From one of Australia's foremost journalists, Luke Slattery, comes a rich, intense novel of desire and dashed dreams, and one passionate, unforgettable woman - Elizabeth Macquarie. 'A richly evocative piece of historical fiction...beautifully written.' Good Weekend Elizabeth Macquarie, widow of the disgraced former Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, is in mourning - not only for her husband, but the loss of their shared dream to transform the penal colony into a bright new world. Over the course of one long sleepless night on the windswept isle of Mull, she remembers her life in that wild and strange country; a revolution of ideas as dramatic as any in history; and her dangerous alliance with the brilliant, mercurial Francis Greenway, the colony's maverick architect. A stirring, provocative and thrilling novel of passion, ideas, reforming zeal and desire. 'Moving, intricate novel ... Every love story has at its heart a vision of inherent human worth in the beloved; Slattery's achievement is to render, subtly and powerfully both a human love story, and a love story to the nation.' Anna Funder, author of All That I Am 'A remarkable early 19th century heroine comes alive for us in this story: we share Mrs M.'s thoughts and feelings in almost uncanny fashion. Luke Slattery's debut sets new standards for the Australian historical novel.' Nicolas Rothwell 'A richly evocative piece of historical fiction...beautifully written.' Good Weekend 'It is, at its core, the story of Slattery's most extraordinary creation: Mrs M, whose real-world counterpart was the wife of Lachlan Macquarie, fifth governor of the colony of New South Wales (1810-21). ... There is a kind of clarion certainty to her ... I think readers will be swept up by this creation. The narrative would grab me with moments of exquisite cadence and perfect emotional truth ... Told in Elizabeth's voice, and seen through her eyes, the sensuous descriptions of her Scotland and her Sydney - as well as her own inner world - rise off the page with a poet's perfect pitch.' The Australian 'Saul Bellow says somewhere that in fiction sentences should be 'charged' - something should quietly beat through them. When one begins reading this is what you should listen for - imaginative confidence, a sense of sureness. This applies to historical fiction as much as any other. You don't ask, 'Is this true to history?' You ask 'Is this true to itself?' Luke Slattery's Mrs M is imaginatively true from beginning to end.' Barry Oakley
Epicureanism has been diluted into a byword for gourmet dining, but does the original ancient Greek 'philosophy of the Garden' contain insight that could save the world? Luke Slattery argues that reading Epicurus could help us rethink our materialist ways and challenge the inevitability of man-made climate change. Rather than appealing to altruism, or calling for revolution in the global economy, the Epicurean philosophy turns the developed world's credo of 'greed is good' on its head, counselling that genuine happiness comes from the quieting of desire; from less, not more. And that might just be the mindset we need to rein in unsustainable development. In this thoughtful Penguin Special, Slattery traces the radicalism of classical Epicurean thought, and its popularity despite political suppression. Along the way, he tours the archaeological sites of the ancient village of Oinoanda in Turkey and the Villa of the Papyri, buried along with Pompeii, with its ancient library of petrified scrolls. Might some of this treasure's fragments, painstakingly restored, reveal answers to the big questions faced in the twenty-first century?
While violent revolution and social upheaval rocked Europe, far away in New South Wales, Governor Lachlan Macquarie was sowing the seeds for the Australian idea of the 'fair go'. Macquarie was a reformer and an emancipator. He believed that a person's worth – be they gentry, infantry or convict – lay in what they were capable of doing, not what they had done in the past. He freed the brilliant, mercurial convict Francis Greenway and appointed him government architect for the buildings that would shape a new nation. But to the Tory British government of 1820, Macquarie and Greenway's unconventional alliance threatened NSW's very legitimacy as a penal colony. Here Luke Slattery breathes dramatic life into Australia's first political dismissal and, along the way, maps Macquarie and Greenway's bold collaborations and extraordinary architectural – and cultural – legacy. 'Short and snappy . . . It is exciting to see a writer of Slattery's quality take on the the extraordinary history of colonial Australia with such zest and conviction and present it, properly, as a story with universal human meaning . . . [a] fierce little book.' Sydney Morning Herald 'A riveting read.' Courier-Mail
The early 1970s in South Africa were a time of economic boom, political repression, growing isolation and an unshakeable confidence that the Springboks were the best rugby team in the world - until the infamous 1974 British Lions tour. It was a tour in which a group of talented and long-haired rugby players from the British Isles played, sang and drank their way across the country, beating the Springboks 3-0 in the four Tests, with the last one a dubious draw. Until then the Lions hadn’t beaten South Africa at home in 78 years. Based on original research and interviews with players on both sides, When the Lions Came to Town vividly recreates a tumultuous rugby tour that sent shockwaves through South Africa. It captures a bygone era, a time before television, a golden age of amateurism, pranks and setting hotel rooms alight – as the Lions did after winning the series in PE. Insightful, provocative and frequently amusing, When the Lions Came to Town casts a fresh eye on a divisive but undeniably colourful period in South African political, social and sporting history.
From one of Australia's foremost journalists, Luke Slattery, comes a rich, intense novel of desire and dashed dreams, and one passionate, unforgettable woman - Elizabeth Macquarie. 'A richly evocative piece of historical fiction...beautifully written.' Good Weekend Elizabeth Macquarie, widow of the disgraced former Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, is in mourning - not only for her husband, but the loss of their shared dream to transform the penal colony into a bright new world. Over the course of one long sleepless night on the windswept isle of Mull, she remembers her life in that wild and strange country; a revolution of ideas as dramatic as any in history; and her dangerous alliance with the brilliant, mercurial Francis Greenway, the colony's maverick architect. A stirring, provocative and thrilling novel of passion, ideas, reforming zeal and desire. 'Moving, intricate novel ... Every love story has at its heart a vision of inherent human worth in the beloved; Slattery's achievement is to render, subtly and powerfully both a human love story, and a love story to the nation.' Anna Funder, author of All That I Am 'A remarkable early 19th century heroine comes alive for us in this story: we share Mrs M.'s thoughts and feelings in almost uncanny fashion. Luke Slattery's debut sets new standards for the Australian historical novel.' Nicolas Rothwell 'A richly evocative piece of historical fiction...beautifully written.' Good Weekend 'It is, at its core, the story of Slattery's most extraordinary creation: Mrs M, whose real-world counterpart was the wife of Lachlan Macquarie, fifth governor of the colony of New South Wales (1810-21). ... There is a kind of clarion certainty to her ... I think readers will be swept up by this creation. The narrative would grab me with moments of exquisite cadence and perfect emotional truth ... Told in Elizabeth's voice, and seen through her eyes, the sensuous descriptions of her Scotland and her Sydney - as well as her own inner world - rise off the page with a poet's perfect pitch.' The Australian 'Saul Bellow says somewhere that in fiction sentences should be 'charged' - something should quietly beat through them. When one begins reading this is what you should listen for - imaginative confidence, a sense of sureness. This applies to historical fiction as much as any other. You don't ask, 'Is this true to history?' You ask 'Is this true to itself?' Luke Slattery's Mrs M is imaginatively true from beginning to end.' Barry Oakley
In this and every age, the church desperately needs prophecy. It needs the bold proclamation of God’s transforming vision to challenge its very human tendency toward expediency and self-interest — to jolt it into new insight and energy. For Luke Timothy Johnson, the New Testament books Luke and Acts provide that much-needed jolt to conventional norms. To read Luke-Acts as a literary unit, he says, is to uncover a startling prophetic vision of Jesus and the church — and an ongoing call for today’s church to embody and proclaim God’s vision for the world.
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