By Rosanna Stevens
Australian Tragic: Gripping Tales From The Dark Side Of Our History
Jack Marx has delved into thirty periods of Australian history, pulling from the years new perspectives, and untold tales. For those who enjoy tales of horror and mystery, imbued with a touch of historicity, this book provides an entertaining collection of short stories, which reshape our iconographic, post-colonial past. Marx’s final story, A Howl In The Night, is a particularly sad and disgusting piece of our past, told with an emotivity that brings the reader to tears.
At times, the descriptions and narrative tends to read over-emotionally, with a confusingly saddened-yet-sinister omniscience that encouraged me to put down the book on several occasions. The stories within this book however, are well collected, smoothly told, and unnervingly and deliberately ambiguous in their conclusions. Consequently, Australian Tragic is a truly haunting book.
Australian Tragic (Hachette Australia) is out now.
Image credit (front page) Annie Griffiths Belt