ONE OF THE GUARDIAN ''S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY '' This House of Grief , in its restraint and control, bears comparison with In Cold Blood '' KATE ATKINSON On the evening of Father''s Day, 2005, separated husband Robert Farquharson was driving his three young sons back to their mother''s house when the car veered off 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 a national obsession - a macabre parade of witnesses, family members, and the defendant himself, each forced to relive the unthinkable for an audience of millions. Helen Garner followed it on its protracted course until the final verdict. This House of Grief tells the definitive and deeply absorbing story of it all, from crash to final verdict. Through a panoply of perspectives, including Garner''s own as a member of the public, she captures the exacting procedure and brutal spectacle of Australia''s criminal justice system. The result is a richly textured portrait - of a man and his broken life, of a community wracked by tragedy, and of the long and torturous road to closure. Brisk, candid, and never dismissive of its flawed subjects, This House of Grief is a masterwork of literary journalism and a true-crime classic, from one of Australia''s greatest writers. A W&N Essential

Vorwort
The engrossing true-crime classic that follows a man and his broken life, a community wracked by tragedy, and the long and torturous road to closure

Autorentext

Helen Garner was born in Geelong in 1942. She worked as a high school teacher, then as a freelance journalist. Since 1977 she has published novels, stories, screenplays and works of non-fiction. She is the winner of the 2006 inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature, the 2016 Windham-Campbell Literature Prize for Non-fiction, the 2019 Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature and the 2023 Australian Society of Authors Medal. Her books include This House of Grief, Monkey Grip and The Children's Bach.

Klappentext

Dua Lipa's Book Club Pick for August 2025
One of the Guardian's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

'A true-crime classic and literary masterpiece' ANNE ENRIGHT
'Bears comparison with In Cold Blood' KATE ATKINSON
'It grabbed me by the throat' GILLIAN ANDERSON
'Sharp and forensic' DUA LIPA

Father's Day, 2005. Just after nightfall, a discarded husband was driving his three young sons back to their mother's house.

On that dark country road, barely five minutes from home, the old white car swerved off the highway and plunged into a dam. The father freed himself and swam to the bank, but the car sank to the bottom, and all the children drowned.

The court case that followed became Helen Garner's obsession, one that would take over her life until its final verdict.

The resulting book, This House of Grief, is a true crime classic and literary masterpiece, which examines just what we are capable of and how fiercely we hide it from ourselves.

A W&N Essential with an introduction by Rachel Cooke