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'A stunning literary debut that takes the reader into the mysteries and truths that lie at the heart of our country.
'In the rear vision, the road was golden and straight and even, its length making sense of the sky, of the vast black cloud that was set to engulf it. I pulled over and got out. Stared at it, this gleaming snake - where I'd been, where it was going. The route that Jed had once taken.
'After years of travelling, Saul is trying to settle down. But one night he receives the devastating news of the death of his oldest friend, Jed, recently returned from working in a remote Aboriginal community. Saul's discovery in Jed's belongings of a photo of a woman convinces him that she may hold the answers to Jed's fate. So he heads out on a journey into the heart of the Australian desert to find the truth, setting in motion a powerful story about the landscapes that shape us and the ghosts that lay their claim.
'The Crying Place is a haunting, luminous novel about love, country, and the varied ways in which we grieve. In its unflinching portrayal of the borderlands where worlds come together, and the past and present overlap, it speaks of the places and moments that bind us. The myths that draw us in. And, ultimately, the ways in which we find our way home.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also dyslexic edition, large print
Works about this Work
-
Traversing the Sands of Time
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 1 April 2017; (p. 18) 'Although the European presence in Australia is now more than two centuries old it sometimes seems the legacy of the past is more present with each passing year. Whether in the human cost for indigenous Australians, the environmental devastation on the Great Barrier Reef and elsewhere, or simply in the hostility towards those who question our assumptions about our history, Australian society has not come to terms with the dispossession and violence at its heart.' (Introduction) -
Lia Hills : The Crying Place.
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , May 2017;'The Crying Place is a big novel that juggles even bigger ideas.
'For the first time in his life, Saul, a drifter, has remained in the same place for nearly a year. He has a steady job, and he’s renting a tiny Sydney apartment, its door marked with scratches left behind by ‘a dog once forced to live where it didn’t belong’.'
-
Lia Hills : The Crying Place
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 11 March 2017; 'Saul, a mid-30s drifter, finds out his childhood friend Jed has committed suicide. Skipping the funeral, he sets out from Sydney on an epic trip across their homeland to find answers. Travelling to the fictional community of Ininyingi in Pitjantjatjara country, all he has to go on is a single photograph of Nara, an Aboriginal woman and Jed’s former lover.' (Introduction)
-
Lia Hills : The Crying Place
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 11 March 2017; 'Saul, a mid-30s drifter, finds out his childhood friend Jed has committed suicide. Skipping the funeral, he sets out from Sydney on an epic trip across their homeland to find answers. Travelling to the fictional community of Ininyingi in Pitjantjatjara country, all he has to go on is a single photograph of Nara, an Aboriginal woman and Jed’s former lover.' (Introduction) -
Lia Hills : The Crying Place.
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , May 2017;'The Crying Place is a big novel that juggles even bigger ideas.
'For the first time in his life, Saul, a drifter, has remained in the same place for nearly a year. He has a steady job, and he’s renting a tiny Sydney apartment, its door marked with scratches left behind by ‘a dog once forced to live where it didn’t belong’.'
-
Traversing the Sands of Time
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 1 April 2017; (p. 18) 'Although the European presence in Australia is now more than two centuries old it sometimes seems the legacy of the past is more present with each passing year. Whether in the human cost for indigenous Australians, the environmental devastation on the Great Barrier Reef and elsewhere, or simply in the hostility towards those who question our assumptions about our history, Australian society has not come to terms with the dispossession and violence at its heart.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2018 longlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
- Central desert areas, Western Australia,