'When Johno Harcourt is shown the door at his high-profile newspaper job, he must ponder what to do with the rest of his life.
'Finding solace among his surfing and musician friends around Bondi Beach and dealing with ongoing dramas from his high-achieving family, he lands the prize job of ghostwriting the autobiography of Australia’s leading, ageing movie star, Mike Vargas.
'Charismatic, confident and still a mad keen surfer, Vargas quickly befriends Johno, and they spend days surfing, drinking and talking about his life. But as Johno digs deeper into the story, secrets from Vargas’ past begin to come to light, forcing Johno to realise he may know nothing about the man he is writing about, and catapulting him into a mysterious new world of scandal and celebrity.' (Publication summary)
Dedication: for Jenni...then, now, forever
'Western Australia is experiencing a literary purple patch at the moment and Lois Murphy’s debut novel, Soon (Transit Lounge, 288pp, $29.99), is further evidence of this. Murphy, who lives in Melbourne now, spent six years travelling Australia in a homemade four-wheel-drive truck, and this novel about the stubborn last residents of an abandoned town is loosely based on the fate of Wittenoom, infamous as the site of Australia’s largest asbestos mine.' (Introduction)
'Western Australia is experiencing a literary purple patch at the moment and Lois Murphy’s debut novel, Soon (Transit Lounge, 288pp, $29.99), is further evidence of this. Murphy, who lives in Melbourne now, spent six years travelling Australia in a homemade four-wheel-drive truck, and this novel about the stubborn last residents of an abandoned town is loosely based on the fate of Wittenoom, infamous as the site of Australia’s largest asbestos mine.' (Introduction)
