{"title":"Tom Keneally","description":"\u003cp\u003eExplore the compelling world of Tom Keneally, one of Australia’s most celebrated authors, known for his masterful storytelling and deep historical insights. Keneally's works span a diverse range of genres, including historical fiction, crime thrillers, and biography. His vivid narratives and complex characters have captivated readers globally, with many of his books delving into the nuances of human nature and historical events.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAmong his notable works is \u003cem\u003eAmerican Scoundrel\u003c\/em\u003e, a fascinating biography that unearths the life of the scandalous American politician and soldier, Dan Sickles. In \u003cem\u003eSearching for Schindler\u003c\/em\u003e, Keneally recounts the extraordinary experience that led him to write his acclaimed novel, \u003cem\u003eSchindler’s Ark\u003c\/em\u003e, which inspired the award-winning film, \u003cem\u003eSchindler's List\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eKeneally's talent for historical fiction shines through in stories like \u003cem\u003eThe Daughters of Mars\u003c\/em\u003e, an epic tale of two sisters serving as nurses during World War I, and \u003cem\u003eThe Dickens Boy\u003c\/em\u003e, which brings to life the ambitious journey of Charles Dickens' youngest son in Australia. His knack for exploring the darker sides of history is evident in \u003cem\u003eShame and the Captives\u003c\/em\u003e, a poignant novel inspired by a Japanese POW breakout in Australia during World War II.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor readers drawn to crime and thrillers, Keneally offers gripping novels such as \u003cem\u003eThe Soldier’s Curse\u003c\/em\u003e, part of his Monsarrat series set in the penal colony era, blending mystery and historical drama seamlessly. In his novels like \u003cem\u003eThe Widow and Her Hero\u003c\/em\u003e, Keneally delves into the personal and emotional impacts of war, offering perspectives that are both intimate and profound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith a rich collection that includes \u003cem\u003eThe Tyrant’s Novel\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Commonwealth of Thieves\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eCorporal Hitler’s Pistol\u003c\/em\u003e, Tom Keneally continues to engage and enlighten audiences with his keen insight into history and human experiences. Whether you are a fan of memoirs, thrillers, or historical sagas, Tom Keneally's diverse body of work promises a captivating read for every literary enthusiast.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-commonwealth-of-thieves-by-tom-keneally-9780143790839","title":"The Commonwealth Of Thieves","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA brilliant recreation of the first four years of white settlement in Australia by Booker Prize-winning author Tom Keneally.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1787, Britain banished its unwanted citizens—uneducated petty thieves, streetwalkers, orphan chimney-sweeps, and dashing highwaymen—to the fringes of the known world. So remote was Botany Bay, the destination to which the overcrowded, disease-ridden convict ships were bound, that only one European expedition had ever before anchored there.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYet the rejects of Britain, accompanied only by a flimsy complement of soldiers, marines, and officers, were expected to start a settlement and flourish. It was an audacious social experiment, unparalleled before or since.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTo the indigenous inhabitants, the white men came as ghosts through cracks in the cosmos, rudely seizing the bounty of land and sea. On the swampy shores of Botany Bay, and by the sandstone coves of Sydney Harbour, the clash of civilisations was inevitable, intense, and often tragic. From this improbable beginning, through famine, drought, escapes, and floggings, the glory of modern Sydney was born. Britain's penal experiment succeeded against all odds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eImpeccably researched and told in the inimitable Keneally style, \u003cem\u003eThe Commonwealth of Thieves\u003c\/em\u003e is the compelling tale of a nation's beginning, its unforgettable people, and their quest for identity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46338690384108,"sku":"9780143790839","price":26.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/4624583482239.jpg?v=1743743262"},{"product_id":"the-great-shame-by-tom-keneally-9780091840617","title":"The Great Shame","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe eagerly awaited paperback of an incredible work of history, highlighting social injustice and survival.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"...a grandly conceived and prodigiously researched homage to his Irish forebears\" — The Age\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"...the range and coverage of this material is impressive ...his zest is infectious\" — Sydney Morning Herald\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"...engaging and meticulously compiled\" — Australian Financial Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the nineteenth century, the Irish population was halved. \u003cem\u003eThe Great Shame\u003c\/em\u003e is Thomas Keneally's astonishing work of non-fiction which traces the three causes of this depletion: the famine, the emigrations, and the transportations to Australia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBased on unique research among little-used sources, this masterly book traces eighty years of Irish history, told through the intimate lens of political prisoners—some of them Keneally's ancestors who served time as convicts in Australia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeginning with Hugh Larkin, a...