Australian Gospel: A Family Saga

From one of Australia's most brilliant writers, a dark comedy about the tangled fates of two couples and the children trapped between them

'Wild applause. Brave, funny and true.' David Marr

'This is the new benchmark for the quintessential Australian epic. I lost count of how many times I laughed and cried.' Grace Tame

Michael and Mary Shelley are Christian fanatics who loathe their fellow Australians - especially their 'reckless indulgence of alcohol and obsession with idiotic ball sports'.
Lenore and Tom Blaine are working-class Queensland publicans raising a large family in a raucous, loving, sports-obsessed home.

There's just one problem. Lenore and Tom are foster parents to three of Michael and Mary's children, who were removed from the Shelleys as infants. And the Shelleys are prepared to do anything to get them back. Anything.

Australian Gospel is the true story of Lech Blaine's family, a stranger-than-fiction tale that is heartbreaking, hilarious and altogether astonishing.

'A rollicking, insightful and moving account of the everyday heavens and hells we make for ourselves, and each other.' Sarah Krasnostein

'What makes a real family? Whose rights should triumph in battles over a child? Which inheritances can we escape, and which will haunt us forever? All this is explored in an irreverently joyful family saga you'll never forget.' Charlotte Wood

About the Author

Lech Blaine is the author of the memoir Car Crash and the Quarterly Essays Top Blokes and Bad Cop. He is the 2023 Charles Perkins Centre writer in residence. His writing has appeared in Good Weekend, Griffith Review, The Guardian and The Monthly. His forthcoming book is Australian Gospel.