'If I wanted to murder someone, this is what I'd do'
A novel arrives to a novelist as an idea, often very simple, but at the same time distinct: the idea will have a certain heft and feel to it. Nabokov described it as a throb.
I didn't know any of this, until I read the late novelist Martin Amis writing about how to write fiction.
I read this soon after I'd left my job as a journalist after 20 years, and Amis describing Nabokov's throb gave me an idea: I could write my own novel - because I had an idea at least.
My idea was simple. A crime had been committed at a big, old boy's boarding school, and a journalist who had grown up at the school 30 years ago, the son of teachers who had lived on the grounds, was sent out to report on the police investigation.
That was it. I didn't even know what the crime was. But the idea became my debut novel Black River, published in 2022 by Allen & Unwin.
Following Black River, I planned to write another novel, with the same main characters. So a police procedural, based around a NSW Homicide Detective Sergeant and a newspaper journalist. No sweat. Fine. The two characters, who first met in Black River, have now known each other for two years, have formed a bond, and, well, off we go.
Except, what I had given myself was running orders - write a police procedural with your cop and your journo - rather than an idea.
What to do? I wasn't sure. I rang a forensic pathologist who had been very kind, and very helpful, and very generous with his time and knowledge when I was writing Black River.
"I'm writing another book," I said to the pathologist. "What are we going to do?"
"I dunno. You're the f---ing novelist," he said.
Mmmm. This was unhelpfully true.
Then, immediately, he said, and I paraphrase, "Oh, if I wanted to murder someone, and have someone like me not know that I'd done it, this is what I'd do."
On the phone, I think I probably sat up a little straighter. Talk about all ears.
And he told me what he'd do, to commit a murder, that would stymie a forensic pathologist examining the corpse post-mortem.
And that became "my" idea, the bedrock for my second novel Broke Road. (No spoilers, but it involves binding, gagging, the way certain materials might interact with skin.)
And it's strange how it worked. How having a bare-bones idea gave me the confidence to start writing the novel, and how everything fanned out from it: place, character, plot, the burgeoning relationship between the cop and the journo.
MORE GREAT READS:
Because the basic idea of how to kill someone didn't tell me anything else: it didn't tell me who died, or who killed them, or where, or why, or whether anyone else may have been killed in the same manner. That all came later, flowing out from the first throb.
Broke Road skits around, geographically, from Canberra to Murrumbateman to Adelaide to Sydney. But its heart lies north of Cessnock, in the lower Hunter Valley, at a fictional flyspeck called Red Creek, in the wine country around Pokolbin.
The Hunter had always interested me, starting with its geology: the Triassic cliffs of the ranges, the coal measures laid down, the patches of weathered, volcanic soil that attracted our nation's first vignerons. Coal and wine, both industries the result of what lies beneath - in this case - a Permian swamp.
All of which led to the mining town of Cessnock, and the wine district just to its north. What interested me here, was how these two worlds remain so distinct, how Cessnock has stood aloof and refused to re-fashion itself as a centre for the wine tourists.
That's where Broke Road is set, between these two communities, neighbours standing apart.
With my first novel, I was in my comfort zone, geographically. I was writing about my childhood home - the big old boarding school in the book is a real place, The King's School at North Parramatta, and it's where I grew up, the son of teachers.
With Broke Road and the Hunter, I was well out of my depth, and certainly stretching myself. Which is good as a writer, I think (I hope). I fell back on my journalism, and did some research.
I twice travelled the Hunter with a journalist friend who knows the region well. We sampled some wares, and he introduced me around. I went back several times on my own. I spoke to locals in Cessnock, winemakers in Pokolbin (and another in Murrumbateman), a forensic investigator and a forensic pathologist in Newcastle, a former homicide detective, a geologist in Maitland, a property developer, a local council manager, a politician, a builder, a ceramics teacher, a urologist, a pilot.
The pilot character got cut, but the rest is all in there, threaded through Broke Road's plots and people and sense of place.
I hope I've done it all justice, so that, most important of all, readers can enjoy.
Novels, so I'm told, don't arrive to their authors fully formed, with plots or stories presenting themselves, ready to be jotted down on a whiteboard.
A novel arrives to a novelist as an idea, often very simple, but at the same time distinct: the idea will have a certain heft and feel to it. Nabokov described it as a throb.
I didn't know any of this, until I read the late novelist Martin Amis writing about how to write fiction.
I read this soon after I'd left my job as a journalist after 20 years, and Amis describing Nabokov's throb gave me an idea: I could write my own novel - because I had an idea at least.
My idea was simple. A crime had been committed at a big, old boy's boarding school, and a journalist who had grown up at the school 30 years ago, the son of teachers who had lived on the grounds, was sent out to report on the police investigation.
That was it. I didn't even know what the crime was. But the idea became my debut novel Black River, published in 2022 by Allen & Unwin.
Following Black River, I planned to write another novel, with the same main characters. So a police procedural, based around a NSW Homicide Detective Sergeant and a newspaper journalist. No sweat. Fine. The two characters, who first met in Black River, have now known each other for two years, have formed a bond, and, well, off we go.
Except, what I had given myself was running orders - write a police procedural with your cop and your journo - rather than an idea.
What to do? I wasn't sure. I rang a forensic pathologist who had been very kind, and very helpful, and very generous with his time and knowledge when I was writing Black River.
"I'm writing another book," I said to the pathologist. "What are we going to do?"
"I dunno. You're the f---ing novelist," he said.
Mmmm. This was unhelpfully true.
Then, immediately, he said, and I paraphrase, "Oh, if I wanted to murder someone, and have someone like me not know that I'd done it, this is what I'd do."
On the phone, I think I probably sat up a little straighter. Talk about all ears.
And he told me what he'd do, to commit a murder, that would stymie a forensic pathologist examining the corpse post-mortem.
And that became "my" idea, the bedrock for my second novel Broke Road. (No spoilers, but it involves binding, gagging, the way certain materials might interact with skin.)
And it's strange how it worked. How having a bare-bones idea gave me the confidence to start writing the novel, and how everything fanned out from it: place, character, plot, the burgeoning relationship between the cop and the journo.
MORE GREAT READS:
Because the basic idea of how to kill someone didn't tell me anything else: it didn't tell me who died, or who killed them, or where, or why, or whether anyone else may have been killed in the same manner. That all came later, flowing out from the first throb.