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46338691727596,"sku":"9780091840617","price":36.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/18752373482220.jpg?v=1743743524"},{"product_id":"the-ink-stain-by-meg-keneally-9780143790303","title":"The Ink Stain","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Ink Stain\u003c\/em\u003e by Meg Keneally and Tom Keneally takes readers on a gripping journey as Monsarrat and Mrs Mulrooney are dispatched to Sydney to investigate corruption that threatens the very core of the colony's fundamental rights, including freedom of speech, potentially implicating the governor's office.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHenry Hallward, the determined editor of the Sydney Chronicle, is no stranger to imprisonment for criminal libel, often editing the newspaper from his cell. While awaiting yet another trial, Hallward claims to have a story that could ruin several influential figures. However, before he finishes, he is murdered, prompting Monsarrat and Mrs Mulrooney to delve into the investigation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eUpon meeting Colonel Duchamp, the governor’s right-hand man, it becomes apparent that Monsarrat and Mrs Mulrooney are alone in solving this murky murder. Many have motives to see Hallward dead, among them Gerald Mobbs, editor of the Chronicle’s rival newspaper; Henrietta, Duchamp’s sister, who hides her cunning with a ladylike facade; and Albert Bancroft, a shadowy figure whose property dealings put him in an ideal position to execute the crime.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs Monsarrat and Mrs Mulrooney sift through suspects and untangle hidden agendas, they must navigate treacherous loyalties, conscious that Duchamp could abruptly dismiss them, leaving Hallward’s murder unresolved and jeopardising the colony's press independence. The stakes rise further when a young boy is kidnapped, revealing that freedom of speech may not be the sole casualty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46343674200300,"sku":"9780143790303","price":34.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780143790303.jpg?v=1744011055"},{"product_id":"american-scoundrel-by-tom-keneally-9781740512190","title":"American Scoundrel","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMurder, love, and politics in Civil War America.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the last, cold Sunday of February 1859, Daniel Sickles shot his wife's lover in Washington's Lafayette Square, just across from the White House. This is the story of that killing and its repercussions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCharming and ambitious, Dan Sickles literally got away with murder. His protector was none other than the President himself, the ageing James Buchanan; his political friends quickly gathered round; and Sickles was acquitted. His trial is described with all Thomas Keneally's powers of dash and drama, against a backdrop of double-dealing, intrigue, and 'the slavery question'.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEnslaved, in her turn, by the hypocrisy of nineteenth-century society, his wife was shunned and thereafter banned from public life. Sickles, meanwhile, was free to accept favours and patronage. He raised a regiment for the Union, and went on to become a general in the army, rising to the rank of brigadier-general and commanding a flank at the Battle of Gettysburg—at which he lost a leg, which he put into the military museum in Washington where he would take friends to visit it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThomas Keneally brilliantly recreates an extraordinary chapter of history in \u003cem\u003eAmerican Scoundrel\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46369890402540,"sku":"9781740512190","price":27.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/19109373482807.jpg?v=1744799643"},{"product_id":"searching-for-schindler-by-tom-keneally-9781741666151","title":"Searching For Schindler","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1980, Tom Keneally was in Beverly Hills returning from the Sorrento film festival where \u003cem\u003eThe Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith\u003c\/em\u003e had been showing. Looking for a new briefcase, Tom meets the Polish-Jewish Leopold Pfefferberg Page, aka Poldek. His life for the next few years is taken over by this charismatic and driven man and the story he wants shared.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe story is, of course, that of \"the all-drinking, all-screwing, all black-marketeering Nazi. But to me he was Jesus Christ, Oskar Schindler.\" And Poldek shared with Tom the story of \u003cem\u003eSchindler's Ark\u003c\/em\u003e, which went on to win the Booker Prize and ultimately became the Oscar award-winning film \u003cem\u003eSchindler's List\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSchindler, the ruined Catholic hedonist, had something ambiguous about him that appealed to the ex-seminarian Tom Keneally, who still struggled with his own Catholicism and his humanist view of the world. \u003cem\u003eSearching for Schindler\u003c\/em\u003e is very much Tom's journey. He reflects on his early days as a writer with quite a bit of success and how this book, the people he met, and the film it became, changed his life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46378433282284,"sku":"9781741666151","price":41.