When the past refuses to stay buried, uncovering the secrets that haunt us

NEWLY released, Backstory isn't just an audiobook, but a slow confession. The nearly nine-hour listen is a story about ambition, friendship and the blurred lines between what we remember and what we choose to forget.

- Gabriel Bergmoser

It is the kind of novel that pulls you with an uneasiness, where the grip tightens and secrets rise to the surface.

Bergmoser, the award-winning Melbourne-based author known for his gripping and emotionally intelligent storytelling, once again proves his command over the psychological thriller.

His prose is cinematic yet intimate, his characters flawed but achingly human. He doesn't just explore darkness - he finds empathy within it.

The setup seems deceptively simple: five university friends reunite for a weekend away, a nostalgic nod to their shared years in a creative writing course.

But nostalgia can be dangerous, and before the weekend is over, promising young writer Keith Brooks is dead. The official story calls it a tragic accident. Yet, as anyone who’ read Bergmoser before knows, nothing in his worlds is ever that tidy.

Enter Phoebe Black, a disgraced journalist desperate for redemption. When Keith’s mysterious death crosses her path, she senses an opportunity — both to rebuild her career and to uncover the truth that others seem so keen to bury. But as Phoebe begins to interview the surviving friends, she discovers that every account tells a different story. And somewhere in those contradictions lies the truth - jagged, elusive, and far more devastating than she imagined.