Downstream
ANNIKA JOHANSSON
Downstream
MODERN FICTION
What happens when your great Australian dream gets washed away? And then tries to drag your marriage down with it?
Lismore resident Rob – a happily married empty-nester, enjoying his late middle age – has always defined himself by the quality of the roof over his head and the state of his family life. Solid. Safe. Stable. But when the 2022 flood hits, he and his wife Sal find themselves homeless, their lives now the very opposite of secure and predictable.
While government and insurance investigations drag on, Rob and Sal are left with no choice but to rent while they wait to find out the fate of their badly damaged home. After a mix-up with contracts, they reluctantly agree to share a home unit in Ballina with strangers – a slightly older hippy couple, also impacted by the floods, who couldn’t be more different from their new flatmates.
A two-bedroom, one-bathroom flat with very thin walls … Surely they can stick it out for six months – they’re all grown-ups, right? As each awkward, yet entertaining week rolls into the next, they graciously try to deal with one another’s personal quirks while waiting for life to get back to normal.
Only life has bigger plans for all four of them.
Downstream is a story about the forsaken dreams and buried secrets that lie below the surface of our everyday lives – until they reappear in the aftermath of trauma and disruption. With compassion and humour, Annika Johansson explores what ‘marriage’ and ‘home’ really mean, when you are faced with the prospect of losing them both.
Details
Author: Annika Johansson
Publisher: Echo Publishing
Publication date: 30 April 2024
Format: Trade Paperback, Ebook
Page Count: 320 pages
Dimensions: 15.3cm x 23.4cm
ISBN: 9781760688752
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Annika Johansson is an Australian author whose work is steeped in the weather, wit and restless humour of Bundjalung Country in the Northern Rivers of NSW. After years writing for other people as a copywriter, she turned that same sharp, economical line onto her own stories, creating contemporary fiction that feels both wildly entertaining and uncomfortably familiar. She writes from inside the chaos of modern life, holding a mirror up to the absurd scenarios we insist on calling normal, and finding heart, bite and vulnerability in the mess.
Her debut novel Downstream was quickly recognised as a Notable Read in The Weekend Australian, and saw her invited onto stages at Byron Writers Festival 2024 and the Kyogle Readers and Writers Festival 2025 – a testament to the way her work speaks to readers and critics alike. Her children’s title Turtle Lives has taken her into primary schools for Book Week talks, where she translates that same sharp observational eye into stories that make sense to younger readers without talking down to them.
Johansson also brings a playful, emotionally astute voice to contemporary romance. Her stories have been shortlisted and celebrated by Romance Writers of Australia, including finalist in the 2025 Opal Awards, winner of the 2023 Sweet Treats anthology, equal winner in the 2024 Spicy Bites anthology and equal second in the 2024 Sweet Treats anthology. Whether she is exploring family, love or the quiet absurdities of everyday life, her guiding instinct is the same. To create work that meets people where they are, tells the truth about being human, and stays with you long after you have put the book down.