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/2563193482808.jpg?v=1744835336"},{"product_id":"the-daughters-of-mars-by-tom-keneally-9781761341434","title":"The Daughters of Mars","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'A masterpiece.'\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nA.N. WILSON\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the tradition of \u003cem\u003eAtonement\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eBirdsong\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Daughters of Mars\u003c\/em\u003e follows the Durance sisters as they leave Australia to nurse on the front during WWI and discover a world beyond their imaginings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInspired by the journals of Australian nurses who gave their all to the Great War effort and the men they nursed, \u003cem\u003eThe Daughters of Mars\u003c\/em\u003e is vast in scope yet extraordinarily intimate. A stunning tour de force to join the best First World War literature, and one that casts a penetrating light on the lives of women caught in the great mill of history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNaomi and Sally Durance are daughters of a dairy farmer from the Macleay Valley. Bound together in complicity by what they consider a crime, when the Great War begins in 1914 they hope to submerge their guilt by leaving for Europe to nurse the tides of young wounded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThey head for the Dardanelles on the hospital ship Archimedes. Their education in medicine, valour and human degradation continues on the Greek island of Lemnos, then on the Western Front. Everywhere they are confronted by new outrages—gas, shell-shock and broken men.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNaomi encounters the wonderful, eccentric Lady Tarlton, who is founding a voluntary hospital near Boulogne; Sally serves in a casualty clearing station close to the front. They meet the men with whom they would wish to spend the rest of their lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAn extraordinary portrait of two ordinary young women.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46532980867308,"sku":"9781761341434","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781761341434.jpg?v=1749355848"},{"product_id":"the-daughters-of-mars-by-tom-keneally-9780143790822","title":"The Daughters Of Mars","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the tradition of \u003ci\u003eAtonement\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBirdsong\u003c\/i\u003e, the Durance sisters leave Australia to nurse on the front during WWI and discover a world beyond their imaginings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Daughters of Mars\u003c\/i\u003e was shortlisted for the Colin Roderick Prize.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNaomi and Sally Durance are daughters of a dairy farmer from the Macleay Valley. Bound together in complicity by what they consider a crime, when the Great War begins in 1914 they hope to submerge their guilt by leaving for Europe to nurse the tides of young wounded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThey head for the Dardanelles on the hospital ship \u003ci\u003eArchimedes\u003c\/i\u003e. Their education in medicine, valour and human degradation continues on the Greek island of Lemnos, then on the Western Front. Here, new outrages—gas and shell-shock—present themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNaomi encounters the wonderful, eccentric Lady Tarlton, who is founding a voluntary hospital near Boulogne; Sally serves in a casualty clearing station close to the front. They meet the men with whom they would wish to spend the rest of their lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInspired by the journals of Australian nurses who gave their all to the Great War effort and the men they nursed, \u003ci\u003eThe Daughters of Mars\u003c\/i\u003e is vast in scope yet extraordinarily intimate. A stunning tour de force to join the best First World War literature, and one that casts a penetrating light on the lives of obscure but strong women caught in the great mill of history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46532980965612,"sku":"9780143790822","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/4624413482239.jpg?v=1749355897"},{"product_id":"crimes-of-the-father-by-tom-keneally-9780857987129","title":"Crimes of the Father","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA timely, courageous and powerful novel about faith, the church, conscience and celibacy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTom Keneally, ex-seminarian, pulls no punches as he interrogates the terrible damage done to innocents as the Catholic Church has prevaricated around language and points of law, covering up for its own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEx-communicated to Canada due to his radical preaching on the Vietnam War and other human rights causes, Father Frank Docherty is now a psychologist and monk. He returns to Australia to speak on abuse in the Church, and unwittingly is soon listening to stories from two different people - a young man, via his suicide note, and an ex-nun - who both claim to have been sexually abused by an eminent Sydney cardinal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis senior churchman is himself currently empanelled in a commission investigating sex abuse within the Church. As a man of character and conscience, Father Docherty finds he must confront each party involved in the abuse and cover-up to try to bring the matter to the attention of the Church itself, and to secular authorities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis riveting, profoundly thoughtful novel is both an exploration of faith as well as an examination of marriage, of conscience and celibacy, and of what has become one of the most controversial institutions, the Catholic Church.