Heather Rose is the award winning Australian author of eight novels and a celebrated memoir.

Books

One of Australia’s most diverse writers of literature ...

The Butterfly Man – 2025 edition

The Butterfly Man - the award winning novel is now published in this new edition by Allen & Unwin April 2025.

Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here

'Funny, devastating, miraculous and delightful. This is an extraordinary life story, extraordinarily told.' Bri Lee

Bruny

How far would your government go?

The Museum of Modern Love

It is 2010. Arky Levin is a film composer in New York separated from his wife who has asked him to keep one devastating promise.

The River Wife

A story of belonging is always a story of losing.

White Heart

My brother Ambrose is a tiger hunter. He is a man beyond the weather with his breath in the sky and his heart on the track ahead.

Finding Serendipity

What you would have seen is this: a girl and a dog disappearing, as if a door had opened and then closed in the vast darkness of the night sky.

A Week Without Tuesday

Vivienne Small lived in a tree house. It was quite new, her previous one having been destroyed by pirates, as some of you may remember.

Heartbreaking and beautiful, Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here is a love story brimming with courage and joy against all odds, one that will bring wonder, light and comfort to all who read it.”

Better Reading

Her writing has a vibrant energy, which intensifies and then calms like the widening flow of a river.”

Sydney Morning Herald

This award-winning writer’s eclectic memoir teems with ghosts and gratitude.”

Arts Hub

Rose has mastered the contemporary realist novel. Is there nothing she cannot do with her words and skilled imagination? No vignette or internal dialogue is here that doesn’t enhance the complex tale she is making.”

Helen Elliot, The Age

Rose’s lyrical melding … is masterful. Intriguing as the real-life events of the Lucan story are, Rose transforms it into something far more substantial.”

The Weekend Australian

News & Events

News & reviews

The Butterfly Man – new edition

Twenty years after its it was first published by UQP, and continuously in print, Allen & Unwin has acquired The Butterfly Man. It is being released as the first in a new series of all Heather’s novels for adults. The new edition will be published on April 1st. It will be followed by The River […]

Tasmanian Literary Awards

Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here is currently shortlisted for the Premier’s Prize for Non-fiction in the 2025 Tasmanian Literary Awards. It is always very special to be recognised for your work in your home territory. Tasmania has been the wellspring of all my writing. The prizes are biennial – so this is a […]

Stella Day Out Hobart Feb 16

2:30pm – 3:30pm | Nothing bad ever happens here: Heather Rose in conversation with Danielle Wood I’m delighted to be in conversation with my dear friend and fellow author Danielle Wood reflecting on The Museum of Modern Love and Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here. Click here to book a free ticket. Danielle is the author of the Vogel […]

The Launch – Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here

At Last! The launch video is here. Please enjoy. It’s been such a busy year so apologies for the long delay in posting this. Also because you may not have an hour, I’ve created 4 short ‘chapters’ with The Speeches, The Interview, The Thank Yous and The People – so you can choose the section […]