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y separately published work icon Notorious single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2010... 2010 Notorious
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'She came walking out of the desert, just as the famous poet had centuries before. Impossible for them both to have survived that relentless furnace, that destroyer of all life.

Now the nameless woman lies horribly scarred and close to death in an Asylum deep in the North African desert. An Australian official, a man code-named John Devlin, has come to question her, despite the protests of her carers. It is clear that the woman and Devlin share some kind of past, and all kinds of secrets - but the greatest secret is the one she will die to protect.

As the wind calls up a deadly sandstorm, the inhabitants of the Asylum discover they are linked by a diary written by the poet Rimbaud, who in 1890 also confronted the implacable power of the desert. Over the next one hundred and twenty years, everyone who sees the diary will want it. Most will do anything to possess it.

For some, like ruthless Polish aristocrat Aleksander Walenska, the diary holds secrets that will bring him riches and power. For his troubled and religious son Czeslaw, it is a book of death, a penance to be fulfilled by sacrifice. For Czeslaw's sister, it is a book of the desert which, if returned to its rightful home, will redeem her family's name. For Devlin, broken by his own ghosts, and with one final chance to make amends, the diary is worthless; the desert not a place of revelation, but the birthplace of modern terrorism.

Only the woman, whose dark past is entwined with those who would possess the diary at any cost, sees the true worth of the book. As she surrenders to the transformative power of the desert, only she understands how it exalts the secrets mapped on the diary's precious pages.' (From the publisher's website.)

Notes

  • Dedication: For my family

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 , 2010 .
      image of person or book cover 2252686597701749555.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 496p.
      Note/s:
      • Publication date: October 2010.
      ISBN: 9781742372396 (pbk.)
    • Concord, Drummoyne - Concord area, Sydney Inner West, Sydney, New South Wales,: House of Anansi Press , 2013 .
      image of person or book cover 5571613706092297243.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Goodreads.
      Extent: 504p.
      Note/s:
      • Published October 15th 2013
      ISBN: 9781770890008

Other Formats

Works about this Work

Take Three Veronica Sen , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Sunday Canberra Times , 12 December 2010; (p. 26)

— Review of Notorious Roberta Lowing , 2010 single work novel
Haunted Tales Jane Gleeson-White , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 201 2010; (p. 38-41)
'If it is possible to assess the current state of Australian literature through a reading of four novels published in September and October 2010...then I'd say Australian fiction is haunted, preoccupied with the past'. p. 38
Off the Shelf : Fiction Dianne Dempsey , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 27 November 2010; (p. 24)

— Review of Notorious Roberta Lowing , 2010 single work novel
Rhyme in Her Reason Louise Schwartzkoff , 2010 single work biography
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 7 November 2010; (p. 6-7)
[Review] Notorious Robbie Egan , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , October vol. 90 no. 3 2010; (p. 28)

— Review of Notorious Roberta Lowing , 2010 single work novel
Season with Rimbaud Chris Womersley , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 325 2010; (p. 34)

— Review of Notorious Roberta Lowing , 2010 single work novel
Desert's Strands of Symbolism Claire Scobie , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 16-17 October 2010; (p. 38)

— Review of Notorious Roberta Lowing , 2010 single work novel
[Review] Notorious Robbie Egan , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , October vol. 90 no. 3 2010; (p. 28)

— Review of Notorious Roberta Lowing , 2010 single work novel
Off the Shelf : Fiction Dianne Dempsey , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 27 November 2010; (p. 24)

— Review of Notorious Roberta Lowing , 2010 single work novel
Take Three Veronica Sen , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Sunday Canberra Times , 12 December 2010; (p. 26)

— Review of Notorious Roberta Lowing , 2010 single work novel
Rhyme in Her Reason Louise Schwartzkoff , 2010 single work biography
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 7 November 2010; (p. 6-7)
Haunted Tales Jane Gleeson-White , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 201 2010; (p. 38-41)
'If it is possible to assess the current state of Australian literature through a reading of four novels published in September and October 2010...then I'd say Australian fiction is haunted, preoccupied with the past'. p. 38
Last amended 29 Jan 2021 04:42:08
Settings:
  • North Africa, Africa,
  • c
    Sicily,
    c
    c
    Italy,
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
  • 1890s
  • 1900-1999
  • 2000s
Influenced by:
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