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'A worthy successor to the prize-winning Just Relations, Hall's second novel to appear in this country is shorter and tighter, with the same mythical, almost mystical quality of an Australian legend, here distilled to the rambling memories of apparently senile Patrick Murphy. Patrick is outraged by the deathbed confession, in 1956, of Barney Barnett, a contemporary who was once betrothed to Patrick's sister Ellen. Barney says that 58 years ago he committed the brutal murders of three of Patrick's siblings: Norah, 27, Ellen, 18, and Michael, 29. (Hall uses an actual, unsolved murder case of 1898 and the real victims' names; no culprit was ever found.) Barnett's confession, a final try for some kind of fame or glory, is exposed as a hoax; he makes a grave error of fact and the Sydney police inspector grunts in disgust. Patrick's inner monologue does not at first reveal what he knows about the murders, although it's plain he knows a lot. As he ranges through his memories, describing childhood events from 70 years before, we are caught up in an extraordinary family of 10 children who lived with their tall, silent parents on a farm called Paradise, far away in the Australian farmlands...'
Source: Publishers Weekly https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-374-11889-1
Notes
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Book 3 of The Yandilli Trilogy
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Discussion notes available; produced as sound recording.
Works about this Work
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Rodney Hall's Captivity Captive and Narrating the Gothic : Beneath Modernity
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Falling Backwards : Australian Historical Fiction and The History Wars 2018; (p. 195-226) 'According to a website containing collected photos of 'ghost orbs' - paranormal energy somehow captured through the act of photographing - the site of the Gatton Murders is a powerful centre of ghost activity, Unsolved murders, a tantalisingly close but ungraspable truth. Reality is in perception - how we see things. An orb. An eye.' (Introduction) -
Re-Viewing History : Bicentennial Fictions
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013; (p. 447-483) -
History and the Novel : Refusing to Be Silent
2010
single work
essay
— Appears in: Westerly , November vol. 55 no. 2 2010; (p. 36-52) Argues that Australian historical fiction is important in considering the progress of Aboriginal-white relations. -
Framing History: Photography in Rodney Hall's 'Yandilli Trilogy'
2002
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 16 no. 1 2002; (p. 29-33) -
Eating at Home : Captivity Captive
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Compr(om)ising Post/colonialism(s) : Challenging Narratives and Practices 2001; (p. 261-269)
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Untitled
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: Fremantle Arts Review , February vol. 5 no. 2 1990; (p. 15)
— Review of Captivity Captive 1988 single work novel -
Fabling, Foxing, Lying or Crossing the Seas : Captives All!
1989
single work
review
— Appears in: Social Alternatives , April vol. 8 no. 1 1989; (p. 63-65)
— Review of 200 Australian Women : A Redress Anthology 1988 anthology biography ; Steel Beach 1988 single work novel ; That Fierce Virgin 1988 single work novel ; Fox 1988 single work novel ; Liars : Australian New Novelists 1988 selected work criticism prose extract ; Captivity Captive 1988 single work novel ; Reflections : Selected Works from Greek Australian Literature 1988 anthology poetry short story essay extract -
Captivity Captive Struggles with Historical Nightmare
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: Antipodes , Winter vol. 2 no. 2 1988; (p. 128-129)
— Review of Captivity Captive 1988 single work novel -
Death in the Garden
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: Books in Canada , October vol. 17 no. 7 1988; (p. 30-31)
— Review of Captivity Captive 1988 single work novel -
Exquisite Ghastliness, Unavoidably Natural
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 3 September 1988; (p. B1)
— Review of Captivity Captive 1988 single work novel -
Eating at Home : Captivity Captive
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Compr(om)ising Post/colonialism(s) : Challenging Narratives and Practices 2001; (p. 261-269) -
Framing History: Photography in Rodney Hall's 'Yandilli Trilogy'
2002
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 16 no. 1 2002; (p. 29-33) -
History and the Novel : Refusing to Be Silent
2010
single work
essay
— Appears in: Westerly , November vol. 55 no. 2 2010; (p. 36-52) Argues that Australian historical fiction is important in considering the progress of Aboriginal-white relations. -
Literatouring Europe
1991
single work
prose
— Appears in: Redoubt , August no. 12 1991; (p. 56-59) -
Thomas Keneally's Nightmare of History
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , Winter vol. 3 no. 2 1989; (p. 101-104)
Awards
- 1989 shortlisted NBC Banjo Awards — NBC Banjo Award for Fiction
- 1989 winner Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Prize for Fiction
- 1989 shortlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
- Bush,
- Coast,
- New South Wales,
- Queensland,
- 1890s
- 1800-1899