Broke Road skits around, geographically, from Canberra to Murrumbateman to Adelaide to Sydney. But its heart lies north of Cessnock, in the lower Hunter Valley, at a fictional flyspeck called Red Creek, in the wine country around Pokolbin.
The Hunter had always interested me, starting with its geology: the Triassic cliffs of the ranges, the coal measures laid down, the patches of weathered, volcanic soil that attracted our nation's first vignerons. Coal and wine, both industries the result of what lies beneath - in this case - a Permian swamp.
All of which led to the mining town of Cessnock, and the wine district just to its north. What interested me here, was how these two worlds remain so distinct, how Cessnock has stood aloof and refused to re-fashion itself as a centre for the wine tourists.
That's where Broke Road is set, between these two communities, neighbours standing apart.
With my first novel, I was in my comfort zone, geographically. I was writing about my childhood home - the big old boarding school in the book is a real place, The King's School at North Parramatta, and it's where I grew up, the son of teachers.
With Broke Road and the Hunter, I was well out of my depth, and certainly stretching myself. Which is good as a writer, I think (I hope). I fell back on my journalism, and did some research.
I twice travelled the Hunter with a journalist friend who knows the region well. We sampled some wares, and he introduced me around. I went back several times on my own. I spoke to locals in Cessnock, winemakers in Pokolbin (and another in Murrumbateman), a forensic investigator and a forensic pathologist in Newcastle, a former homicide detective, a geologist in Maitland, a property developer, a local council manager, a politician, a builder, a ceramics teacher, a urologist, a pilot.
The pilot character got cut, but the rest is all in there, threaded through Broke Road's plots and people and sense of place.
I hope I've done it all justice, so that, most important of all, readers can enjoy.
Novels, so I'm told, don't arrive to their authors fully formed, with plots or stories presenting themselves, ready to be jotted down on a whiteboard.
A novel arrives to a novelist as an idea, often very simple, but at the same time distinct: the idea will have a certain heft and feel to it. Nabokov described it as a throb.
I didn't know any of this, until I read the late novelist Martin Amis writing about how to write fiction.
I read this soon after I'd left my job as a journalist after 20 years, and Amis describing Nabokov's throb gave me an idea: I could write my own novel - because I had an idea at least.
My idea was simple. A crime had been committed at a big, old boy's boarding school, and a journalist who had grown up at the school 30 years ago, the son of teachers who had lived on the grounds, was sent out to report on the police investigation.
That was it. I didn't even know what the crime was. But the idea became my debut novel Black River, published in 2022 by Allen & Unwin.
Following Black River, I planned to write another novel, with the same main characters. So a police procedural, based around a NSW Homicide Detective Sergeant and a newspaper journalist. No sweat. Fine. The two characters, who first met in Black River, have now known each other for two years, have formed a bond, and, well, off we go.
Except, what I had given myself was running orders - write a police procedural with your cop and your journo - rather than an idea.
What to do? I wasn't sure. I rang a forensic pathologist who had been very kind, and very helpful, and very generous with his time and knowledge when I was writing Black River.
"I'm writing another book," I said to the pathologist. "What are we going to do?"
"I dunno. You're the f---ing novelist," he said.
Mmmm. This was unhelpfully true.
Then, immediately, he said, and I paraphrase, "Oh, if I wanted to murder someone, and have someone like me not know that I'd done it, this is what I'd do."
On the phone, I think I probably sat up a little straighter. Talk about all ears.
And he told me what he'd do, to commit a murder, that would stymie a forensic pathologist examining the corpse post-mortem.
And that became "my" idea, the bedrock for my second novel Broke Road. (No spoilers, but it involves binding, gagging, the way certain materials might interact with skin.)
And it's strange how it worked. How having a bare-bones idea gave me the confidence to start writing the novel, and how everything fanned out from it: place, character, plot, the burgeoning relationship between the cop and the journo.
MORE GREAT READS:
Because the basic idea of how to kill someone didn't tell me anything else: it didn't tell me who died, or who killed them, or where, or why, or whether anyone else may have been killed in the same manner. That all came later, flowing out from the first throb.
Broke Road skits around, geographically, from Canberra to Murrumbateman to Adelaide to Sydney. But its heart lies north of Cessnock, in the lower Hunter Valley, at a fictional flyspeck called Red Creek, in the wine country around Pokolbin.
The Hunter had always interested me, starting with its geology: the Triassic cliffs of the ranges, the coal measures laid down, the patches of weathered, volcanic soil that attracted our nation's first vignerons. Coal and wine, both industries the result of what lies beneath - in this case - a Permian swamp.
All of which led to the mining town of Cessnock, and the wine district just to its north. What interested me here, was how these two worlds remain so distinct, how Cessnock has stood aloof and refused to re-fashion itself as a centre for the wine tourists.
That's where Broke Road is set, between these two communities, neighbours standing apart.
With my first novel, I was in my comfort zone, geographically. I was writing about my childhood home - the big old boarding school in the book is a real place, The King's School at North Parramatta, and it's where I grew up, the son of teachers.
With Broke Road and the Hunter, I was well out of my depth, and certainly stretching myself. Which is good as a writer, I think (I hope). I fell back on my journalism, and did some research.
I twice travelled the Hunter with a journalist friend who knows the region well. We sampled some wares, and he introduced me around. I went back several times on my own. I spoke to locals in Cessnock, winemakers in Pokolbin (and another in Murrumbateman), a forensic investigator and a forensic pathologist in Newcastle, a former homicide detective, a geologist in Maitland, a property developer, a local council manager, a politician, a builder, a ceramics teacher, a urologist, a pilot.
The pilot character got cut, but the rest is all in there, threaded through Broke Road's plots and people and sense of place.
I hope I've done it all justice, so that, most important of all, readers can enjoy.
Novels, so I'm told, don't arrive to their authors fully formed, with plots or stories presenting themselves, ready to be jotted down on a whiteboard.
A novel arrives to a novelist as an idea, often very simple, but at the same time distinct: the idea will have a certain heft and feel to it. Nabokov described it as a throb.
I didn't know any of this, until I read the late novelist Martin Amis writing about how to write fiction.
