Who is Iris Webber?
A thief, a fighter, a wife, a lover.
A scammer, a schemer, a friend.
A musician, a worker, a big-hearted fool.
A woman who has prevailed against the toughest gangsters of the day, defying police time and again, yet is now trapped in a prison cell.
Guilty or innocent?
Rollicking through the underbelly of 1930s sly-grog Sydney,
Iris is a dazzling literary achievement from one of Australia's finest writers. Based on actual events and set in an era of cataclysmic change, here is a fierce, fascinating tale of a woman who couldn't be held back.
Praise for Iris
'The story of Iris had to be told, and Fiona Kelly McGregor had produced the roughest but most invaluable diamond.' - Tony Birch
'There's a magical conjuring up here, a dream-building of people, place and things.
Iris is to me not just a great urban novel, but maybe the best Australian city novel ever.' - Peter Doyle
'Visceral and immediate and relevant. It's a stunner.' - Hannah Kent
'A vivid, arresting voice ... Utterly gripping. Love it.' - Lucy Treloar
'A brawling, picaresque book by one of our foremost cartographers of settler Sydney.' - Declan Fry,
The Sydney Morning Herald
'Vivid and panoramic.' -
The Times / The Conversation
'Intimate and exuberant.' - Gemma Nisbet,
The West Australian
'Exceptional ... This book had me in its clutches for an unusually long time. I didn't want to let it - or Iris - go.' - Alison Huber, Readings Bookshop
'An exhilarating squeezebox of a novel.' - Felicity Plunkett,
The Australian Book Review
Who is Iris Webber?
A thief, a fighter, a wife, a lover.
A scammer, a schemer, a friend.
A musician, a worker, a big-hearted fool.
A woman who has prevailed against the toughest gangsters of the day, defying police time and again, yet is now trapped in a prison cell.
Guilty or innocent?
Rollicking through the underbelly of 1930s sly-grog Sydney,
Iris is a dazzling literary achievement from one of Australia's finest writers. Based on actual events and set in an era of cataclysmic change, here is a fierce, fascinating tale of a woman who couldn't be held back.
Praise for Iris
'The story of Iris had to be told, and Fiona Kelly McGregor had produced the roughest but most invaluable diamond.' - Tony Birch
'There's a magical conjuring up here, a dream-building of people, place and things.
Iris is to me not just a great urban novel, but maybe the best Australian city novel ever.' - Peter Doyle
'Visceral and immediate and relevant. It's a stunner.' - Hannah Kent
'A vivid, arresting voice ... Utterly gripping. Love it.' - Lucy Treloar
'A brawling, picaresque book by one of our foremost cartographers of settler Sydney.' - Declan Fry,
The Sydney Morning Herald
'Vivid and panoramic.' -
The Times / The Conversation
'Intimate and exuberant.' - Gemma Nisbet,
The West Australian
'Exceptional ... This book had me in its clutches for an unusually long time. I didn't want to let it - or Iris - go.' - Alison Huber, Readings Bookshop
'An exhilarating squeezebox of a novel.' - Felicity Plunkett,
The Australian Book Review
Short-listed for ARA Historical Novel Prize 2023.
Short-listed for Miles Franklin Literary Award 2023.
Short-listed for ALS Gold Medal 2023.
Short-listed for NSW Premier's Literary Award Christina Stead Prize for Fiction 2023.
Long-listed for BookPeople Adult Fiction Book of the Year 2023.
Long-listed for ABDA Book Design Awards Best Designed Literary Fiction Cover 2023.
Long-listed for The Stella Prize 2023.