Set in Melbourne, the novel follows single-mother Nora as she narrates her increasingly tumultuous relationship with a heroin addict, juxtaposed with her raising a daughter while living in bohemian share houses.

The novel initially received a mixed critical reception, achieving some degree of notoriety for its astute, uncompromising depiction of heroin addiction, sexuality, relationships and love.

[3][4] In the 1990s, when critics identified the Australian literary genre of grunge lit, Monkey Grip was retrospectively categorised as a seminal example.

The characters inhabit a lively social circle, frequenting cafés, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, pubs and clubs in the city.

Nora, a freelance journalist, takes small acting gigs in independent films and edits a women's newspaper between jobs to make ends meet.

As he returns, their relationship seems to ebb and flow: while, at a high point, the tentative couple, along with Nora's daughter Grace, go on trips across the country – first to Hobart, then a road trip to Sydney – at its lowest point, Javo steals from the share house to support his heroin habit and disappears for days on end, leaving Nora to wonder about his whereabouts and contemplate his return.

As their relationship approaches eventual disintegration due to Javo's drug addiction, deception, and unsavoury behaviour, Nora takes a short trip to Anglesea to clear her mind.

[11] Kerryn Goldsworthy writes that almost all of Garner's fiction addresses "the relationship between sexual behaviour and social organisation; the anarchic nature of desire and the orderly face of the institution of 'family'".

[18] The panel acknowledged that it was "not an easy choice", given that the book's subject matter included "heroin addiction, inner-city communal living and obsessional love".

[19] It was met with a modest acclaim there – with the London Times writing "the actual force of the author's prose carries the novel along like a strong drink" and Vogue similarly praising the book for Garner's "deliberately laconic style", further stating she "renders her experiences with imagination to produce a novel that is chilling to read, cut and coloured with hard energy and strong feeling".

In 1980, Monkey Grip was serialised for the Melbourne community radio station 3RRR with Garner reading the entire text of the novel on air, herself.

The film explores the real people and events behind Helen Garner's groundbreaking debut novel Monkey Grip and the impact it had on Australia's artistic, political and cultural identity.