I read this soon after I'd left my job as a journalist after 20 years, and Amis describing Nabokov's throb gave me an idea: I could write my own novel - because I had an idea at least.
My idea was simple. A crime had been committed at a big, old boy's boarding school, and a journalist who had grown up at the school 30 years ago, the son of teachers who had lived on the grounds, was sent out to report on the police investigation.
That was it. I didn't even know what the crime was. But the idea became my debut novel Black River, published in 2022 by Allen & Unwin.
Following Black River, I planned to write another novel, with the same main characters. So a police procedural, based around a NSW Homicide Detective Sergeant and a newspaper journalist. No sweat. Fine. The two characters, who first met in Black River, have now known each other for two years, have formed a bond, and, well, off we go.
Except, what I had given myself was running orders - write a police procedural with your cop and your journo - rather than an idea.
What to do? I wasn't sure. I rang a forensic pathologist who had been very kind, and very helpful, and very generous with his time and knowledge when I was writing Black River.
"I'm writing another book," I said to the pathologist. "What are we going to do?"
"I dunno. You're the f---ing novelist," he said.
Mmmm. This was unhelpfully true.
Then, immediately, he said, and I paraphrase, "Oh, if I wanted to murder someone, and have someone like me not know that I'd done it, this is what I'd do."
On the phone, I think I probably sat up a little straighter. Talk about all ears.
And he told me what he'd do, to commit a murder, that would stymie a forensic pathologist examining the corpse post-mortem.
And that became "my" idea, the bedrock for my second novel Broke Road. (No spoilers, but it involves binding, gagging, the way certain materials might interact with skin.)
And it's strange how it worked. How having a bare-bones idea gave me the confidence to start writing the novel, and how everything fanned out from it: place, character, plot, the burgeoning relationship between the cop and the journo.
MORE GREAT READS:
Because the basic idea of how to kill someone didn't tell me anything else: it didn't tell me who died, or who killed them, or where, or why, or whether anyone else may have been killed in the same manner. That all came later, flowing out from the first throb.
Broke Road skits around, geographically, from Canberra to Murrumbateman to Adelaide to Sydney. But its heart lies north of Cessnock, in the lower Hunter Valley, at a fictional flyspeck called Red Creek, in the wine country around Pokolbin.
The Hunter had always interested me, starting with its geology: the Triassic cliffs of the ranges, the coal measures laid down, the patches of weathered, volcanic soil that attracted our nation's first vignerons. Coal and wine, both industries the result of what lies beneath - in this case - a Permian swamp.
All of which led to the mining town of Cessnock, and the wine district just to its north. What interested me here, was how these two worlds remain so distinct, how Cessnock has stood aloof and refused to re-fashion itself as a centre for the wine tourists.
That's where Broke Road is set, between these two communities, neighbours standing apart.
With my first novel, I was in my comfort zone, geographically. I was writing about my childhood home - the big old boarding school in the book is a real place, The King's School at North Parramatta, and it's where I grew up, the son of teachers.
With Broke Road and the Hunter, I was well out of my depth, and certainly stretching myself. Which is good as a writer, I think (I hope). I fell back on my journalism, and did some research.
I twice travelled the Hunter with a journalist friend who knows the region well. We sampled some wares, and he introduced me around. I went back several times on my own. I spoke to locals in Cessnock, winemakers in Pokolbin (and another in Murrumbateman), a forensic investigator and a forensic pathologist in Newcastle, a former homicide detective, a geologist in Maitland, a property developer, a local council manager, a politician, a builder, a ceramics teacher, a urologist, a pilot.
The pilot character got cut, but the rest is all in there, threaded through Broke Road's plots and people and sense of place.
I hope I've done it all justice, so that, most important of all, readers can enjoy.
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07-08-2025
- The Advertiser
What should you be reading this week? Here are eight new books
Lee Atkinson. Hardie Grant. $45.00. Australians love a road trip, right? This book has 35 drives for those who want to leave Highway 1 and hit the back roads, with notes about towns and highlights, camping and caravanning spots and handy drive ratings that range in difficulty from easy to challenging. Admittedly, these are not trips to tackle in your Pop's Hillman Minx, but they don't necessarily require a heavy-duty four-wheel-drive either. Whether you hanker after the rainforests of Tasmania, croc country in the tropics or the corrugations and bulldust of the red centre, this book has plenty to whet your appetite for exploration. Riley Knight. Allen & Unwin. $29.99. We really shouldn't laugh at the misfortunes of others, but it's hard not to see the funny side in the story of a bloke who carked it after tripping on his beard in 1567. The author, host of the Half-Arsed History podcast, lists 50 weird examples of people popping their clogs, including Duke Godfrey IV of Lower Lorraine, who was killed in 1076 by a man hidden inside his medieval thunderbox. "Despite his evil intentions, you'll agree that this was an assassin who was truly dedicated to his craft." This book is a bit gruesome, a little crude, and unapologetically hilarious. Adam Courtenay. Hachette. $34.99. Bryce Courtenay was an Australian literary sensation, an adman-turned-author known for novels such as The Power of One and the deeply personal tribute April Fool's Day. But to his son Adam, he could be complex and often elusive, a man who was better and more comfortable "working with make-believe worlds than he was at explaining real ones". Adam Courtenay's memoir reveals the man behind the very public persona: the Bryce of false humility, the before-fame Bryce and the after-fame Bryce, the Bryce who craved love and adulation from everyone "and would say and do whatever it took to get it". Vicki Hastrich. Allen & Unwin. $34.99. Zane Grey was one of the first superstar authors and the king of the Western. His dominance of the genre in books and films during the years between the two world wars raked in millions, allowing him to indulge his passion for big game fishing. That expensive pastime brought him to Australia twice in the 1930s. Grey chased world records off the NSW South Coast, where he helped to put Bermagui on the map, made a shark movie, White Death, at