“This sharp satire features a conwoman you can empathise with” – The Age

Christina is a single mother living in the Melbourne suburbs, but to her online clients she is the esteemed Dr Ruth Carlisle, an 'executive coach and mindset expert'.

Dr Ruth gains her clients’ trust through her coaching business; discovering their secrets and deepest fears. Through this elaborate scam, she’s saving money for the ultimate unobtainable Australian dream: a home deposit. But when she blunders, and her worlds begin to collide, suddenly everything is at stake.

The Confidence Woman is a novel about more than one kind of confidence game. It explores and hilariously skewers contemporary cults of self-optimisation, while drawing a too-real portrait of the difficulties of striving for success (or just security) in a rigged system.

Published April 1, 2025 by Allen & Unwin.
Shortlisted for the 2025 New Australian Fiction Prize.

Reviews of The Confidence Woman

The Guardian: ‘Timely and slyly funny’
New Zealand Listener: ‘Sophie Quick is a writer in love with language.’
Books and Publishing: ‘Acerbic, almost vicious sense of humour’
The Age ($):‘This sharp satire features a conwoman you can empathise with’
ArtsHub: ‘Christina stands out as a perfect creation, and Quick as an exciting new voice.’
Readings:‘The twists and reverses... are as clever as they are believable.’

Interviews for The Confidence Woman
With Doug Wallen for The Big Issue magazine
With Mel Fulton for Literati Glitterati on Triple R
With Jess McGuire on ABC NSW Drive
With Chris Gordon for the Readings podcast