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House Distribution","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46546493964524,"sku":"9780857987129","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12796823482493.jpg?v=1749837954"},{"product_id":"napoleons-last-island-by-tom-keneally-9780857984623","title":"Napoleon's Last Island","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhilst living in exile on St Helena, Napoleon exerted an extraordinary influence on young Betsy Balcombe. How did she get from Napoleon's side to the Australian bush?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Tom Keneally discovered by chance at the National Gallery of Victoria that Betsy Balcombe, a young girl living on St Helena while the Emperor Napoleon was exiled there, had become the Emperor's 'intimate friend and annoyer', and had then emigrated with her family to Australia, he was impelled to begin another extraordinary novel, exploring the intersection between the ordinary people of the world and those we deem exceptional.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBetsy Balcombe moved as a child with her family to St Helena, 'that high mid-Atlantic rock of exile'. Ten years later, her family befriended, served, and were ruined by their relationship with Napoleon. To redeem their fortunes, William Balcombe, Betsy's father, betrayed the Emperor and accepted a job as the colonial treasurer of New South Wales, taking his family with him. 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With his ability for bringing historical stories to life in the most brilliant and surprising ways, Keneally vividly shares this remarkable tale and the beginning of an Australian dynasty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNapoleon's Last Island\u003c\/em\u003e by Tom Keneally tells this fascinating story, weaving historical accuracy with compelling narrative, capturing the imagination of readers keen to explore both the ordinary and the extraordinary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46550188392684,"sku":"9780857984623","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780857984623.jpg?v=1750023771"},{"product_id":"shame-and-the-captives-by-tom-keneally-9781761341472","title":"Shame and the Captives","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIf the legendary Schindler's List was not enough to showcase Thomas Keneally's literary mastery, then \u003cem\u003eShame and the Captives\u003c\/em\u003e surely will.\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e NEW YORK DAILY NEWS\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWill keeping the Japanese, Korean, and Italian POWs of the Second World War alive in Australia keep Australian POWs alive and well wherever they are?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTom Keneally brilliantly explores the intimacies of ordinary lives being played out against momentous world events.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn Gawell, New South Wales, a prisoner-of-war camp to house European, Korean, and Japanese captives is built close to a farming community. Alice is a young woman living a dull life with her father-in-law on his farm while her new husband first fights, then is taken prisoner, in Greece. When Giancarlo, an Italian POW and anarchist from Gawell's camp, is assigned to work on their farm, Alice's view of the world and her self-knowledge are dramatically expanded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat most challenges Alice and the town is the foreignness of the Japanese compound and its culture. Driven by a desperate need to validate the funerals already held for them in Japan, the prisoners vote to take part in an outbreak, and the bloodshed and chaos this precipitates shatter the certainties and safeties of all who inhabit the region.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46551707549932,"sku":"9781761341472","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781761341472.jpg?v=1750007844"},{"product_id":"shame-and-the-captives-by-tom-keneally-9780857981004","title":"Shame and the Captives","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWill keeping the Japanese, Korean and Italian POWs of the Second World War alive in Australia keep Australian POWs alive and well wherever they are?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the spirit of \u003cem\u003eThe Daughters of Mars\u003c\/em\u003e, Tom Keneally's new novel brilliantly explores the intimacies of ordinary lives being played out against momentous world events. In Gawell, New South Wales, a prisoner-of-war camp to house European, Korean and Japanese captives is built close to a farming community.