The Tyrant's Novel - Tapa blanda

You won't put it down * Courier Mail * It shows why Australia needs writers such as Keneally more than ever before. * Melbourne Age * This crisp, smart new novel - his most accomplished recent work - is particularly timely...Keneally, a consummate storyteller, particularly in recent years, has often relied on tight, suspenseful plots to articulate his concerns. That skill is fully evident in this new book. For that reason, I do not wish to spoil the pleasure many readers will experience as they follow the twists and turns of a tale told with an appealing economy * Andrew Riemer, Sydney Morning Herald * Remarkable ... Here is Keneally at his polemic best and fairest ... it rings - or tolls - like a bell. * Adelaide Advertiser * Brutal, chilling and moving ... This is thrilling stuff * The Australian * Light, relevant, snappy, well paced, subtly structured, unlaboured and interestingly shaded. It has political credentials but wears them lightly, serious characters but sketches them with humour ... And the details aren't extrapolations from current events - they are current events. Just in case you happened to have forgotten. * Jim Flint (author of HABITAS), Zembla *

Imagine a Middle-Eastern country that was once a friend of the West becoming an enemy, its people starving and savagely repressed by a tyrant known as Great Uncle. As a celebrated writer and war hero, the man who here relates his story has a better life than most, until he is made an offer he can't refuse. He must write a great novel, telling of the suffering of his people under the enemy's cruel economic sanctions and portraying Great Uncle as their saviour. This masterpiece must be completed in time for its international debut in three months - or else. If the writer cannot - or will not - meet the tyrant's deadline, he and anyone he cares for will pay the ultimate price. Stark, terrifying and utterly compelling, THE TYRANT'S NOVEL is both a gripping thriller and a chilling glimpse of a fictional world that seems all too real.