The Bus on Thursday

Bridget Jones meets The Exorcist in a devilishly funny new novel from the acclaimed filmmaker, screenwriter and author of Rush Oh!

That's when I literally had thoughts of becoming a nun, because I thought, Well, I'm never going to have sex again. If I become a nun, I would at least have somewhere to live.

It wasn't just the bad break up that caused Eleanor's life to unravel. It was the cancer. And the demons that came with it.

Freshly single and thoroughly traumatised from the ordeals of breast cancer, Eleanor Mellett starts a new job as a teacher in a remote mountain hamlet. It's certainly peaceful enough, almost too peaceful. But what's become of the previous teacher, the saintly Miss Barker, who has disappeared abruptly under mysterious circumstances? And what's with all those locks on the door? And what the hell is that bus doing idling outside her house late, late at night?

When the local priest offers to exorcise Eleanor of her 'cancer demon', she probably should have declined. Because that's when all her troubles start in earnest. That's when the visitors come a-knocking.

Bridget Jones meets The Exorcist in Twin Peaks. Darkly funny, deeply unsettling and surprisingly poignant, Shirley Barrett's The Bus on Thursday is a strange wild ride for all fans of Helen Fielding, Maria Semple, David Lynch and Stephen King.

About the Author

Shirley Barrett is best known for her work as a screenwriter and director. Her first film, Love Serenade, won the Camera D'Or (Best First Feature) at Cannes Film Festival in 1996. In 2010, the script for her her film South Solitary won the Queensland Premier's Prize and the West Australian Premier's Prize. Shirley's first novel Rush Oh! was released in 2015 by Picador Pan Macmillan. The Bus on Thursday is Shirley's second novel. She lives in Sydney, Australia.