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlice is a young woman living a dull life with her father-in-law on his farm while her new husband first fights, then is taken prisoner, in Greece. When Giancarlo, an Italian POW and anarchist from Gawell's camp, is assigned to work on their farm, Alice’s view of the world and her self-knowledge are dramatically expanded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut what most challenges Alice and the town is the foreignness of the Japanese compound and its culture, entirely perplexing to the inmates' captors. Driven by a desperate need to validate the funerals already held for them in Japan, the prisoners vote to take part in an outbreak, and the bloodshed and chaos this precipitates shatter the certainties and safeties of all who inhabit the region.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46551716921580,"sku":"9780857981004","price":23.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12735573482493.jpg?v=1750007927"},{"product_id":"the-dickens-boy-by-tom-keneally-9781760893200","title":"The Dickens Boy","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the Booker-winning author of \u003cem\u003eSchindler's Ark\u003c\/em\u003e, a compelling and spirited novel about Charles Dickens' son and his little-known adventures in the Australian Outback.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1800s, rather than run the risk of your under-achieving children tarnishing your reputation at home, you sent them to the colonies. At least that is what Charles Dickens did with two of his boys. (And Trollope did it too.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Always a first-rate storyteller of a traditional kind.'\u003c\/em\u003e The Guardian\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'An engrossing and transporting read.'\u003c\/em\u003e Financial Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this joyful novel, our narrator is Charles Dickens's tenth child, Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens, known as Plorn. Sent, as his brother Alfred had been before him, at sixteen years of age, to Australia to learn to 'apply himself'. We follow his early Australian adventures in outback NSW learning to become a man from the most diverse and toughest of men.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePart of Dickens' motivation was to separate these younger of his children from the Dickens family schism, where Charles had expelled his wife from the family home, keeping her sister Georgie there to run the household and taking up with the actress Ellen Tiernan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePlorn arrived in Melbourne in late 1868 carrying a terrible secret. He has never read a word of his father's work. After a very brief stopover, he is sent out to become a gentleman stockman on a 2000 square mile station in the remotest, semi-arid parts of NSW. Here he inevitably gets enmeshed with Paakantji, colonists, colonial-born, ex-convicts, ex-soldiers, and very few women.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePlorn did not expect he would encounter the same veneration of his father and familiarity with his work in Australia that was rampant in England. Against this backdrop, and featuring cricket tournaments, horse-racing, bushrangers, sheep droving, shifty stock and station agents, frontier wars and first encounters with Australian women we follow Plorn, and sometimes his brother Alfred, through wonderful adventures as he works to apply himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is Tom Keneally in his most familiar terrain. Taking historical figures and events and reimagining them with verve, compassion, and humour. It is a romp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Dickens Boy\u003c\/em\u003e is wonderfully complex, and, like Dickens's works, deserves reading and rereading. \u003cem\u003eThe Canberra Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA delightful and continuously interesting portrayal of mid-19th century life in the rolling sheep pastures of New South Wales and an acute and persuasive examination of the mystery that Charles Dickens still presents. \u003cem\u003eThe Scotsman\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTom Keneally takes historical figures and events and reimagines them with verve, compassion, and humour to give us his latest novel, \u003cem\u003eThe Dickens Boy\u003c\/em\u003e. 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Rural communities have always been a melting pot and many are happy to accept a diverse bunch ... as long as they don’t overstep. 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But Brisbane in 1911 turns out not to be quite the workers' paradise he was expecting, or the bickering local Russian émigrés a model of brotherhood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs Artem helps organise a strike and gets dangerously entangled in the death of another exile, he discovers that corruption, repression, and injustice are almost as prevalent in Brisbane as at home. Yet he finds fellow spirits in a fiery old suffragette and a distractingly attractive married woman, who undermines his belief that a revolutionary cannot spare the time for relationships.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the revolution dawns and he returns to Russia, will his ideals hold true? Based on a true story, \u003cem\u003eThe People's Train\u003c\/em\u003e brings the past alive and makes it resonate in the present. Tom Keneally takes us to the heart of the Russian Revolution through the dramatic life of an unknown, inspiring figure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46672332882156,"sku":"9781741667455","price":27.