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'In this compelling reimagining of the Orpheus story, Leela May travels into an underworld of kidnapping, torture and despair in search of her lover, Mishka.
'Leela is a mathematical genius who escaped her hardscrabble Southern home town to study in Boston. It's there that she meets a young Australian musician, Mishka. From the moment she first hears him play, busking in a subway, his music grips her, and they quickly become lovers.
'Then one day Leela is picked up off the street and taken to an interrogation centre somewhere outside the city. There has been an 'incident', an explosion on the underground; terrorists are suspected, security is high. And her old childhood friend Cobb is conducting a very questionable interrogation. Over the years Cobb has never forgotten Leela and the secrets she knows.
'Now he reveals to her that Mishka may not be all he seems. That there may be more to him than growing up in the Daintree rainforest in northern Queensland in an eccentric musical family. Leela has already discovered on her own account that some nights when Mishka claims to be at the music lab are actually spent at a cafe. A cafe, Cobb tells her, known to be a terrorist contact point.
'Who can she believe?
'And then Mishka disappears.' (Publisher's blurb)
Notes
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Author's note: Sections of this novel, in slightly different form, have appeared in the following literary journals: Nimrod International Journal (where section IV.1, as 'The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon', received the Geraldine McLoud award); Southern Humanities Review; Hecate.'
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Epigraphs:
Orpheus crosses the boundaries not only between life and death and between man and nature, but also between truth and illusion, reality and imaginiation. - Joseph Campbell.The language of music is quite different from the language of intentionality. What it has to say is simultaneously revealed and concealed. It is demythologized prayer. - Theodor Adorno.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
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Humanitarian Scripts in the World Novel
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Worldmaking : Literature, Language, Culture 2017; (p. 201-213) -
Frontiers of Life and Death : The Human, New Wars and World Literary Sensibilities
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: What is the Human? : Australian Voices from the Humanities 2012; (p. 103-122) -
Due Preparations for Paradise : or, The Plague Now According to Hany Abu-Assad and Janette Turner Hospital
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Engaging with Literature of Commitment : The Worldly Scholar (Volume 2) 2012; (p. 217-230) -
Stories of Longing and Remembrance : The Role of Myth in Making Meaning
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Multicultural Review , Spring vol. 19 no. 1 2010; (p. 37-41) 'A literary criticism of the books "Orpheus Lost," by Janette Turner Hospital and "The Gathering," by Anne Enright. It outlines the characters in the books and explores the ways that myths which ground self and social behavior are examined and featured in the books. An overview of the definition of the word myth which is found in Merriam Webster's online dictionary is also given.' (Editor's abstract)
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Gendered Terrorism : Intertext, Context, and Richard Flanagan's The Unknown Terrorist
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 24 no. 1 2010; (p. 35-39)
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Exploring Terror Incognita
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 28 April 2007; (p. 25)
— Review of Orpheus Lost 2007 single work novel -
Into the Underworld
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 28 April 2007; (p. 10)
— Review of Orpheus Lost 2007 single work novel -
Courting Disaster
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , May vol. 2 no. 4 2007; (p. 7)
— Review of Orpheus Lost 2007 single work novel -
[Review] Orpheus Lost
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , April/May vol. 86 no. 8 2007; (p. 36)
— Review of Orpheus Lost 2007 single work novel -
Underworld of Chaos and Pain
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 5 May 2007; (p. 13)
— Review of Orpheus Lost 2007 single work novel -
An Elusive Love Story
2007
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 5 May 2007; (p. 11-12) -
Dangerous Places
2007
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 12-13 May 2007; (p. 8-9) -
Accidental Author Revamps Ancient Tale
2007
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 6 June 2007; (p. 9) -
Orpheus in a Post-Feminist Underworld of Rendition Flights, Prisons and Torture
2007
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 16 June 2007; (p. 26-27) -
Life on the Dark Side
2007
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 7 July 2007; (p. 11)
Awards
- 2008 shortlisted Australia-Asia Literary Award
- 2008 nominated Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing — Best Novel
- 2008 shortlisted Australian Booksellers Association Awards — Booksellers Choice Award
- 2008 longlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award
- 2007 shortlisted Colin Roderick Award
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Boston,
Massachusetts,
cUnited States of America (USA),cAmericas,