Bereft

It is 1919. The Great War has ended, but the Spanish flu epidemic is raging across Australia. Schools are closed, state borders are guarded by armed men, and train travel is severely restricted. There are rumours it is the end of the world.

In the town of Flint, Quinn Walker returns to the home he fled ten years earlier when he was accused of an unspeakable crime. Aware that his father and uncle would surely hang him, Quinn hides in the hills surrounding Flint. There, he meets the orphan Sadie Fox — a mysterious young girl who seems to know more about the crime than she should.

A searing gothic novel of love, longing and justice, Bereft is about the suffering endured by those who go to war and those who are forever left behind.

'Bereft is a dark, brooding story of war, family secrets and a man's search for justice.  Chris Womersley knows how to shine light into the darkest corners of rural Australia.' – MICHAEL ROBOTHAM

'Bereft is a beautiful novel . . . Womersley writes with such compelling power it is barely possible to put the book down.' – DEBRA ADELAIDE

About the Author

Chris Womersley was born in Melbourne in 1968. His fiction and reviews have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Granta New Writing 14, Best Australian Stories 2006, The Monthly, and The Age. He won the Josephine Ulrick Literature Prize for short story in 2007. The Low Road, his first novel, was shortlisted for the 2006 Victorian Premier’s Award for an unpublished manuscript and won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Book in 2008.