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/2576233482808.jpg?v=1752841723"},{"product_id":"the-tyrants-novel-by-tom-keneally-9781864710724","title":"The Tyrant's Novel","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn an oil-rich country terrorised by a tyrant known as The Great Uncle, war veteran and celebrated writer Alan Sheriff has a better life than most until his beautiful and beloved actress wife Sarah dies — and he is made an offer he can't refuse. He must write a great novel in three months — or else.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf the writer no longer cares about his own life, he has friends. 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I knew in general terms I was marrying a hero. The burden lay lightly on Leo, and to be a hero's wife in times supposedly suited to the heroic caused a woman to swallow doubt. The Japanese had barely been turned away. It was heresy and unlucky to undermine young men at such a supreme hour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Grace married the genial and handsome Captain Leo Waterhouse in Australia in 1943, they were young, in love – and at war. Like many other young men and women, they were ready, willing and able to put the war effort first. They never seriously doubted that they would come through unscathed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut Leo never returned from a commando mission masterminded by his own hero figure, an eccentric and charismatic man who inspired total loyalty from those under his command. 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Fifty years on, this anniversary edition is released with a new author's note about the novel and his fifty years of writing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the shocking dirt of the cement floor, Wally lay now, indiscriminately felled amongst the piglets, prostrate on his stomach with his head on his side. Someone had battered him about the head and then strangled him with a noose of thin rope. When a man is found brutally murdered in Whitton's monastery, Dr Stenner, Whitton's president, is horrified. Could it possibly be the work of one of his priests?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA nightmare begins as another brazen killing follows. The murderer appears to be a madman. Then, into the whirlpool of fear and violence, steps a cold and steely young woman who, it seems, has a very specific use for a priest gone bad. Stenner knows he must somehow control the fear whirling around the monastery, for 'death outside these walls was simply death; death within them might be called murder, vampirism, witchery'...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTom Keneally is one of Australia's most loved and acclaimed writers; with this new edition of his first novel we can celebrate his impressive body of work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46675496435948,"sku":"9780857984425","price":34.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12769783482493.jpg?v=1752937375"},{"product_id":"the-power-game-by-meg-keneally-9780857989444","title":"The Power Game","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeing the skipper of the cutter that carries all supplies and communications between Tasmania and Maria Island is a powerful position, and a deadly one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen a boatman is murdered on a remote island off Van Dieman's Land, the authorities want to blame a famous, and very inconvenient, political prisoner. 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This clever, compelling novel asks some uncomfortable questions\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePenelope Lively, The Guardian\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTo be a hero's wife in times supposedly suited to the heroic caused a woman to swallow doubt.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI knew in general terms I was marrying a hero. The burden lay lightly on Leo, and to be a hero's wife in times supposedly suited to the heroic caused a woman to swallow doubt... The Japanese had barely been turned away. It was heresy and unlucky to undermine young men at such a supreme hour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Grace married the genial and handsome Captain Leo Waterhouse in Australia in 1943, they were young, in love - and at war. Like many other young men and women, they were ready, willing and able to put the war effort first. They never seriously doubted that they would come through unscathed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut Leo never returned from a commando mission masterminded by his own hero figure, an eccentric and charismatic man who inspired total loyalty from those under his command. The world moved on to new alliances, leaving Grace, like so many widows, to bear the pain of losing the love of her life and wonder what it had all been for.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSixty years on, Grace is still haunted by the tragedy of her doomed hero when the real story of his ill-fated secret mission is at last unearthed. As new fragments of her hero's story emerge, Grace is forced to keep revising her picture of what happened to Leo and his fellow commandoes - until she learns about the final piece in the jigsaw, and the ultimate betrayal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47083036705004,"sku":"9781761341458","price":28.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/2715733482815.jpg?v=1765279536"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/tom-keneally.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}