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y separately published work icon A Case of Knives single work   novel   satire  
  • Author:agent Peter Rose http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/rose-peter
Issue Details: First known date: 2005... 2005 A Case of Knives
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Long-listed for the 2006 Miles Franklin Literary Award, this is a striking first novel of contemporary life and manners from award-winning biographer (Rose Boys) and poet, Peter Rose.

The cast

Julia Collis: a brilliant but unconventional publisher, more than a little controlling of her m nage

Candy Collis: an opera singer with a bright future and a dark mother

Matthew Light: a young actor, taken under Julia's wing as a teenage boy, obsessively in love with Roman Anthem

Roman Anthem: the 21-year-old grandson of a legendary Australian prime minister, renowned for his good looks, despised by Julia

The scene

Valhalla: an incestuous household of steely alliances, lopsided infatuations, and dark impulses

The plot

Roman Anthem is missing and no one knows why.

Witty, satirical and full of intrigue, set against a backdrop of opera, publishing and politics, Peter Rose's first novel is unlike any other Australian fiction.

(Source: Allen&Unwin Website)

Notes

  • Dedication: For Sonja Chalmers and Craig Sherborne.
  • Epigraph: Where had the words gone to? Weren't they still in the air, somewhere? Couldn't they be found and collected, grabbed with the hands out of the air? Somewhere. Somewhere they were preserved. Things didn't vanish. Truth did not become a lie - Patricia Highsmith, The Sweet Sickness

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Crows Nest, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Allen and Unwin , 2005 .
      image of person or book cover 4569003990482903331.png
      Extent: 395p.
      Note/s:
      • 'A Sue Hines Book'.
      ISBN: 1741145368
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
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Related Works

y separately published work icon Roddy Parr Peter Rose , Pymble : Fourth Estate , 2010 Z1703006 2010 single work novel 'A witty, seductive and moving novel of a famous writer and his protégé Roddy Parr takes us into the luminous circle of a literary giant. It is a world of family intrigues, importunate fans -- and dark secrets. Roddy Parr is an outsider, an ambitious young man who has just completed his PhD on the legendary David Anthem - a writer regularly tipped to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature. Through his friendship with Anthem′s publisher, the dazzling svengali Julia Collis, Roddy joins the Anthem household as David′s secretary. Julia′s not-so-secret agenda is for him to become David′s biographer. Soon Roddy is indispensable, and finds his new status as insider increasingly addictive. Yet Anthem′s world is steeped in tragedy and its truths are not simple ones' (Publisher website).
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (1)

Works about this Work

Untitled Gillian Dooley , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Adelaide Review , 24 February - 9 March no. 286 2006; (p. 20)
— Review of A Case of Knives Peter Rose , 2005 single work novel
Paperbacks : A Case of Knives Graham Clark , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 10 - 11 September 2005; (p. 6)
— Review of A Case of Knives Peter Rose , 2005 single work novel
Furniture or Must-Reads? Lucy Sussex , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 181 2005; (p. 69-72)
— Review of A Case of Knives Peter Rose , 2005 single work novel ; Sing, and Don't Cry : A Mexican Journal Cate Kennedy , 2005 single work autobiography ; Grace Robert Drewe , 2005 single work novel ; The Broken Shore Peter Temple , 2005 single work novel ; After the Party Jesse Blackadder , 2005 single work novel
Publishing's Battle of Egos Christopher Bantick , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 19 November 2005; (p. 11)
— Review of A Case of Knives Peter Rose , 2005 single work novel
Sharpening the Knives for a Satirical Stab Ian McFarlane , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 23 July 2005; (p. 17)
— Review of A Case of Knives Peter Rose , 2005 single work novel
The Cut and Thrust of a Superior Soap Michelle Griffin , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 16 July 2005; (p. 4)
— Review of A Case of Knives Peter Rose , 2005 single work novel
A Twist of the Knife Daphne Guinness , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 16-17 July 2005; (p. 23)
— Review of A Case of Knives Peter Rose , 2005 single work novel
A Long Hard Slog to the Music of Time Michael Sharkey , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 23-24 July 2005; (p. 12)
— Review of A Case of Knives Peter Rose , 2005 single work novel
Sharpening the Knives for a Satirical Stab Ian McFarlane , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 23 July 2005; (p. 17)
— Review of A Case of Knives Peter Rose , 2005 single work novel
Publishing's Battle of Egos Christopher Bantick , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 19 November 2005; (p. 11)
— Review of A Case of Knives Peter Rose , 2005 single work novel
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (8)

Awards

VIEW ALL AWARDS (1)
Last amended 4 Feb 2025 14:32:24
Subjects:
Settings:
  • Sydney, New South Wales,
  • Melbourne, Victoria,
  • New York (City), New York (State),
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    United States of America (USA),
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