CLARKE

Holly Throsby's third novel after her two previous critically acclaimed bestsellers Goodwood and Cedar Valley (more than 45,000 copies sold across all editions in Australia). Clarke is a story of family and violence, of identity and longing, of unlikely connections and the comedy of everyday life.

On a hot morning in 1991 in the regional town of Clarke, Barney Clarke (no relation) is woken by the unexpected arrival of many policemen: they are going to search his backyard for the body of a missing woman. Next door, Leonie Wallace and little Joe watch the police cars through their kitchen window. Leonie has been waiting for this day for five years. She is certain that her friend - Ginny Lawson - is buried in that backyard under a slab of suspicious concrete. But the fate of Ginny Lawson is not the only mystery in Clarke. Barney lives alone in a rented house with a ring on his finger, but where is Barney's wife? Leonie lives with four-year-old Joe, but where is Joe's mother? Readers will adore the wonderful relationship between Leonie and little Joe. They will also recognise her loneliness and her emotional ambivalence to both her mother and her dead sister. But the emotional life of Leonie is wrapped around three compelling mysteries, so this narrative has a large motor driving the reader's curiosity. We even wonder whether she will ultimately hook up with Barney. The sardonic, almost satirical, tone is another source of joy. I believe that Holly has something in common with Anne Tyler, who is the queen of small community interactions. But Tyler is not read for her irony, and Holly has the bonus that there is always a good mystery or two embedded in her stories. Holly Throsby is a musician and novelist. She has released five solo albums, a collection of original children's songs, two albums as part of the band Seeker Lover Keeper, and has been nominated for five ARIAs. Holly's novels, Goodwood (2016) and Cedar Valley (2018), were both critically acclaimed bestsellers. For her fiction, Holly has been shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis Award, an Indie Book Award, two Australian Book Industry Awards, two Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards, and a Ned Kelly Award. Clarke is her third novel.