{"product_id":"9781921961434","title":"This House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner, Ned Kelly Awards, Best True Crime, 2015 \u003cbr\u003e A \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e Book of the Year, 2014\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOn 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.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn 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 for the purpose of bearing witness to the truth, players in the extraordinary and unpredictable drama of the quest for justice.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis House of Grief \u003c\/i\u003eis a heartbreaking and unputdownable book by one of Australia’s most admired writers.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHelen Garner’\u003c\/b\u003es first novel, \u003ci\u003eMonkey Grip \u003c\/i\u003ewon the 1978 National Book Council Award, and was adapted for film in 1981. Since then she has published novels, short stories, essays, and feature journalism. In 1995 she published \u003ci\u003eThe First Stone\u003c\/i\u003e, a controversial account of a Melbourne University sexual harassment case. \u003ci\u003eJoe Cinque's Consolation\u003c\/i\u003e (2004) was a non-fiction study of two murder trials in Canberra. In 2006 Helen Garner received the inaugural Melbourne Prize for Literature. Her most recent novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Spare Room\u003c\/i\u003e (2008), won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Queensland Premier’s Award for Fiction and the Barbara Jefferis Award, and has been translated into many languages. Helen Garner lives in Melbourne.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e‘\u003ci\u003eThis House of Grief \u003c\/i\u003e(Text) is a gripping account of a murder trial in which few of the participants act and react in ways we might predict. It’s an examination not just of what happened, but also of what we prefer to believe and what we cannot face believing.’ Julian Barnes, Books of the Year, \u003ci\u003eTLS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘\u003ci\u003eThis House of Grief \u003c\/i\u003emakes 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 \u003ci\u003eThe First Stone\u003c\/i\u003e, 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, \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e‘Helen Garner’s account of the trial is a non-literary variation of Truman Capote’s \u003ci\u003eIn Cold Blood\u003c\/i\u003e (1966).’ Eileen Battersby, Books of the Year, \u003ci\u003eIrish Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e‘Helen Garner is an invaluable guide into harrowing territory and offers powerful and unforgettable insights. \u003ci\u003eThis House of Grief\u003c\/i\u003e, in its restraint and control, bears comparison with \u003ci\u003eIn Cold Blood\u003c\/i\u003e.’ Kate Atkinson\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e‘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.’ \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e‘\u003ci\u003eThis House of Grief \u003c\/i\u003eis a magnificent book about the majesty of the law and the terrible matter of the human heart...If you read nothing else this year, read this story of the sorrow and pity of innocents drowned and the spectres and enigmas of guilt.’ Peter Craven, \u003ci\u003eWeekend Australian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e‘[Garner] has turned a courtroom drama into something deeply human.’ Jennifer Byrne, \u003ci\u003eAustralian Women’s Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e‘It grabbed me by the throat in the same way that the podcast series “Serial” did. Ms. Garner brilliantly and compassionately recounts the harrowing, real-life trial of Robert Farquharson.’ Gillian Anderson, \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, Books of the Year 2015\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Text Publishing Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47158626058480,"sku":"9781921961434","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781921961434_p0.jpg?v=1763632003","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781921961434","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}