CWA Judges' comment: “The setting is refreshingly original; after WWII a soldier returns to rural Australia to face the consequences of a crime he did not commit. With a powerful sense of time and location, this is beautifully crafted, and has a serious point to make about the aftermath of war.”
Australia, 1919. Quinn Walker returns from the Great War to the New South Wales town of Flint: the birthplace he fled ten years earlier when he was accused of a heinous act. Aware of the townsmen's vow to hang him, Quinn takes to the surrounding hills. Here, deciding upon his plan of action, and questioning just what he has returned for, he meets Sadie Fox. This mysterious girl seems to know, and share, his darkest fear. And, as their bond greatens, Quinn learns what he must do to lay the ghosts of his past, and Sadie's present, to rest.
'Real brilliance ... This is a distinguished novel' Independent
'Just once in a while, a thriller comes along that is so good it takes your breath away. Chris Womersley's second novel does that in a heartbeat Daily Mail
'I hammered through Bereft in a day; I didn't want to be away from it Evie Wyld, author of After the Fire, A Still Small Voice
. 'Chris Womersley's novel begins like a classic crime yarn ... But this unusual and rewarding tale quickly develops into something else ... both moving and revealing Independent on Sunday
'a timeless, concise telling of an excellent story. It's one of those narrations where every word has been strongly considered, but that's never on show' Bookbag
Author
About Chris Womersley
Chris Womersley was born in Melbourne in 1968. His fiction and reviews have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Granta New Writing and The Age. Bereft is his second novel.
