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y separately published work icon This House of Grief single work   non-fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 2014... 2014 This House of Grief
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Anyone can see the place where the children died. You take the Princes Highway past Geelong, and keep going west in the direction of Colac. Late in August 2006, soon after I had watched a magistrate commit Robert Farquharson to stand trial before a jury on three charges of murder, I headed out that way on a Sunday morning, across the great volcanic plain.

'On the evening of 4 September 2005, Father’s Day, Robert Farquharson, a separated husband, was driving his three sons home to their mother, Cindy, when his car left the road and plunged into a dam. The boys, aged ten, seven and two, drowned. Was this an act of revenge or a tragic accident? The court case became Helen Garner’s obsession. She followed it on its protracted course until the final verdict.

'In this utterly compelling book, Helen Garner tells the story of a man and his broken life. She presents the theatre of the courtroom with its actors and audience, all gathered for the purpose of bearing witness to the truth, players in the extraordinary and unpredictable drama of the quest for justice.

'This House of Grief is a heartbreaking and unputdownable book by one of Australia’s most admired writers.' (Publication summary)

Notes

  • Dedication:

    To the Victorian Supreme Court:

    'this treasury of pain, this house of power and grief'

    –Dezso Kosztolanyi : Kornel Esti

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Text Publishing , 2014 .
      image of person or book cover 8300405844609789523.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 300p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 20 August 2014
      ISBN: 9781922079206
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Text Publishing , 2016 .
      image of person or book cover 5117340317456112104.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 320p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 4 January 2016
      ISBN: 9781925240689
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Pantheon Books ,
      2023 .
      image of person or book cover 7549433853696467903.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 320p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 10 October 2023.
      • Introduction by Sarah Weinman.
      ISBN: 9780553387438
Alternative title: Drei Söhne : ein mordprozess und seine geschichte
Language: German
    • Berlin,
      c
      Germany,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Berlin Verlag ,
      2016 .
      image of person or book cover 9081035515160659838.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 350p.p.
      ISBN: 9783827012692, 3827012694

Other Formats

Works about this Work

Helen Garner, Robert Hughes and the Mystery of Nonfiction Peter Craven , 2022 single work essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , December vol. 81 no. 4 2022; (p. 196-208)

'It's 45 years since Helen Garner published Monkey Grip and perhaps a while later that people realised how fine a writer she was. In 1997 there was that shock of recognition that someone had succeeded in re-creating inner-urban Melbourne, the 'aqua profunda' part of the Fitzroy pool, the tumult and tumbling from bed to bed of shared housing, the heartache of loving a junkie. The initial response to Monkey Grip was a response to a literary brave new world that was also the translation of something real. Indeed, there were critics such as the late Peter Pierce who said that Helen Garner had just talked dirty and called it realism. Yes, and along with this, there was the persistent accusation that she had simply published her diaries and served them up as fiction. This last point had come to seem like the most vulgar misprision by the time I wrote a full-dress defence of Garner in Judith Brett's Meanjin in the mid 1980s.' (Publication abstract)

‘Ordinary Readers’ and Political Uses : Re-Examining Helen Garner’s Non-Fiction Writings about Filicide Naish Gawen , 2020 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , 29 October vol. 35 no. 2 2020;

'Helen Garner’s literary non-fiction book This House of Grief (2014), as well as her two essays ‘Why She Broke’ (2017) and ‘Killing Daniel’ (1993), all deal with instances of filicide. This article begins by offering a reading of these writings in which I argue that they perpetuate a mythologisation of family violence which prevents us from viewing that violence as an ameliorable social injustice. I look at Rita Felski’s injunction to engage more deeply with what she calls ‘ordinary readers'’ uses of literature as a way to question the relevance of the kind of critique put forth in the first section; ultimately, I find that the context of Garner’s popular reception actually vindicates a critical focus on the political import of the writing.' (Publication abstract)

