She told the amusing anecdote that as they were driving down a long, straight road, her guide said there’s a left turn coming up. What did it teach her? That she had completely underestimated the size and scale and danger of it all. Her guide, a man who had once been the sole police officer in the area for 10 years. (She lives in Melbourne.) Her research involved reconnaissance in the Outback. Quite a challenge for an urban, coastal dweller like herself. Her objective in writing The Lost Man was to convey the realities of life in the Outback: the sheer size, the risks, the survival strategies, and relationships which are close-knit through circumstance rather than desire. When your nearest neighbour is 2.5 hours away, you can’t just pop down the pub to get away for a while. All is not well within the family bubble, and things have been festering for years.Īs Harper explained, there are no circuit-breakers in communities such as these.

His mother is falling apart with grief the younger brother, Bub, begins to show animosity and resentment Cameron’s wife moves closer to Nathan (therein lies a story). When Cameron’s body is returned to the homestead for burial, tensions within his extended family unit begin to surface. Where Nathan is a divorced loner, ostracised from society, and struggling to remain in contact with his only son, Cameron is happily married with two young children. Where Nathan is badly in debt, Cameron was comfortable. Where Nathan is running a failing cattle farm, Cameron’s was successful. His elder brother, Nathan, is not convinced. But what was he doing there? Why would he abandon his vehicle and walk out to the Stockman’s Grave without taking any water? Finding no indications of foul play, the local police can only assume that he chose this end. Once his vehicle is found, it is soon established that he is Cameron Bright, a cattle farmer, a born and bred outbacker.

Desperately seeking shelter in its shadow is a man, succumbing to the blistering heat of the sun. Miles from anywhere, stands the Stockman’s Grave. The novel opens in the interior of Western Australia. With The Lost Man being a standalone, I thought I’d start there.

I haven’t read Harper’s The Dry or its sequel Force of Nature, but I have heard much about them. But it was Glasgow’s Aye Write! that scored the first hit of the summer season, with a visit from Jane Harper to discuss her latest bestseller, The Lost Man. All being well, I shall attend a few events and read some cracking novels. This summer the Edinburgh International Book Festival and Bloody Scotland are hosting a number of Aussie visitors. When Australian authors make the long trek to Scotland, it seems rude not to go see them.

Jane harper the lost man review