The Youngest Son

by John Byrnes

An epic saga of brotherhood, betrayal and revenge.

On the unforgiving streets of 1920s Sydney, the Leach family have nothing but each other.

In a tale spanning decades, three children of the broken, working-class family find adventure, heartache and trouble, as their lives drift apart.

John finds faith and love at a young age. The inevitable clash between the two leads him into a different kind of brotherhood as war clouds gather.

Maureen dreams of a life 'just like the movies' and waits to be swept off her feet. Yet at every crossroad, she makes the wrong choice.

Bob discovers a natural talent with his fists and an instinct for trouble. But with every win he earns the hard way, more enemies rise.

From police corruption and gambling dens to brothels and blood feuds, the Leach family toil in Sydney's seedy underbelly and on battlefields far away. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the Second World War, The Youngest Son chronicles one family's mesmerising fate in a grand saga and a masterclass in epic storytelling.

Genres: Historical Fiction

413 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 30, 2024

About the author

Born in Sydney, John moved to Mid North Coast of New South Wales with his wife and three children in 2012. He has a broad range of life experience having spent time in the Australian Army, worked fishing trawlers out of Darwin, worked bars and doors in pubs and clubs all over Australia, and somehow ended up with an Economics Degree. He started writing in 2015 and has a fascination with the darker aspects of the human condition; the addicted, the malevolent, the scarred. He cheers for the outsider, the slacker, the contrarian, the non-conformist.

When he is not writing or pondering the darkness within men's souls he works part-time in financial services.

Reviews

[Veronica ⭐️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Youngest Son is an epic tale that follows the lives of three siblings growing up during the great depression and spans the years 1929 to 1943 encompassing events of WWII in Tobruk and New Guinea.

John Byrnes has brought the streets of 1930's Sydney to life. The Leach family lived in Ultimo (The Mo) where most people were poor and desperately trying to keep a roof over their head. Evictions were rife and the common man was fighting back with picketing and riots. Prostitution, street fighting, illegal gambling, drugs and crime were an everyday part of life.

John, the eldest Leach sibling, had visions of attending University and then joining the priesthood. He had great empathy for the underdog and felt he had his life plan in order.
Maureen wanted more out of life than what her mother had settled for. Maureen had stars in her eyes and wanted the glamorous life of the women she read about in magazines.
Bob, the youngest Leach, learnt early on that his fists talked louder than words. Him and his friends start out as petty criminals but soon find themselves mixing with the big boys of crime in Sydney's shady underbelly.

The Youngest Son is rich in flawed characters. I had great empathy for the Leach siblings, they were all very naive, made bad decisions, couldn't control their emotions and when things went wrong they seemed to always react in a detrimental way.

I loved the Australian vernacular, the language and imagery of Sydney and surrounding suburbs was spot on. I was actually thinking at one point "yes, I know exactly where that factory is."

This is a gritty story which includes murder, scenes of war, drug use, sex scenes (these are more to add humour than spice) and profanities.

The Youngest Son is a captivating story of power, revenge, betrayal and family. A real page turner, once I started I didn't want the story to end.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

1929-1943: while Sydney struggled through the Great Depression and the Second World War the Leach siblings, John, Maureen and the youngest, Bob, each chose their own way to survive. John, quiet, studious and compassionate, completed his high school education and aspired to join the priesthood; Maureen was searching for something more glamorous and exciting than her mother’s kind of life, and young Bob realised that his ability with his fists could take him places.
John Byrnes brings Sydney to life at a critical time in its history. The Depression brought unimaginable poverty, and people living in Ultimo and surrounding suburbs were doing it tough, just trying to survive. John, Maureen and Bob’s lives are all very different, and alternating chapters bring to life their individual journeys through these difficult years. They each elicited sympathy and understanding from me as I watched them making their inevitable mistakes and trying to reach their goals which changed as their circumstances were constantly changing.

Poverty brought corruption, violence and hopelessness, and ordinary citizens suffering from the effects of the Great Depression bore the brunt of all those things. Racketeering, illegal gambling and prostitution were all part of the world in which John, Maureen and Bob were living. Then came the Second World War, and the story turns to Tobruk and Papua New Guinea, where the fight for survival took on a whole new dimension.

