Cirrus@Austlit

 (Publication summary)

'What are said to be the facts of a matter can be affected by pieces of fiction, as in testimony flawed by an imperfect memory or tales prompted by self-interest.

'Alert to the ins and outs of the trial process, Nicholas Hasluck, a former judge and accomplished novelist, has drawn upon his personal diaries to explore the relationship between law and literature, as he did in his earlier work about judicial life, Bench and Book.

'Judging isn’t just about finding facts and applying law. It involves getting to grips with individual stories and dilemmas. A mind alert to the complexities of human nature won’t accept too easily what is simply alleged or said to be true. At its best, law is truth in action, a story showing what actually happened and what should be done.' (Publication summary)

'A contemporary artist is out to win a portrait prize by sketching a Che Guevara rebel from the old Australian colony in Paraguay. The artist’s brother is troubled by doubts about the rebel’s heroic identity and feels obliged to investigate.

'Set largely in South America, the novel explores divergent approaches to the truth in the wilds of Bolivia where Che sought to ignite a widespread revolution. The investigation ends in Sydney where Che’s ambitious dreams are still revered and the prize will soon be awarded. The counter-factual mysteries to be unravelled mirror South America’s own ingenious literary form, magic realism, a form reflecting the post-modern world’s richly-imagined but often bizarre perceptions.' (Publication summary)

'In both law and literature, Nicholas Hasluck has been a player and a commentator. In this fascinating memoir he uses diaries of his time as a Judge and as Chair of the Literature Board to explore intriguing issues at the start of the new century, from culture wars in Australia to al-Qaeda’s terrorist attack in New York.

'He turns an astute gaze on battles in the courts and everyday struggles and delusions. He watches self-styled intellectual leaders nail their colours to the mast with an air of heroic virtue, though nearly everyone in the room agrees with them.

'In times when history is often misinterpreted, how can we pass on what has been learnt? How can Australians come together to build a better future, rather than denigrating our institutions and shared past? His views are those of a writer with a principled mind and a ready sense of humour.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'A lively memoir in which Nicholas Hasluck explores the life and times of his elder brother Rollo, an adventurer brimful of bright ideas and his own way of going at things. Rollo's family moved from Perth to Canberra in the war years. His father's work on post-war security led to further service in New York and a return to Perth in the late 1940s. Friendships forged in schooldays set the scene for Rollo's convivial but precarious way of life in the 1960s. The story covers Rollo's marriage, his involvement in local theatre, escapades on Rottnest Island, management of a night club, the making of deals in real estate during the nickel boom and some final travels. Rollo's style is mirrored in a line marking the sudden end of his story: He won laughter and the love of friends.' (Publication summary)

'‘I see traces in my past that point to what the world has now become.’

'Like many young Australians in the 1960s Nick Hasluck set sail for London, in his case for a post-graduate law degree, but looking also for new horizons and ways to be a writer. From a seedy room at the International Language Club he explored the ‘Kangaroo Valley’ party scene around Earl’s Court – until he met a girl from the Cotswolds who was to change his life, a romance leading to misadventures in Europe and eventually to a job in Fleet Street.

'Britain was opening up to him in unexpected ways. He recalls combative speakers at the Oxford Union – Malcolm X, James Baldwin, Tariq Ali – and luminaries in other places such as Menzies, Profumo, Field Marshal Slim and the controversial jurists, Hailsham and Denning. Along the way, Hasluck writes skilfully of becoming a lawyer, then a Judge, and also a well-known novelist.

'In this eloquent memoir the mind of the lawyer is constantly enriched by the style of the writer. To a lively storyteller the world beyond the equator is still the miracle it always was.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Judicial appointments, the rule of law, activism on the High Court, the push for indigenous recognition, the role of style in writing judgments, legal images in fiction’s cave of shadows – novelist and former judge Nicholas Hasluck covers these and other issues in this intriguing collection of occasional pieces. There are glimpses along the way of some remarkable personalities: Gough Whitlam, John Howard, Lord Denning, radical judge A.B. Piddington, well-known writers such as Gore Vidal, Germaine Greer, Clive James, Christopher Brennan, the Durack sisters, and activist Don McLeod, who led the historic Aboriginal workers strike.

'The links between legal argument and literary works and the way in which they can enhance the teaching and practice of law is reflected in the book’s title – Jigsaw: Patterns in Law and Literature.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A compelling drama … a verdict just in time.'

'A newcomer to Broome, Colin Everett is drawn into a fierce dispute about native title known as ‘the Bradshaw case’. The disappearance of a key witness points to threats of blackmail, or even worse.'

'To win the case for the Aboriginal claimants, Colin and his fellow lawyers have to find the witness, get the better of their opponents, and probe the origin of ancient rock art in the Kimberley region.'

'The case ends in a swirl of controversy and a crucial verdict. It offers a poignant glimpse of how the future can be shaped by half-truths and human failings, by contested versions of the past. ...'

'Athens, November 1915. A city buffeted by the chaos of the war, a city swarming with spies and opportunists. When a British counter espionage unit is contacted by a man from Smyrna, it seems that a bold new plan is afoot to cut through the Turkish defences at nearby Gallipoli … until the finding of the man’s body in a room set aside for the meeting.

'Australian-born agent Robert Kaub is drawn into the investigation, and soon forced to confront memories of love and betrayal in pre-war Athens. An ominous note, an old coin from Ephesus, cryptic cables – Robert’s discoveries bring him eventually to a place where things could go either way for the Allied cause.

'Aegean battlefields. A besieged city. Deaths foretold. These are mirrored in a mystery shaped by the ill-fated attempt to capture Constantinople, a story tinted by the truths and untruths of war, a tragic tale akin to myth. ' (Publication summary)