The Medusa Problem

By Doris Brett

Cover and internal illustration by Tamlyn Teow

ISBN 9781764002134, RRP $19.99

Published by Eagle Books, an imprint of Christmas Press, October 2027

About the book:

An encounter with an ancient Greek monster on the school bus is a fair indication that your day is about to veer off track. It’s certainly the case for Elly, who finds herself plunged into a desperate rescue mission, in a country of strange and dangerous magic -where being different is feared, thinking is banned and both are likely to lead to a very unpleasant death. Elly will have to have all her wits about her to evade a series of very tricky challenges and think her way out of deadly magical traps, travel with companions she can’t trust–oh, and save a world. But, even harder than that, she will have to learn how to really listen…

The Medusa Problem is both a page-turning and inventive fantasy adventure and a timely and thoughtful exploration of how a shift in perspective can alter intolerance and prejudice.

About the author

Doris Brett is a writer and clinical psychologist. Her writing has ranged across a number of genres (poetry, adult fiction, memoir, psychology and children’s fiction) and her poetry has won many of the country’s major literary awards. Her books have been published in America, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Russia, Japan and Korea as well as Australia. Eating The Underworld, her critically acclaimed memoir of a journey through life- threatening illness was named one of the best books of the year by the Australian Book Review and the Sydney Morning Herald.

The Medusa Problem is her second work of mid-grade fiction, after Philomella and The Impossible Forest (Hardie Grant, 2023)