AustLit

'Wayne Long is a proud Murri man, born in St George on the Balonne River, but he is also a child of the Middle Kingdom – his grandfather, Old Billy Long, being part of the Chinese diaspora.

'Wayne’s story is interwoven with the historical, political and social events that have impacted on inter-racial relations in Australia for more than two hundred years, from Cooks landing to Mabo, from the Frontier Wars to the 1987 Goondiwindi riots, from the White Australia Policy to Paul Keatings Redfern speech.' (Publication summary)

'It's 2007 and Lawrence Lalor is working for a Brisbane city councillor when he seizes an opportunity to become a political figure himself. One act of treachery propels him up the ladder and into the murky world of Labor Party maneuverings as Kevin 07 looks like becoming Australia's next Prime Minister. A shocking tragedy and stroke of luck on Lawrence's part puts a high stakes political win within his grasp, but at what cost to his integrity, family and ultimately his soul?'

Source: Publication blurb.

'Is there ever a good time to confess to adultery?

Lawrence Lalor, Gold Coast surfie and small town teacher has wandered through life, drifting and shifting with the wind. Sidestepping a blackmailing Southern Belle he rebels against life in a Philadelphia dead-end job and drags his beautiful wife back to the inner city hills of Brisbane.

Why save up for the dream Australian home when you can steal one?

Death and deceit are everywhere when Lawrence lands a job in the Department of Hatching, Matching and Despatching. Tasked with the mission of perusing death notices for administrative anomalies, Lawrence chases the Grim Reaper throughout the Australian countryside.

1999 was the time for Lawrence to take on backpackers, a UFO, drugs, the Republican Referendum, an ex-lover turned MS sufferer and everyone’s favourite neighbour — an axe-wielding, fig-killing, wannabe property developer.' (Publisher's blurb)

'In the small rural Queensland town of Lawson, where the people are still reeling from the arrival of the 1990s and modernity, surfie teacher Lawrence Lalor is condemned to servitude by the Catholic Education League. From his veranda and the pub, he quickly learns the secrets of life in the bush.

'While Lawson is just another "dead-kangaroo-on-the-side-of-the-road" country town with its streets named after saints, Lawrence is quick to learn that beneath its simple surface, it is a town of depth and deception.

'Drunken mistakes, accidental friendships, adultery, love, murder and the arcane practice of fish counting lead Lawrence to the discovery that courage and dignity are more rare than precious. Lawrence Lalor's journey through Lawson - the jewel of the west - gouges a scar on his emotional landscape that will stay with him forever.' (Publisher's blurb)