Troubling Narratives of True Crime: Helen Garner’s This House of Grief and Megan Norris’s On Father’s Day Rachel Spencer , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 50 2018;

'The story of three little boys who drowned in a dam on Father’s Day in 2005 is sad and shocking. After two long trials, Robert Farquharson was found guilty of the murders of his three sons and imprisoned for 33 years. This paper will examine works by two authors who tell this same story, each in a different way and from different perspectives. Helen Garner and Megan Norris both explore this tragic true crime by presenting two quite different grief narratives. Both are courtroom narratives that simultaneously question and explain the court system, but their respective examinations of grief, despair and fractured lives have resulted in two very different approaches. The article examines the narrative choices made by each author. It suggests that writers of such narratives bear a heavy responsibility towards the characters they portray as well as towards their readers, many of whom are not familiar with court processes and the criminal justice system.' (Publication abstract)

Being in the Archive : Affect and Scholarly Distance Bernadette Brennan , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Archives and Manuscripts , vol. 46 no. 1 2018; (p. 3-17)

'Working in the archives of living writers provides exciting possibilities for extended interpersonal research as well as ethical challenges. This article explores the author’s experience of working in Helen Garner’s restricted archives and negotiating the demands of scholarly objectivity with an increasingly felt empathic engagement. The author traces a chronological path through the archives relating to Garner’s three substantial works of non-fiction: The First Stone (1995), Joe Cinque’s Consolation (2004) and This House of Grief (2014). She draws attention to some of the ways in which distance and objectivity can be influenced not only by contact with a living writer but also by the space in which the archive is encountered. With a deliberate focus on the lived experience of researching, rather than a scholarly examination of archival theory, the author offers a case study of how the interaction of archives and living subject can shape research and publication.'  (Publication abstract)

On Darkness Helen Garner , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Everywhere I Look 2016; (p. 141-152)
Review : House of Grief Matthia Dempsey , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Books + Publishing , vol. 94 no. 1 2014; (p. 20)

— Review of This House of Grief Helen Garner , 2014 single work non-fiction
Helen Garner : This House of Grief : The Story of a Murder Trial Lou Murphy , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , August 2014;

— Review of This House of Grief Helen Garner , 2014 single work non-fiction
Into the Abyss Peter Craven , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 23-24 August 2014; (p. 16-17)

— Review of This House of Grief Helen Garner , 2014 single work non-fiction
The Drama in the Dark Deeds of the Human Heart Vivid Account of the Farquharson Case Cameron Woodhead , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 30-31 August 2014; (p. 28) The Canberra Times , 30 August 2014; (p. 25) The Age , 30 August 2014; (p. 29)

— Review of This House of Grief Helen Garner , 2014 single work non-fiction
Tragedy on the Road to Winchelsea Owen Richardson , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 14 September 2014;

— Review of This House of Grief Helen Garner , 2014 single work non-fiction
Into the Darkness Susan Wyndham , 2014 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 16 August 2014; (p. 8-9) The Canberra Times , 16 August 2014; (p. 10) The Age , 16 August 2014; (p. 24)
'The horrific death of three young brothers shocked the nation and put their father in the dock. Helen Garner watched the case unfold.'
Books of the Year Stephen Romei , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 20-21 December 2014; (p. 14-17)
The Darkness in Every One of Us Helen Garner , 2015 single work essay
— Appears in: The Monthly , July no. 113 2015; (p. 40-45)
'The article presents a speech given by author Helen Garner titled "How Can We Write About Darkness," delivered at the Sydney Writer's Festival on May 21, 2015. She discusses her book "This House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial" featuring the trials of Robert Farquharson who was accussed of drowning his three sons. She explains how human beings shield against the darkness.'
Helen Garner’s True Crime Award Jason Steger , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 23 August 2015; (p. 12)
Garner Gets Nod with Ned Jason Steger , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 23 August 2015; (p. 19)
Last amended 23 Oct 2023 09:03:21
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