Hayman Island and later battled a great white off Port Lincoln. This is the story of his antipodean exploits. Gabriel Bergmoser. HarperCollins. $32.99. It's Die Hard meets The Raid, with an Australian accent on the humour, as rogue ex-cop Jack Carlin - a supporting character introduced in Gabriel Bergmoser's thrillers The Inheritance (2021) and The Caretaker (2023) - finds his year-long search for estranged daughter Morgan propelling him to the top floor of a derelict Melbourne high-rise. Morgan doesn't want to be saved - particularly not by her father - and half the city's criminal underworld is on his tail, but Jack kicks into John Wick/Jack Reacher mode through 15 storeys of fast, furious and ferocious action, the violence made more brutal and relentless in this nowhere-to-escape setting. Sam Guthrie. HarperCollins. $34.99. Zipping between the vibrant streets of Hong Kong, the shadowy corridors of power in Beijing and the backstabbing power plays of Parliament House in Canberra, this espionage thriller draws on former diplomat and trade official Sam Guthrie's extensive experience of China and insider knowledge of the workings of government. Focusing on the relationship between political fixer Charlie and government minister Sebastian, best friends since their brutal private school days, The Peak weaves a story of brotherly bonds betrayed and a suspenseful doomsday scenario into the real-life drama of Australia's diplomatic dance between geopolitical titans China and the US. Magdalena McGuire. Ultimo Press. $34.99. When passionate environmentalist Sapphie rescues a baby from the sea, she forms an intense friendship with the infant's struggling mother, Candace. But Alexia, Candace's friend, is dubious about this unconventional new woman in their lives. The internet suggests Sapphie doesn't exist, so what is she hiding? As each woman navigates her fears and desires to discover who they really are when it seems so much is against them - the environment, parenting, economic security, gender disparity - the novel's pacing allows the reader time to reflect deeply and meaningfully on the characters, draw connections and empathise with their struggles from different perspectives. Michelle Johnston. 4th Estate. $34.99. "Time rumbles. It's a low growl between the shoulder blades, in the bones, deep in the chest." This evocative epigraph sets the tone beautifully for a novel exploring the idea that you can never really hide from your past. Christine Campbell is a former journalist writing a memoir based on her acclaimed coverage of the 1999 unrest in the North Caucasus. When an estranged friend comes back into her life, uncomfortable truths surface from that fateful time and place. Johnston's storytelling is magnificent as she thoughtfully captures the essence of place while artfully entwining the two distinct time periods. Lee Atkinson. Hardie Grant. $45.00. Australians love a road trip, right? This book has 35 drives for those who want to leave Highway 1 and hit the back roads, with notes about towns and highlights, camping and caravanning spots and handy drive ratings that range in difficulty from easy to challenging. Admittedly, these are not trips to tackle in your Pop's Hillman Minx, but they don't necessarily require a heavy-duty four-wheel-drive either. Whether you hanker after the rainforests of Tasmania, croc country in the tropics or the corrugations and bulldust of the red centre, this book has plenty to whet your appetite for exploration. Riley Knight. Allen & Unwin. $29.99. We really shouldn't laugh at the misfortunes of others, but it's hard not to see the funny side in the story of a bloke who carked it after tripping on his beard in 1567. The author, host of the Half-Arsed History podcast, lists 50 weird examples of people popping their clogs, including Duke Godfrey IV of Lower Lorraine, who was killed in 1076 by a man hidden inside his medieval thunderbox. "Despite his evil intentions, you'll agree that this was an assassin who was truly dedicated to his craft." This book is a bit gruesome, a little crude, and unapologetically hilarious. Adam Courtenay. Hachette. $34.99. Bryce Courtenay was an Australian literary sensation, an adman-turned-author known for novels such as The Power of One and the deeply personal tribute April Fool's Day. But to his son Adam, he could be complex and often elusive, a man who was better and more comfortable "working with make-believe worlds than he was at explaining real ones". Adam Courtenay's memoir reveals the man behind the very public persona: the Bryce of false humility, the before-fame Bryce and the after-fame Bryce, the Bryce who craved love and adulation from everyone "and would say and do whatever it took to get it". Vicki Hastrich. Allen & Unwin. $34.99. Zane Grey was one of the first superstar authors and the king of the Western. His dominance of the genre in books and films during the years between the two world wars raked in millions, allowing him to indulge his passion for big game fishing. That expensive pastime brought him to Australia twice in the 1930s. Grey chased world records off the NSW South Coast, where he helped to put Bermagui on the map, made a shark movie, White Death, at Hayman Island and later battled a great white off Port Lincoln. This is the story of his antipodean exploits. Gabriel Bergmoser. HarperCollins. $32.99. It's Die Hard meets The Raid, with an Australian accent on the humour, as rogue ex-cop Jack Carlin - a supporting character introduced in Gabriel Bergmoser's thrillers The Inheritance (2021) and The Caretaker (2023) - finds his year-long search for estranged daughter Morgan propelling him to the top floor of a derelict Melbourne high-rise. Morgan doesn't want to be saved - particularly not by her father - and half the city's criminal underworld is on his tail, but Jack kicks into John Wick/Jack Reacher mode through 15 storeys of fast, furious and ferocious action, the violence made more brutal and relentless in this nowhere-to-escape setting. Sam Guthrie. HarperCollins. $34.99. Zipping between the vibrant streets of Hong Kong, the shadowy corridors of power in Beijing and the backstabbing power plays of Parliament House in Canberra, this espionage thriller draws on former diplomat and trade official Sam Guthrie's extensive experience of China and insider knowledge of the workings of government. Focusing on the relationship between political fixer Charlie and government minister Sebastian, best friends since their brutal private school days, The Peak weaves a story of brotherly bonds betrayed and a suspenseful doomsday scenario into the real-life drama of Australia's diplomatic dance between geopolitical titans China and the US. Magdalena McGuire. Ultimo Press. $34.99. When passionate environmentalist Sapphie rescues a baby from the sea, she forms an intense friendship with the infant's struggling mother, Candace. But Alexia, Candace's friend, is dubious about this unconventional new woman in their lives. The internet suggests Sapphie doesn't exist, so what is she hiding? As each woman navigates her fears and desires to discover who they really are when it seems so much is against them - the environment, parenting, economic security, gender disparity - the novel's pacing allows the reader time to reflect deeply and meaningfully on the characters, draw connections and empathise with their struggles from different perspectives. Michelle Johnston. 