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Wendy James Wendy James i(A6135 works by)
Born: Established: 1966 ;
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Wendy James received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney and studied for an MA in writing at the University of Technology, Sydney. She has undertaken PhD studies at Deakin University, Victoria. In 2018, she was working as an editor at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation.

James won the University of Sydney Union/AAP short story competition in 1994 and 1995. Her 2005 debut novel Out of the Silence won the Ned Kelly Award for a Best First novel, and was shortlisted for a Dobbie Award. Her subsequent novels have regularly appeared on the longlists and shortlists for Australia's major crime-fiction awards, the Ned Kelly Awards and the Davitt Awards.

James, one of three sisters, is the sister of Rebecca James.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon The Accusation Sydney South : HarperCollins Australia , 2019 15439442 2019 single work novel thriller

'A bizarre abduction. A body of damning evidence. A world of betrayal.

'Eighteen-year-old Ellie Canning is found shivering and barely conscious on a country road, clad only in ill-fitting pyjamas. Her story of kidnap and escape quickly enthrals the nation: a middle-aged woman with a crazy old mother has held Ellie in a basement, chained her to a bed and given her drinks from an old baby's sippy cup. But who was this woman and what did she want with Ellie? And what other secrets might she hide?

'When the accusation is levelled at local teacher Suzannah Wells, no one seems more bewildered than Suzannah herself ... to start with. The preposterous charge becomes manifestly more real as she loses her job and her friends. And the evidence is strong: a dementia-affected mother, a house with a basement, a sippy cup that belonged to her long-dead daughter. And Ellie Canning's DNA everywhere. As stories about Susannah's past emerge, even those closest to her begin to doubt she's innocent.

'And Ellie? The media can't get enough of her. She's a girl-power icon, a social-media star. But is she telling the truth?

'A powerful exploration of the fragility of trust, and the power of suggestion, from the author of The Golden Child and The Mistake.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2020 longlisted Davitt Award Best Adult Crime Novel
y separately published work icon The Golden Child Sydney : HarperCollins Australia , 2017 10320731 2017 single work novel

'Can bad children happen to good mothers? A totally absorbing novel, for readers of Liane Moriarty, Jodi Picoult, Lionel Shriver and Christos Tsiolkas.

'Blogger Lizzy's life is buzzing, happy, normal. Two gorgeous children, a handsome husband, destiny under control. For real-life Beth, things are unravelling. Recently returned to Australia from America, tensions are simmering with her husband, mother-in-law, and even her own mother. Her teenage daughters, once objects of her existence, have moved beyond her grasp and one of them has shown signs of, well, thoughtlessness ...

Beth hopes things will improve once they are settled in their new home and the girls start school. Reluctant to leave, her daughters seem to adapt to their new circumstances, and the younger, Charlie, shines in her unaccountable but customary way. Then a classmate of Charlie's is callously bullied and the finger of blame is pointed at Beth's clever, beautiful child. Shattered, shamed and frightened, two families must negotiate worlds of cruelty they are totally unprepared for.

This is a novel that grapples with modern-day spectres of selfies, selfishness and cyberbullying. It plays with our fears of parenting, social media and the refuge it provides, and it asks the question: just how well do you know your child?' (Publication summary)

2018 longlisted Davitt Award Best Adult Crime Novel
2017 shortlisted Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing Best Novel
y separately published work icon The Lost Girls Melbourne : Penguin , 2014 6780852 2014 single work novel

'Curl Curl, Sydney, January 1978.

'Angie's a looker. Or she's going to be. She's only fourteen, but already, heads turn wherever she goes. Male heads, mainly . . .

'Jane worships her older cousin Angie. She spends her summer vying for Angie's attention. Then Angie is murdered. Jane and her family are shattered. They withdraw into themselves, casting a veil of silence over Angie's death.

'Thirty years later, a journalist arrives with questions about the tragic event. Jane is relieved to finally talk about her adored cousin. And so is her family. But whose version of Angie's story – whose version of Angie herself – is the real one? And can past wrongs ever be made right?

'The shocking truth of Angie's last days will force Jane to question everything she once believed. Because nothing – not the past or even the present –

is as she once imagined.' (Publisher's blurb)

2015 longlisted Davitt Award Best Adult Crime Novel
Last amended 17 Apr 2018 10:02:12
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