith as she made her decisions, nudging her to prompt a head shake that would hopefully ‘snap her out’ of some of her less flattering choices. But this frustration is what makes the book, as Stubbins continually points a finger towards corporate culture as the driver for both Edith and her colleagues’ bizarre behaviour.

Stinkbugs in society

Stubbins speaks to the reader like a colleague and friend, adding a level of trickery with this casual formality that could easily be described as a ‘work best friend’. This adds strongly to the satire of the novel, as each of its themes weave together to incite uncertainty and derision for the office’s we see each day. The approachable tone makes this what many would describe as a quick read. Yet it is the aftermath of the story and the feeling upon its completion that places it in a different league: almost as if each layer of absurdity creates a perfect climate to be finally slapped in the face – but ouch it hurts.

Stinkbug feels honed and confident, doing an impressive job of talking to both the corporate machine and women’s role within it. Edith is all of us and none of us, but more importantly Stubbins cements her protagonist as neither victim nor hero, instead drawing us back to the larger picture and the vulnerability of trying.

Anna Frankpitt is an emerging writer based in Melbourne/Naarm and is currently studying a Masters of Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing at The University of Melbourne. She has published fiction for Meniscus, the Australasian Association of Writers Programs literary journal, and hopes to publish much more in the years to come.

Stinkbug was first published by Affirm Press in 2025 and has an RRP of AU$ 34.99 / NZ$ 37.99.