4th Estate. $34.99. "Time rumbles. It's a low growl between the shoulder blades, in the bones, deep in the chest." This evocative epigraph sets the tone beautifully for a novel exploring the idea that you can never really hide from your past. Christine Campbell is a former journalist writing a memoir based on her acclaimed coverage of the 1999 unrest in the North Caucasus. When an estranged friend comes back into her life, uncomfortable truths surface from that fateful time and place. Johnston's storytelling is magnificent as she thoughtfully captures the essence of place while artfully entwining the two distinct time periods. Lee Atkinson. Hardie Grant. $45.00. Australians love a road trip, right? This book has 35 drives for those who want to leave Highway 1 and hit the back roads, with notes about towns and highlights, camping and caravanning spots and handy drive ratings that range in difficulty from easy to challenging. Admittedly, these are not trips to tackle in your Pop's Hillman Minx, but they don't necessarily require a heavy-duty four-wheel-drive either. Whether you hanker after the rainforests of Tasmania, croc country in the tropics or the corrugations and bulldust of the red centre, this book has plenty to whet your appetite for exploration. Riley Knight. Allen & Unwin. $29.99. We really shouldn't laugh at the misfortunes of others, but it's hard not to see the funny side in the story of a bloke who carked it after tripping on his beard in 1567. The author, host of the Half-Arsed History podcast, lists 50 weird examples of people popping their clogs, including Duke Godfrey IV of Lower Lorraine, who was killed in 1076 by a man hidden inside his medieval thunderbox. "Despite his evil intentions, you'll agree that this was an assassin who was truly dedicated to his craft." This book is a bit gruesome, a little crude, and unapologetically hilarious. Adam Courtenay. Hachette. $34.99. Bryce Courtenay was an Australian literary sensation, an adman-turned-author known for novels such as The Power of One and the deeply personal tribute April Fool's Day. But to his son Adam, he could be complex and often elusive, a man who was better and more comfortable "working with make-believe worlds than he was at explaining real ones". Adam Courtenay's memoir reveals the man behind the very public persona: the Bryce of false humility, the before-fame Bryce and the after-fame Bryce, the Bryce who craved love and adulation from everyone "and would say and do whatever it took to get it". Vicki Hastrich. Allen & Unwin. $34.99. Zane Grey was one of the first superstar authors and the king of the Western. His dominance of the genre in books and films during the years between the two world wars raked in millions, allowing him to indulge his passion for big game fishing. That expensive pastime brought him to Australia twice in the 1930s. Grey chased world records off the NSW South Coast, where he helped to put Bermagui on the map, made a shark movie, White Death, at Hayman Island and later battled a great white off Port Lincoln. This is the story of his antipodean exploits. Gabriel Bergmoser. HarperCollins. $32.99. It's Die Hard meets The Raid, with an Australian accent on the humour, as rogue ex-cop Jack Carlin - a supporting character introduced in Gabriel Bergmoser's thrillers The Inheritance (2021) and The Caretaker (2023) - finds his year-long search for estranged daughter Morgan propelling him to the top floor of a derelict Melbourne high-rise. Morgan doesn't want to be saved - particularly not by her father - and half the city's criminal underworld is on his tail, but Jack kicks into John Wick/Jack Reacher mode through 15 storeys of fast, furious and ferocious action, the violence made more brutal and relentless in this nowhere-to-escape setting. Sam Guthrie. HarperCollins. $34.99. Zipping between the vibrant streets of Hong Kong, the shadowy corridors of power in Beijing and the backstabbing power plays of Parliament House in Canberra, this espionage thriller draws on former diplomat and trade official Sam Guthrie's extensive experience of China and insider knowledge of the workings of government. Focusing on the relationship between political fixer Charlie and government minister Sebastian, best friends since their brutal private school days, The Peak weaves a story of brotherly bonds betrayed and a suspenseful doomsday scenario into the real-life drama of Australia's diplomatic dance between geopolitical titans China and the US. Magdalena McGuire. Ultimo Press. $34.99. When passionate environmentalist Sapphie rescues a baby from the sea, she forms an intense friendship with the infant's struggling mother, Candace. But Alexia, Candace's friend, is dubious about this unconventional new woman in their lives. The internet suggests Sapphie doesn't exist, so what is she hiding? As each woman navigates her fears and desires to discover who they really are when it seems so much is against them - the environment, parenting, economic security, gender disparity - the novel's pacing allows the reader time to reflect deeply and meaningfully on the characters, draw connections and empathise with their struggles from different perspectives. Michelle Johnston. 4th Estate. $34.99. "Time rumbles. It's a low growl between the shoulder blades, in the bones, deep in the chest." This evocative epigraph sets the tone beautifully for a novel exploring the idea that you can never really hide from your past. Christine Campbell is a former journalist writing a memoir based on her acclaimed coverage of the 1999 unrest in the North Caucasus. When an estranged friend comes back into her life, uncomfortable truths surface from that fateful time and place. Johnston's storytelling is magnificent as she thoughtfully captures the essence of place while artfully entwining the two distinct time periods. Lee Atkinson. Hardie Grant. $45.00. Australians love a road trip, right? This book has 35 drives for those who want to leave Highway 1 and hit the back roads, with notes about towns and highlights, camping and caravanning spots and handy drive ratings that range in difficulty from easy to challenging. Admittedly, these are not trips to tackle in your Pop's Hillman Minx, but they don't necessarily require a heavy-duty four-wheel-drive either. Whether you hanker after the rainforests of Tasmania, croc country in the tropics or the corrugations and bulldust of the red centre, this book