The Youngest Son will be of special interest to natives of Sydney and to all lovers of historical fiction.

Published by Pan Macmillan

[Karen Bartlett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story set in Sydney from the late 1920's to the years of WW2 . The Leach siblings, John, Maureen and Bob are being raised by their working class widowed mum, her husband having been apparently killed in the war.
As the children grow up they drift in different directions and their lives take very different paths.
John, having always been a caring and thoughtful child, finds solace in his faith and joins the brotherhood, longing to become a priest.
Maureen seems to have her head in the clouds and is very strong-willed, and before long she has left home and finds herself caught up in Sydney's seedy world of drugs and prostitution.
Young Bob finds that he can handle himself very well in a fist fight, and is soon one of the main players in the gang warfare scene that controls Sydney at the time.
Full of fighting, corruption, betrayal and heartache, this was a really great story with well crafted characters that I loved.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading this book, since I purchased it from my local book store in a shopping centre.

This is a good book, as is Byrnes' other book, Headland. He speaks about the floods in 2022 in Headland, which there were really scary flooding making headlines in the Australian news where I live, and happens to be in a mysterious and chaotic oceanic traumatic time.

The Youngest Son has a cover with John standing on a bridge or pavement path, overlooking the Harbour Bridge in Sydney, in the Great Depression era. John is facing my bookshelf, as he looks out the world through the glass window. The backdrop reminds me a bit of Peaky Blinders.

It speaks about the rough-and-tumble and gentleness and quizzical landscape of Sydney - like the Red Keep and King's Landing of Game of Thrones. It explores popular and lesser known places, and the characters' journey throughout. Popular includes the bustling city, with the famous bridge, and lesser known or more suburban / 'dangerous' being Chullora or Blacktown. The bridge and the opera house and water surrounding see events of celebration of hope and happiness, like fireworks, ferry rides, concerts, and festivals. Many interesting things happen in Chullora, including me remembering I went to primary school there (a bad experience with cruel bullying, with people chasing me around and me hiding in the bathroom, and my 'friends' bullying me not to be shy). With Blacktown, I have beautiful memories of hanging out with my friends, and writing for their newspaper, although contrasted with weird stories, like my friend saying there was someone who got punched in the bus, and no-one blinked an eye.

The Youngest Son talks and branches out to John -- and his various counterparts / siblings, Maureen and Bob, dealing with life, and being brave to reach out through and after trauma, walking through the streets of Sydney. They are just trying to make a living, working through and breathing and being in their community.

[Vivi Widodo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded to 4

A story of three children - John, Maureen, and Bob - sets in Sydney with timeline spanning from 1929 to 1942. They are coming from a broken working class family, and each of them had their own dream, headed to their own adventure, faced their failure while their relationship drifted apart.

John tried his best to be a good one, joined brotherhood to be a priest, but a misfortunate led his way to the horror of WW II.
Maureen tried to gain a glamourous life and fell in love with the wrong person, which led her to the prostitution.
Bob found his career through his fist, through the winning of street fight gambling, and lived in Sydney's underbelly mafia.

It's a slow burn story yet addictive and enjoyable read. You'll get a mixture of emotions throughout the book while following their up and down in each MC's adventure.

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first by this author and I enjoyed it.

[Ruth Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really my kind of book, but this one is well written and I wanted to keep going once I had started.

[Amy Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book
Highly recommend

[Gay Harding · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just over the early Australian larrikins Not in the mood.

[Susan Toovey]

7.5

[Eve · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE YOUNGEST SON by John Byrnes
Paperback edition 2024 Pan Macmillan

Gather ‘round people, let me tell you a story ...a 15 year long saga of brotherhood and betrayal, hot-headed operators and vengeance - served burning cold and in your face as it should be.

