Author: Holly Throsby
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 9781760878740
Paperback
Available: 1 November 2022
Recommended Retail Price: $32.99
Price through Booktopia (August 2022): $26.25
A compelling new novel from the bestselling author of Goodwood and Cedar Valley.
‘Clarke is illuminated with such wonderful, vivid characters. Rarely have I felt so deeply invested in a story – I loved this book so much. Throsby is a supremely gifted storyteller, and Clarke truly is a wonder.’ Mark Brandi
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 six 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?
Clarke is a story of family and violence, of identity and longing, of unlikely connections and the comedy of everyday life. At its centre stands Leonie Wallace, a travel agent who has never travelled, a warm woman full of love and hope and grief, who must steer Joe safely through a very strange time indeed.
About the author
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.
