Hawke: The Early Years

by Blanche d'Alpuget

Considered a giant killer to unionists and a crypto-Communist to some employers, Robert James Lee Hawke is one of the great men of Australian government. An intimate portrait, this account reveals how the son of devout Christian parents was reared to public duty and to the ambition of political leadership. It details Hawke’s many achievements—as president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions as well as of the Australian Labor Party—and demonstrates how an extraordinary man struggled to overcome his drinking and philandering in order to rise to the highest office in Australia.

Genres: Biography, Australia

688 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Blanche d’Alpuget has returned to fiction with the publication of ‘The Young Lion’, the first novel in a compelling new series about the House of Plantagenet, the mightiest royal dynasty in English history.

An acclaimed novelist, biographer and essayist Blanche has won numerous literary awards including the prestigious Australasian Prize for Commonwealth Literature in 1987. Her previous novels include Monkeys in the Dark (1980); Turtle Beach (1981) which won the Age book award in 1981; Winter in Jerusalem (1986) and White Eye (1993). Turtle Beach became a successful feature film in 1992 and all her novels have been translated into other languages. Her non-fiction books include Mediator: a biography of Sir Richard Kirby (1977) and Robert J Hawke: a biography (1982). Her essays include Lust (1993) and On Longing (2008).