Endling

A feminist utopia crumbles with one impossible birth.

On an isolated mountaintop, a small feminist community is fracturing under the weight of ideological divides and dwindling numbers. Mila struggles to hold the women together, while deeper in the bush her aunt Frank - an ailing recluse - lives with only her dog, Chicken Midnight, for company. Nearby, an orchid endling approaches its own death, and the extinction of its entire species.

As Frank grows increasingly unwell and secretive about her condition, the community women begin mysteriously falling pregnant. When Mila gives birth to the only boy, their hardline separatist ideals face an impossible test. Vividly expressed, wildly funny, and wholly original, The Endling examines the volatile intersection of community and politics, exploring what happens when the borders we construct between species, between sexes, between self and world prove more porous than we imagine.

About the author

Keely Jobe is a writer of fiction and nonfiction living on the east coast of Lutruwita/Tasmania with her partner and two staffies. Her work has appeared in The Monthly, Island Magazine, Australian Geographic, and Cosmos. She has a PhD in English and Creative Writing from the University of Tasmania and is the nonfiction editor at Island Magazine. The Endling is her first novel.

Product details

• Authors: Keely Jobe
• Publisher: Faber Factory Plus GBS
• Content: Book
• Product form: Hardback
• Publication date: 09.04.2026
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature
• EAN: 9781917189347
• ISBN: 978-1-917189-34-7
• Pages: 272
• Subjects: Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), FICTION / Literary, Australia, FICTION / Political, FICTION / Dystopian, Narrative theme: Identity / belonging, FICTION / Feminist, Dystopian and utopian fiction, Narrative theme: Environmental issues / the natural world, Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Narrative theme: social issues / social problems, Narrative theme: politics / economics, FICTION / Family Life / Parenthood & Children, Tasmanian fiction, Books like The Power, Feminist dystopian fiction, Queer feminist fiction, Books with strong female leads, Women-led community novel, Books about extinction, Literary fiction debut, Female-led literary fiction, Reproductive rights novel, Books about separatist societies, Feminist sci-fi, Matriarchal society book, Speculative fiction Australia, Feminist utopia novel, Gender and community novel, Nature and identity fiction, Environmental speculative fiction, Gender politics novel