This House of Grief
The Story of a Murder Trial
- Auteur: Helen Garner (Australië)
- Soort boek: true crime boek uit 2014
- Taal: Engels
- Eerste editie: Text Publishing
- Uitgever: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
- Omvang: 320 pagina’s
- Verschijnt: 14 maart 2024
- Uitgave: paperback / ebook
- Prijs: £ 9,99
- Waardering redactie: ∗∗∗∗∗ (uitstekend)
- Boek bestellen bij: Amazon / Bol / Libris
Helen Garner This House of Grief recensie en review
- “This House of Grief makes its complexity out of an honest vulnerability…Garner’s book is superbly alive to the narrative dynamics of the case; she tells a grim story of unhappy marriage, limited social opportunity, bitter divorce, and spousal grievance. Again, as in The First Stone, what consumes her are the difficult questions that seem to lie beyond the reach of formal narration: the deepest assumptions of class and gender and power; the problem of how well we ever understand someone else’s motives…Attracted and repelled, Garner circles around the unspeakable abysmal horror. Can any story “explain” why a man might murder his children? She doesn’t pretend to possess the explosive answer, and frequently confesses stupefaction, but her book walks us along an engrossing and plausible narrative fuse…Her narrative is lit by lightning.” (James Wood, New Yorker)
- “Helen Garner is an invaluable guide into harrowing territory and offers powerful and unforgettable insights. This House of Grief, in its restraint and control, bears comparison with In Cold Blood.” (Kate Atkinson)
- “In This House of Grief, Helen Garner describes with wonderful subtlety and honesty the trail of a man accused of drowning his three sons; she is fascinated by what we’re capable of and how fiercely we hide it from ourselves.” (Helen Simpson, Times Literary Supplement)
- “As involving, heart-rending and unsettling a read as you could possibly find, a true-life account of three deaths and a trial that leaves you with a profound sense of unease as its drama unfolds, and disturbing questions about how we judge guilt and innocence…Tailor-made for those who have gorged recently on the popular true-crime podcast Serial.” (The Times)
Flaptekst van het true crime boek van de Australische schrijfster Helen Garner
Anyone can see the place where the children died. You take the Princes Highway past Geelong, and keep going west in the direction of Colac. Late in August 2006, soon after I had watched a magistrate commit Robert Farquharson to stand trial before a jury on three charges of murder, I headed out that way on a Sunday morning, across the great volcanic plain.
On the evening of 4 September 2005, Father’s Day, Robert Farquharson, a separated husband, was driving his three sons home to their mother, Cindy, when his car left the road and plunged into a dam. The boys, aged ten, seven and two, drowned. Was this an act of revenge or a tragic accident? The court case became Helen Garner’s obsession. She followed it on its protracted course until the final verdict.
In this utterly compelling book, Helen Garner tells the story of a man and his broken life. She presents the theatre of the courtroom with its actors and audience – all gathered to witness to the truth – players in the extraordinary and unpredictable drama of the quest for justice.
This House of Grief is a heartbreaking and unputdownable book by one of Australia’s most admired writers.
Helen Garner is born 7 November 1942 in Geelong, Victoria,
Australia. She writes novels, stories, screenplays and works of non-
fiction. In 2006 she received the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature, and in 2016 she won the prestigious Windham–Campbell Prize for non-fiction. She was honoured with the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature in 2019. And in 2023 she was awarded the ASA Medal for her outstanding contribution to Australian literature. Her works include five novels Monkey Grip, Moving Out, The Children’s Bach, The First Stone, Cosmo Cosmolino and The Spare Room. She also wrote non fiction books like This House of Grief, The Season and three volumes of her diaries. Garner lives in Melbourne.