has plenty to whet your appetite for exploration. Riley Knight. Allen & Unwin. $29.99. We really shouldn't laugh at the misfortunes of others, but it's hard not to see the funny side in the story of a bloke who carked it after tripping on his beard in 1567. The author, host of the Half-Arsed History podcast, lists 50 weird examples of people popping their clogs, including Duke Godfrey IV of Lower Lorraine, who was killed in 1076 by a man hidden inside his medieval thunderbox. "Despite his evil intentions, you'll agree that this was an assassin who was truly dedicated to his craft." This book is a bit gruesome, a little crude, and unapologetically hilarious. Adam Courtenay. Hachette. $34.99. Bryce Courtenay was an Australian literary sensation, an adman-turned-author known for novels such as The Power of One and the deeply personal tribute April Fool's Day. But to his son Adam, he could be complex and often elusive, a man who was better and more comfortable "working with make-believe worlds than he was at explaining real ones". Adam Courtenay's memoir reveals the man behind the very public persona: the Bryce of false humility, the before-fame Bryce and the after-fame Bryce, the Bryce who craved love and adulation from everyone "and would say and do whatever it took to get it". Vicki Hastrich. Allen & Unwin. $34.99. Zane Grey was one of the first superstar authors and the king of the Western. His dominance of the genre in books and films during the years between the two world wars raked in millions, allowing him to indulge his passion for big game fishing. That expensive pastime brought him to Australia twice in the 1930s. Grey chased world records off the NSW South Coast, where he helped to put Bermagui on the map, made a shark movie, White Death, at Hayman Island and later battled a great white off Port Lincoln. This is the story of his antipodean exploits. Gabriel Bergmoser. HarperCollins. $32.99. It's Die Hard meets The Raid, with an Australian accent on the humour, as rogue ex-cop Jack Carlin - a supporting character introduced in Gabriel Bergmoser's thrillers The Inheritance (2021) and The Caretaker (2023) - finds his year-long search for estranged daughter Morgan propelling him to the top floor of a derelict Melbourne high-rise. Morgan doesn't want to be saved - particularly not by her father - and half the city's criminal underworld is on his tail, but Jack kicks into John Wick/Jack Reacher mode through 15 storeys of fast, furious and ferocious action, the violence made more brutal and relentless in this nowhere-to-escape setting. Sam Guthrie. HarperCollins. $34.99. Zipping between the vibrant streets of Hong Kong, the shadowy corridors of power in Beijing and the backstabbing power plays of Parliament House in Canberra, this espionage thriller draws on former diplomat and trade official Sam Guthrie's extensive experience of China and insider knowledge of the workings of government. Focusing on the relationship between political fixer Charlie and government minister Sebastian, best friends since their brutal private school days, The Peak weaves a story of brotherly bonds betrayed and a suspenseful doomsday scenario into the real-life drama of Australia's diplomatic dance between geopolitical titans China and the US. Magdalena McGuire. Ultimo Press. $34.99. When passionate environmentalist Sapphie rescues a baby from the sea, she forms an intense friendship with the infant's struggling mother, Candace. But Alexia, Candace's friend, is dubious about this unconventional new woman in their lives. The internet suggests Sapphie doesn't exist, so what is she hiding? As each woman navigates her fears and desires to discover who they really are when it seems so much is against them - the environment, parenting, economic security, gender disparity - the novel's pacing allows the reader time to reflect deeply and meaningfully on the characters, draw connections and empathise with their struggles from different perspectives. Michelle Johnston. 4th Estate. $34.99. "Time rumbles. It's a low growl between the shoulder blades, in the bones, deep in the chest." This evocative epigraph sets the tone beautifully for a novel exploring the idea that you can never really hide from your past. Christine Campbell is a former journalist writing a memoir based on her acclaimed coverage of the 1999 unrest in the North Caucasus. When an estranged friend comes back into her life, uncomfortable truths surface from that fateful time and place. Johnston's storytelling is magnificent as she thoughtfully captures the essence of place while artfully entwining the two distinct time periods.
The Age
06-08-2025
- The Age
Conspiracies, mysterious deaths and a surprise guest: 14 new books to read this month
What's good, what's bad, and what's in between in literature? Here we review the latest titles. See all 51 stories. There are plenty of good books around for you in August, including memoir, histories, fiction, short stories and forgotten classics. Why not make the most of the last month of winter by hunkering down with a new book − even if you're heading for a spot where the weather isn't too chilly. Learned Behaviours Zeynab Gamieldien Ultimo, $34.99 When Zaid Saban begins at Brookbank Boys High in western Sydney, he feels lost. He soon finds a friend in Hass Abdallah and their lives intertwine. But then those lives diverge: Zaid becomes a lawyer, Hass is charged with murder and takes his own life in jail. Years later, his sister Amira visits Zaid, asking for help with a diary she has found; she's puzzled by things Hass wrote. When his past resurfaces, Zaid knows he has not transcended it and his desire for certainty only leads to unwanted questioning and more uncertainty. The Visitor Rebecca Starford Allen & Unwin, $32.99 This is the second novel from Rebecca Starford, co-founder with Hannah Kent, of the online literary journal Kill Your Darlings. The first was The Imitator, an acclaimed historical spy drama. The Visitor begins with an elderly couple deserting the Brisbane house they've lived in for 50 years. Why haven't they told Laura, their writer daughter, who's been living in Britain for ages? When the couple die in strange circumstances in the outback, Laura and her family return to Queensland to do up that family home. But why is Laura behaving so oddly, and what does a mysterious photograph reveal about events? Conspiracy Nation Ariel Bogle & Cam Wilson Ultimo, $36.99 As the two authors who have long investigated the intersections of technology, culture, politics and the law write, 'It can come as a shock to a lot of Australians to find that their friends, families and workmates … now understand their lives through the prism of plots, cabals and Manichean fights between good versus evil'. Conspiratorial thinking and misinformation abound in Australia, particularly since COVID-19, and Bogle and Wilson explore the origins of a host of conspiracy theories, including