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'"I, Jeronimus, am a man of phials, a measurer of powders on bronze scales, a potion brewer, an opium and arsenic merchant. The primped and perfumed Amsterdam burghers came to me in droves requiring cures for fevers, love balms, the miscarriage of a bastard child, and, of course, poisons. Ah, poisons."
So speaks Jeronimus Cornelisz, a thirty-year-old apothecary who transforms before our eyes into a murderous madman.
'The Company is a novel based on the 1629 voyage of the Dutch East India Company flagship Batavia, bound for the colonies with a cargo of untold riches. Among the passengers is Cornelisz, a man ousted from polite society by sordid rumors of necromancy. Corrupt to the very marrow of his soul, Cornelisz considers himself God's equal, the rightful heir to gold, silver – even another man's wife. So twisted is he by lust and greed that he incites a mutiny, running the ship aground on a reef.
'All is lost – the ship is wrecked, its passengers dying, the treasure trashed at the bottom of the sea. "The apothecary will heal us," the survivors pray, believing themselves lucky to be alive. In the name of benevolence, Cornelisz seizes command of their island refuge. The brave castaways stir with hope – until the killing begins. For forty frenzied days, Cornelisz decides who shall live and who shall die, leaving his victims with just one wish – that they had gone down with the ship.
'Soaked with the blood of the innocent and the wicked, The Company plunges, with the weight of history, deep into the heart of darkness.'
Notes
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Dedication: In memory of my mother, Marianna Bethiez Edge
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also braille.
Works about this Work
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Untitled
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 16 no. 1 2002; (p. 33)
— Review of The Company : The Story of a Murderer 2000 single work novel -
[Review] The Company
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: JAS Review of Books , no. 2 2001; Journal of Australian Studies , no. 69 2001; (p. 176178)
— Review of The Company : The Story of a Murderer 2000 single work novel -
History and Theirstories : A Review of Some Recent Australian and Asian Fiction
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , November vol. 46 no. 2001; (p. 190-203)
— Review of True History of the Kelly Gang 2000 single work novel ; The Slow Death of Patrick O'Reilly 2001 single work novel ; The Company : The Story of a Murderer 2000 single work novel ; Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare 1998 single work novel ; The Water Underneath 2001 single work novel ; Strangers 1999 single work novel ; The Day We Had Hitler Home : A Novel 2000 single work novel ; Remembering Malcolm Macquarrie 2001 single work novel -
CoverNotes
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 23 September 2001; (p. 11)
— Review of The Company : The Story of a Murderer 2000 single work novel ; Nardika Learns to Make a Spear 2001 single work non-fiction -
Ideas Whose Time has Come
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 17 June 2001; (p. 10)
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Survivors at the Mercy of an Evil Protector
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 19 August 2000; (p. 16)
— Review of The Company : The Story of a Murderer 2000 single work novel -
The Currency of Madness
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 26 August 2000; (p. 9)
— Review of The Company : The Story of a Murderer 2000 single work novel -
Between a Reef and a Hard Place
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 2 September 2000; (p. 6)
— Review of The Company : The Story of a Murderer 2000 single work novel -
The Vital Shore
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 22 August vol. 118 no. 6238 2000; (p. 94-95)
— Review of Vixen 2000 single work novel ; The Arch-Traitor's Lament 2000 single work novel ; The Storyteller 2000 single work novel ; The Australian Fiance 2000 single work novel ; Family Album : A Novel of Secrets and Memories 2000 single work novel ; Playing Madame Mao 2000 single work novel ; Conditions of Faith 2000 single work novel ; The Company : The Story of a Murderer 2000 single work novel -
Macabre and Deranged
2000
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 224 2000; (p. 37-38)
— Review of The Company : The Story of a Murderer 2000 single work novel -
Sailing into evil
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Age , 5 May 2001; (p. 7) -
Ideas Whose Time has Come
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 17 June 2001; (p. 10) -
Edge of Darkness
2000
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: The Age , 12 August 2000; (p. 9)
Awards
- 2001 winner Commonwealth Writers Prize — South East Asia and South Pacific Region — Best First Book Award
- 2001 shortlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
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Amsterdam,
cNetherlands,cWestern Europe, Europe,
- Houtman Abrolhos Islands, Dongara - Geraldton - Northampton area, Southwest Western Australia, Western Australia,
- 1620s