The Mushroom Tapes
Helen Garner
| Publish Date | 11 November, 2025 | |
| RRP | $36.99 |
From three award-winning authors - the book that will outlast the news cycle.
'Categorically a must-read, diary-clearing kind of book...I couldn't stop reading.' READINGS
In July 2023, in the quiet Gippsland town of Leongatha, Erin Patterson-stay-at-home mother and true-crime devotee-invited her husband's devoutly Christian family to lunch. Within days, three of her guests were dead and the fourth was in a coma. They had all been poisoned by death cap mushrooms.
Two years later, Patterson stood trial, accused of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. The court case gripped the nation and fascinated people all over the world.
Among those drawn into the drama were three renowned writers- Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein. Together, they joined the daily media scrum at the Latrobe Valley Law Courts and spent long days immersed in the case's sinister and complex themes- love, hate, jealousy, revenge, marriage, money, mycology and murder.
The Mushroom Tapes is a true-crime book like no other-a unique study of Erin Patterson and our collective obsession with her strange and terrible crime.
PRAISE-
'Pick up this book and you'll find it hard to put down.' The Australian
'Sensitive and insightful.' Age
'Garner, Hooper and Krasnostein are an acute trio of conversational partners. Their precise, wry observations compel the reader's attention.' Guardian
'I was utterly captivated...a dense and deeply engaging weaving of voices, narratives and ideas.' Conversation
'An utterly absorbing exploration of how these writers think- questioning, rationalising and reflecting on female criminality, morality and the ethics of storytelling.' Books+Publishing
'Allows us to imagine what the mealtime conversations many of us have been having about this case would be like if three of Australia's best writers were guests.' Inside Story
'Categorically a must-read, diary-clearing kind of book...I couldn't stop reading.' READINGS
In July 2023, in the quiet Gippsland town of Leongatha, Erin Patterson-stay-at-home mother and true-crime devotee-invited her husband's devoutly Christian family to lunch. Within days, three of her guests were dead and the fourth was in a coma. They had all been poisoned by death cap mushrooms.
Two years later, Patterson stood trial, accused of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. The court case gripped the nation and fascinated people all over the world.
Among those drawn into the drama were three renowned writers- Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein. Together, they joined the daily media scrum at the Latrobe Valley Law Courts and spent long days immersed in the case's sinister and complex themes- love, hate, jealousy, revenge, marriage, money, mycology and murder.
The Mushroom Tapes is a true-crime book like no other-a unique study of Erin Patterson and our collective obsession with her strange and terrible crime.
PRAISE-
'Pick up this book and you'll find it hard to put down.' The Australian
'Sensitive and insightful.' Age
'Garner, Hooper and Krasnostein are an acute trio of conversational partners. Their precise, wry observations compel the reader's attention.' Guardian
'I was utterly captivated...a dense and deeply engaging weaving of voices, narratives and ideas.' Conversation
'An utterly absorbing exploration of how these writers think- questioning, rationalising and reflecting on female criminality, morality and the ethics of storytelling.' Books+Publishing
'Allows us to imagine what the mealtime conversations many of us have been having about this case would be like if three of Australia's best writers were guests.' Inside Story
Helen Garner (Author)
Helen Garner writes novels, stories, screenplays and works of non-fiction. She is the winner of the Melbourne Prize for Literature, the Windham Campbell Prize for Non-Fiction, the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature and the Australian Society of Authors Medal. Her books include Monkey Grip, The Children's Bach, The First Stone, Joe Cinque's Consolation, The Spare Room, This House of Grief, The Season, How to End a Story- Collected Diaries, which won the prestigious Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, and The Mushroom Tapes, with Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein.
Chloe Hooper (Author)
Chloe Hooper is the author of The Tall Man and The Arsonist, along with two acclaimed novels. Her most recent book is Bedtime Story.
Sarah Krasnostein (Author)
Sarah Krasnostein is a multi-award winning writer and critic. She is the best-selling author of The Trauma Cleaner, The Believer, the Quarterly Essay, Not Waving, Drowning, and On Peter Carey. The Trauma Cleaner is available in various translations. The Believer was named by The New Yorker as a Best Book of 2022. She has won Walkley Awards for long form feature writing and arts criticism, and been awarded the Victorian Prize for Literature, the Australian Book Industry Award for General Non-Fiction, the Victorian Premier's Prize for Non-Fiction, the Prize for Non-Fiction at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards and the Dobbie Literary Award. She was a finalist for the Wellcome Book Prize (UK), the National Biography Award, the Melbourne Prize for Literature, the Walkley Book Award and the Nib Literary Award. She holds a doctorate in criminal law and is admitted to legal practice in New York and Victoria.
Helen Garner writes novels, stories, screenplays and works of non-fiction. She is the winner of the Melbourne Prize for Literature, the Windham Campbell Prize for Non-Fiction, the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature and the Australian Society of Authors Medal. Her books include Monkey Grip, The Children's Bach, The First Stone, Joe Cinque's Consolation, The Spare Room, This House of Grief, The Season, How to End a Story- Collected Diaries, which won the prestigious Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, and The Mushroom Tapes, with Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein.
Chloe Hooper (Author)
Chloe Hooper is the author of The Tall Man and The Arsonist, along with two acclaimed novels. Her most recent book is Bedtime Story.
Sarah Krasnostein (Author)
Sarah Krasnostein is a multi-award winning writer and critic. She is the best-selling author of The Trauma Cleaner, The Believer, the Quarterly Essay, Not Waving, Drowning, and On Peter Carey. The Trauma Cleaner is available in various translations. The Believer was named by The New Yorker as a Best Book of 2022. She has won Walkley Awards for long form feature writing and arts criticism, and been awarded the Victorian Prize for Literature, the Australian Book Industry Award for General Non-Fiction, the Victorian Premier's Prize for Non-Fiction, the Prize for Non-Fiction at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards and the Dobbie Literary Award. She was a finalist for the Wellcome Book Prize (UK), the National Biography Award, the Melbourne Prize for Literature, the Walkley Book Award and the Nib Literary Award. She holds a doctorate in criminal law and is admitted to legal practice in New York and Victoria.
| ISBN | 9781923058750 | |
| Pages | 256 | |
| Publisher | The Text Publishing Company | |
| Format | Paperback |