those surrounding the Port Arthur massacre, COVID lockdowns and 'the 28″, an alleged cabal of paedophile politicians. Yilkari Nicholas Rothwell & Alison Nampitjinpa Anderson Text, $34.99 It's fair to say that Nicholas Rothwell, winner of two prime minister's literary awards, writes books that are hard to categorise − an appealing thing these days when marketing forces hold such sway in publishing. Yes, he has written two novels, but both contained elements of autobiography, particularly his first, Heaven and Earth. Now he has joined forces with his Indigenous wife, former politician and now painter Alison Nampitjinpa Anderson, to write their 'suite' of the Western Desert. The arrival of a surprise guest, someone met 15 years earlier in Berlin, prompts a fascinating journey of awakening and spiritual discovery. U Want It Darker Murray Middleton Picador, $34.99 Murray Middleton made his mark as a short-story writer – he won The Age award and then the Vogel – spent eight years on his first novel, the magnificent No Church in the Wild, and returns just over a year later with a collection of inventive stories that spotlight the angst and joys of the creative life. As our review will say: 'The dramatic situations are characterised by a collision of two irreconcilable desires: the impulse to create art with the spiritual toll and untenable economic realities. These are the lands of the crestfallen bohemian.' The Last Days of Zane Grey Vicki Hastrich Allen & Unwin, $34.99 I knew of Zane Grey only as the legendary, huge-selling and prolific author of Westerns, notably Riders of the Purple Sage, whose work was frequently adapted by Hollywood, but there was more to him than that. Like Hemingway, he loved big-game fishing, and that passion brought him to Australia (with only 166 pieces of luggage) in search of creative inspiration and the chance to snag a giant shark in the sea off Bermagui. He made a film, White Death, and also managed a love affair with the alluring poet Lola Gornall. Vicki Hastrich, author of the acclaimed memoir Night Fishing, tells a fascinating story beautifully. The Sea In The Metro Jayne Tuttle Hardie Grant, $34.99 Helen Garner described the writing in Jayne Tuttle's two memoirs about her life as an actor and more in Paris as 'joltingly alive, beautiful and terrifying'. The Sea in the Metro completes her trilogy, with Tuttle reassessing her life there and the intricacies of her relationship with her musician husband, M, giving birth to 'the Chunk', writing ads, meeting up again with her friend Sophie, in whose building she had the accident that nearly killed her, and the remarkable 'Balkans Doctor' with his 'bioregulatory medicine'. There is a great immediacy and candour here. My Father Bryce Adam Courtenay Hachette, $34.99 Never let the facts get in the way of a story. It's a saying that epitomises the life of the late Bryce Courtenay, who burst onto the bestseller lists with The Power of One in 1989 and was a fixture there with his regular offerings of stonking great novels such as Jessica and Tommo & Hawk. Adam Courtenay reveals that his father was a wonderful dad to his three sons, but one whose loose relationship with the truth of his own life – 'Dad facts' – and addiction to success, fame, and being the best, challenged their connection. Annie Magdalene Barbara Hanrahan Pink Shorts Press, $32.99 Barbara Hanrahan was known as a printmaker and painter, and then as a writer of novels that were unashamedly domestic and feminist. As The Australian Dictionary of Biograph y puts it, Hanrahan saw these creative forms as complementary: 'printmaking was instinctive and writing was intellectual'. First published 40 years ago, Annie Magdalene is the story of a woman looking back on her life. The prose is simple and direct, the sentiments profound. As Hanrahan writes, 'You must never talk loud to the bees, you must talk softly'. The Leap Paul Daley Summit, $34.99 Paul Daley has followed his acclaimed Jesustown with a sort of Wake in Fright for the 2020s. Traumatised British diplomat Benedict Fotheringham-Gaskill is parachuted into The Leap, an outback town far from anywhere, to plead for the lives of two women accused of killing the daughter of local bigwig Cecil Sloper. Daley's novel exposes the years of appalling treatment of the Indigenous population and the worst of outback life. But there are saving graces for Benedict, and thrills for the reader right to the end. Arboresence Rhett Davis Hachette, $32.99 Rhett Davis won an influential Victorian Premier's Literary Award in 2020 for an unpublished manuscript and when it was published, Hovering was described as 'immediately striking on both a conceptual and a formal level'. There were distinctly strange elements to it that continue in his second novel, in which a dissatisfied couple, Bren and Caelyn, find themselves drifting apart as Caelyn is attracted to the idea of the eponymous title – people turning themselves into trees. As our review says, Davis uses 'his distinctive creativity to interrogate, mock but ultimately affirm humanity'. Nazis in Australia Graham Blewitt & Mark Aarons Schwartz, $39.99 August 11 This comprehensive book examines the history of the special investigations unit charged with finding the '841 alleged war criminals' who had escaped Europe to Australia after World War II. It was set up in 1987 and resulted in three prosecutions, none of which led to a conviction, and significant effort towards other potential charges. Here, essays examine the unit from various perspectives, including those of prosecution, defence and historians, and consider its legacy. As former deputy director Graham Blewitt writes, 'for a brief period in our legal history, we stood up and did the right thing'. A Fair Day's Work Sean Scalmer MUP, $34.99 August 13 As the Albanese government prepares for its summit on productivity, the question to be asked is whether working Australians will come under pressure to give up some of the gains they have made since the advent of the eight-hour working day in the second half of the 19th century. Work-life balance remains crucial to all Australians and Sean Scalmer's assessment of the long quest for a 'fair day's work' rightly asks the timely question of whether productivity is increasingly associated 'with more time at work, not with more efficient performance of duties'. Loading Fathering Alistair Thomson et al MUP, $39.99 August 13 The five authors of this extensive book say fathers and fathering 'are central to pressing concerns in contemporary Australia', concerns that include poor contribution to child care and domestic work; parental leave and family-friendly work; domestic violence, and the changes to the family structure. They look at individual fathers as case studies and also provide a historical survey of how the idea of being a father and the actuality of it has changed over the past century. A perfect gift for Father's Day?
