UQP, 2022
Nominated for the Fiction Book of the Year Award and the People's Choice Award, Queensland Literary Awards, 2022
Jay is devoted to the care of her teenage twins who view the world as differently as it views them. Frank is sweet, sensitive, and bullied, while whip-smart Teddy needs an iPad to speak. With an absent husband and battling a nightmare bureaucracy, Jay leans heavily on Keep, her lifelong friend – half-man, half-harlequin. But in the corner of Jay's eye lurks her mother, and a childhood Jay knows she can't ever outrun.
The Keepers is an incredible and fiercely honest novel about the damage done by parents who can't love, the failures of a community that only claims to care, and the resilience of those whose stories mostly go untold.
"Al Campbell is one hell of a writer, able to move seamlessly from blunt realism to vivid fantasy, from intimate whisper to full-throated howl."
Emily Maguire
"Al Campbell is a mother and full-time carer of two sons with autism. She is also a phenomenal writer. The Keepers is her first novel, and I can honestly say, I have never read anything like it."
Tye Cattanach, Readings Carlton
"Campbell wears her heart on her sleeve in this debut, and one can only stand in awe and applaud the courage that takes. It opens a challenging, yet necessary discussion about society’s shortcomings and pays homage to the incredible carers and what they face day-in and day-out. The discussion is long overdue, and The Keepers has arrived as a saviour. I think I may just send my copy to the Prime Minister."
Samuel Bernard, Good Reading Magazine