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About The Book

A story about what it means to be a friend …

Five women, best friends for decades, meet once a month to talk about books … and life, love and the jagged bits in between. Dissecting each other’s lives seems the most natural thing in the world – and honesty, no matter how brutal, is something they treasure. Best friends tell each other everything, don’t they? But each woman harbours a complex secret and one weekend, without warning, everything comes unstuck.

Izzy, soon to be the first Black woman with her own television show, has to make a decision that will change everything.
Veronica, recently divorced and dedicated to raising the best sons in the world, has forgotten who she is.
Xanthe, desperate for a baby, can think of nothing else, even at the expense of her marriage.
Nadine, so successful at writing other people’s stories, is determined to blot out her own.
Ellen, footloose by choice, begins to question all that she’s fought for.

When their circle begins to fracture and the old childhood ways don’t work anymore, is their sense of sistahood enough to keep it intact? How well do these tiddas really know each other?

Praise for Tiddas
‘Generous and witty’ Susan Johnson

‘This enjoyable and human story is impressively interwoven with historical and contemporary Aboriginal issues.’ Sun Herald

‘A celebration of female friendships’ Sunday Territorian

‘Will resonate with many readers … a novel that asks whether a strong sense of sisterhood is enough to keep friends together.’ Burnie Advocate

About The Author

Photograph © Morgan Roberts

Dr Anita Heiss is an internationally published, award-winning author of 23 books; non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women’s fiction and children’s novels. She is a proud member of the Wiradyuri Nation of central New South Wales, an Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and the GO Foundation, and Professor of Communications at the University of Queensland. Anita is a board member of the National Justice Project and Circa Contemporary Circus. As an artist in residence at La Boite Theatre, she adapted her novel Tiddas for the stage and it premiered at the 2022 Brisbane Festival.

Her novel, Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray about the Great Flood of Gundagai, won the 2022 NSW Premier’s Indigenous Writer’s Prize and was shortlisted for the 2021 ARA Historical Novel Prize and the 2022 ABIA Awards. Anita’s first children’s picture book is Bidhi Galing (Big Rain) about the Great Flood of Gundagai. Anita enjoys running, eating chocolate and being a creative disruptor.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia (March 1, 2014)
  • Length: 368 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781922052285

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Raves and Reviews

‘This enjoyable and human story is impressively interwoven with historical and contemporary Aboriginal issues.’

– Sun Herald

‘A celebration of female friendships’

– Sunday Territorian

‘Will resonate with many readers … a novel that asks whether a strong sense of sisterhood is enough to keep friends together.’

– Burnie Advocate

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More books from this author: Anita Heiss