Sydney Morning Herald
04-08-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Conspiracies, mysterious deaths and as surprise guest: 14 new books to read this month
There are plenty of good books around for you in August, including memoir, histories, fiction, short stories and forgotten classics. Why not make the most of the last month of winter by hunkering down with a new book − even if you're heading for a spot where the weather isn't too chilly. Learned Behaviours Zeynab Gamieldien Ultimo, $34.99 When Zaid Saban begins at Brookbank Boys High in western Sydney, he feels lost. He soon finds a friend in Hass Abdallah and their lives intertwine. But then those lives diverge: Zaid becomes a lawyer, Hass is charged with murder and takes his own life in jail. Years later, his sister Amira visits Zaid, asking for help with a diary she has found; she's puzzled by things Hass wrote. When his past resurfaces, Zaid knows he has not transcended it and his desire for certainty only leads to unwanted questioning and more uncertainty. The Visitor Rebecca Starford Allen & Unwin, $32.99 This is the second novel from Rebecca Starford, co-founder with Hannah Kent, of the online literary journal Kill Your Darlings. The first was The Imitator, an acclaimed historical spy drama. The Visitor begins with an elderly couple deserting the Brisbane house they've lived in for 50 years. Why haven't they told Laura, their writer daughter, who's been living in Britain for ages? When the couple die in strange circumstances in the outback, Laura and her family return to Queensland to do up that family home. But why is Laura behaving so oddly, and what does a mysterious photograph reveal about events? Conspiracy Nation Ariel Bogle & Cam Wilson Ultimo, $36.99 As the two authors who have long investigated the intersections of technology, culture, politics and the law write, 'It can come as a shock to a lot of Australians to find that their friends, families and workmates … now understand their lives through the prism of plots, cabals and Manichean fights between good versus evil'. Conspiratorial thinking and misinformation abound in Australia, particularly since COVID-19, and Bogle and Wilson explore the origins of a host of conspiracy theories, including those surrounding the Port Arthur massacre, COVID lockdowns and 'the 28″, an alleged cabal of paedophile politicians. Yilkari Nicholas Rothwell & Alison Nampitjinpa Anderson Text, $34.99 It's fair to say that Nicholas Rothwell, winner of two prime minister's literary awards, writes books that are hard to categorise − an appealing thing these days when marketing forces hold such sway in publishing. Yes, he has written two novels, but both contained elements of autobiography, particularly his first, Heaven and Earth. Now he has joined forces with his Indigenous wife, former politician and now painter Alison Nampitjinpa Anderson, to write their 'suite' of the Western Desert. The arrival of a surprise guest, someone met 15 years earlier in Berlin, prompts a fascinating journey of awakening and spiritual discovery. U Want It Darker Murray Middleton Picador, $34.99 Murray Middleton made his mark as a short-story writer – he won The Age award and then the Vogel – spent eight years on his first novel, the magnificent No Church in the Wild, and returns just over a year later with a collection of inventive stories that spotlight the angst and joys of the creative life. As our review will say: 'The dramatic situations are characterised by a collision of two irreconcilable desires: the impulse to create art with the spiritual toll and untenable economic realities. These are the lands of the crestfallen bohemian.' The Last Days of Zane Grey Vicki Hastrich Allen & Unwin, $34.99 I knew of Zane Grey only as the legendary, huge-selling and prolific author of Westerns, notably Riders of the Purple Sage, whose work was frequently adapted by Hollywood, but there was more to him than that. Like Hemingway, he loved big-game fishing, and that passion brought him to Australia (with only 166 pieces of luggage) in search of creative inspiration and the chance to snag a giant shark in the sea off Bermagui. He made a film, White Death, and also managed a love affair with the alluring poet Lola Gornall. Vicki Hastrich, author of the acclaimed memoir Night Fishing, tells a fascinating story beautifully. The Sea In The Metro Jayne Tuttle Hardie Grant, $34.99 Helen Garner described the writing in Jayne Tuttle's two memoirs about her life as an actor and more in Paris as 'joltingly alive, beautiful and terrifying'. The Sea in the Metro completes her trilogy, with Tuttle reassessing her life there and the intricacies of her relationship with her musician husband, M, giving birth to 'the Chunk', writing ads, meeting up again with her friend Sophie, in whose building she had the accident that nearly killed her, and the remarkable 'Balkans Doctor' with his 'bioregulatory medicine'. There is a great immediacy and candour here. My Father Bryce Adam Courtenay Hachette, $34.99 Never let the facts get in the way of a story. It's a saying that epitomises the life of the late Bryce Courtenay, who burst onto the bestseller lists with The Power of One in 1989 and was a fixture there with his regular offerings of stonking great novels such as Jessica and Tommo & Hawk. Adam Courtenay reveals that his father was a wonderful dad to his three sons, but one whose loose relationship with the truth of his own life – 'Dad facts' – and addiction to success, fame, and being the best, challenged their connection. Annie Magdalene Barbara Hanrahan Pink Shorts Press, $32.99 Barbara Hanrahan was known as a printmaker and painter, and then as a writer of novels that were unashamedly domestic and feminist. As The Australian Dictionary of Biograph y puts it, Hanrahan saw these creative forms as complementary: 'printmaking was instinctive and writing was intellectual'. First published 40 years ago, Annie Magdalene is the story of a woman looking back on her life. The prose is simple and direct, the sentiments profound. As Hanrahan writes, 'You must never talk loud to the bees, you must talk softly'. The Leap Paul Daley Summit, $34.99 Paul Daley has followed his acclaimed Jesustown with a sort of Wake in Fright for the 2020s. Traumatised British diplomat Benedict Fotheringham-Gaskill is parachuted into The Leap, an outback town far from anywhere, to plead for the lives of two women accused of killing the daughter of local bigwig Cecil Sloper. Daley's novel exposes the years of appalling treatment of the Indigenous population and the worst of outback life. But there are saving graces for Benedict, and thrills for the reader right to the end. Arboresence Rhett Davis Hachette, $32.99 Rhett Davis won an influential Victorian Premier's Literary Award in 2020 for an unpublished manuscript and when it was published, Hovering was described as 'immediately striking on both a conceptual and a formal level'. There were distinctly strange elements to it that continue in his second novel, in which a dissatisfied couple, Bren and Caelyn, find themselves drifting apart as Caelyn is attracted to the idea of the eponymous title – people turning themselves into trees. As our review says, Davis uses 'his distinctive creativity to interrogate, mock but ultimately affirm humanity'. Nazis in Australia Graham Blewitt & Mark Aarons Schwartz, $39.99 August 11 This comprehensive book examines the history of the special investigations unit charged with finding the '841 alleged war criminals' who had escaped Europe to Australia after World War II. It was set up in 1987 and resulted in three prosecutions, none of which led to a conviction, and significant effort towards other potential charges. Here, essays examine the unit from various perspectives, including those of prosecution, defence and historians, and consider its legacy. As former deputy director Graham Blewitt writes, 'for a brief period in our legal history, we stood up and did the right thing'. A Fair Day's Work Sean Scalmer MUP, $34.99 August 13 As the Albanese government prepares for its summit on productivity, the question to be asked is whether working Australians will come under pressure to give up some of the gains they have made since the advent of the eight-hour working day in the second half of the 19th century. Work-life balance remains crucial to all Australians and Sean Scalmer's assessment of the long quest for a 'fair day's work' rightly asks the timely question of whether productivity is increasingly associated 'with more time at work, not with more efficient performance of duties'. Loading Fathering Alistair Thomson et al MUP, $39.99 August 13 The five authors of this extensive book say fathers and fathering 'are central to pressing concerns in contemporary Australia', concerns that include poor contribution to child care and domestic work; parental leave and family-friendly work; domestic violence, and the changes to the family structure. They look at individual fathers as case studies and also provide a historical survey of how the idea of being a father and the actuality of it has changed over the past century. A perfect gift for Father's Day?
