image of person or book cover 4810445480746661444.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Jesustown single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2021... 2021 Jesustown
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'From award-winning journalist Paul Daley comes a gripping multi-generational saga about Australian frontier violence and cultural theft that will capture the national imagination.

'Morally bankrupt popular historian Patrick Renmark leaves London in disgrace after the accidental death of his infant son. With one card left to play, he takes a commission to write the biography of his pioneering anthropologist grandfather.

'With no enthusiasm and even less integrity, Patrick travels to the former mission town in Australia's far north where his grandfather famously brokered 'peace' between the Indigenous people of the area and the white constabulary.

'Of course nothing is as it seems, or as Patrick wants it to be. Unable to lay his own son to rest, Patrick unwillingly becomes part of local lawyer Jericho Bakerman's quest to return the settlement's ancestral remains to Country.' (Publication summary)

Notes

  • Author's note: For Claudia Daley
  • Selected as one of the Guardian Australia best Australian books of 2022

    Selected as one of the ABR Podcast's best books of 2022

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 , 2021 .
      image of person or book cover 4810445480746661444.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 336p.
      Reprinted: 5 Jul 2022
      Note/s:
      • Published August 2021
      ISBN: 9781760529789

Other Formats

  • Large print.
  • Dyslexic edition.

Works about this Work

The Construction of History : Exploring the Impact of Colonialism Susan Midalia , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 446 2022; (p. 29)

— Review of Jesustown Paul Daley , 2021 single work novel

'Paul Daley will be familiar to many readers as a respected journalist expressly committed to exposing the blind spots of white culture’s dominant myths about Indigenous history and Australia’s national identity. Daley is perhaps less well known as a novelist and playwright. These two interests in his work – historical research and imaginative writing – inform his powerful second novel, Jesustown, Daley’s seventh book, and one which he felt ‘compelled’ to write.' (Introduction)

Witty, Poetic, Beautifully Written : The Best Australian Books Out in July Sian Cain , Lucy Clark , Michael Sun , Alyx Gorman , Steph Harmon , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 July 2022;

— Review of We Come With This Place Debra Dank , 2022 multi chapter work essay prose ; Denizen James McKenzie Watson , 2022 single work novel ; The All of It : A Bogan Rhapsody Cadance Bell , 2022 single work autobiography ; Jesustown Paul Daley , 2021 single work novel ; Holy Woman : A Divine Adventure Louise Omer , 2022 single work autobiography
Paul Daley’s Jesustown : A Novel of Lurid, Postcolonial Truth-telling Tim Rowse , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 27 June 2022;

— Review of Jesustown Paul Daley , 2021 single work novel

'How can fiction contribute to the “truth” that the Uluru Statement asks us to tell? Allen and Unwin’s answer to that question is, in part, one of paratext. By composing a book’s paratext, a publisher addresses the reader about how to experience the book. The paratext of Paul Daley’s Jesustown includes 12 signed commendations on the first four pages and a four-page “Author Note” at the end of the story.' (Introduction)

Paul Daley’s Jesustown : A Novel of Lurid, Postcolonial Truth-telling Tim Rowse , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 27 June 2022;

— Review of Jesustown Paul Daley , 2021 single work novel

'How can fiction contribute to the “truth” that the Uluru Statement asks us to tell? Allen and Unwin’s answer to that question is, in part, one of paratext. By composing a book’s paratext, a publisher addresses the reader about how to experience the book. The paratext of Paul Daley’s Jesustown includes 12 signed commendations on the first four pages and a four-page “Author Note” at the end of the story.' (Introduction)

Witty, Poetic, Beautifully Written : The Best Australian Books Out in July Sian Cain , Lucy Clark , Michael Sun , Alyx Gorman , Steph Harmon , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 July 2022;

— Review of We Come With This Place Debra Dank , 2022 multi chapter work essay prose ; Denizen James McKenzie Watson , 2022 single work novel ; The All of It : A Bogan Rhapsody Cadance Bell , 2022 single work autobiography ; Jesustown Paul Daley , 2021 single work novel ; Holy Woman : A Divine Adventure Louise Omer , 2022 single work autobiography
The Construction of History : Exploring the Impact of Colonialism Susan Midalia , 2022 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , September no. 446 2022; (p. 29)

— Review of Jesustown Paul Daley , 2021 single work novel

'Paul Daley will be familiar to many readers as a respected journalist expressly committed to exposing the blind spots of white culture’s dominant myths about Indigenous history and Australia’s national identity. Daley is perhaps less well known as a novelist and playwright. These two interests in his work – historical research and imaginative writing – inform his powerful second novel, Jesustown, Daley’s seventh book, and one which he felt ‘compelled’ to write.' (Introduction)

Last amended 30 Mar 2023 13:20:32
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