The genre would be Australian historical crime fiction I guess, but it’s also a coming-of-age wartime romance peppered with dark humour and keen observations of the human condition. Yep, this epic has it all. The captivating plot is rich but not surfeiting – skilful storytelling and careful structuring lets readers get their heads and hearts all the way around it. The result is phenomenally good.

The book consists of six parts (plus epilogue) which convey the storyline in chronological order – from 1929 through to 1944. Each of the 93 chapters are simply sub-titled with the relevant character POV. Part I is primarily an introduction to the Leach family and their background – they’re amongst a large cast of characters drawn so authentically they may as well be real.
The remaining action takes place amidst WWII.

This novel is an insightful examination of family dynamics and socio-economic dysfunction; and of the interplay (for better or worse) of nature and nurture; of how people are at least in part a product of their environment and experience, some more than others. Setting is deftly interwoven with the narrative and written in such a way that it’s like the author was actually there. We’re spared the ardour of getting bogged down in lengthy descriptive passages, however details about Sydney during the Great Depression; of foreign battlefields; and of wars fought away and at home are still conveyed intricately well.

When you’re telling a tale as big as this one, words are expensive – and John has chosen them carefully. Narration has a slightly conversational yet stoic style, tone is spot-on, and dialogue carries character voices perfectly. Nuanced phrases and allusion are employed to great effect.
That said, I like how things aren’t dumbed down for the reader, and not much is sugar-coated. By the way, if you’re averse to the f-bomb and other realities, maybe give it a miss…but why would you want to?.. 'The Youngest Son’ is a fine work of literary fiction.

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opening in Ultimo in 1920s Sydney, this is the story of the three Leach siblings: John, Maureen and Bob. They are the children of a single mother, and their stories unfold between 1929 and 1944. John wanted to attend University. If he could obtain a scholarship, his objective was to be a priest in the Catholic Church. Maureen wants to be swept off her feet, while Bob uses his strength to obtain power. Different life choices lead each of them in different directions and John and Maureen in particular face difficulties.

Each sibling’s story unfolds in Sydney’s seedy underbelly against the backdrop of the Great Depression and World War II: John is betrayed by a priest whom he admired and wished to emulate. Maureen’s partner, Vince, forces her into prostitution which is accompanied by drug addiction and abuse. Bob is swept up into a life of crime and is under threat from enemies he accrues along the way.

Once I started reading, I found it difficult to stop. Mr Byrnes captures the hard grind of life for Sydney’s working-class poor. He also captures the corruption, the violence, the opportunism and the blood feuds of gang warfare. Each of the three siblings is revealed to the reader complete with flaws and strengths. Each has battles to fight.

Perhaps this story was focussed on the youngest son (Bob) but it was John for whom I felt the most sympathy. Why? You’ll need to read the book for yourself to find out.

Gritty. Recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Unseen Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of The Youngest Son from Pan Macmillan Australia to review.

Rating of 4.25.

Rising Australian author John Byrnes dives into a new genre with the fascinating and compelling historical fiction novel, The Youngest Son, which focuses an exciting and moving narrative around one damaged family.

The Youngest Son was a fast-paced and addictive novel that cleverly followed the youngest members of a disadvantaged working class 1920s Sydney family through the highs and lows of early 20th century Australian history. Byrnes, who really impressed me last year with his first novel, the gripping modern thriller Headland (one of my favourite debuts of 2023), did an outstanding job diving into the historical fiction genre, and I enjoyed the excellent and personal story that emerged.

The plot of The Youngest Son works very well, as Byrnes follows the varied lives of the three Leach children, John, Maureen and Bob, as well as a raft of other entertaining and complex characters. Starting in the 1920s and continuing towards the end of World War II, The Youngest Son’s narrative splits between each of these primary characters and follows the highs and lows of their lives. This includes the criminal activities of the youngest son, Bob, whose career fighting for Sydney’s criminal underbelly leads him into trouble time and time again. The oldest son, John, attempts to live a good life and join the church, but misfortune and deceit instead lead him towards the horrors of war. Finally, the daughter of the Leach family, Maureen, tries to find the excitement and glamour missing from her working-class life, but finds only heartbreak and bad decisions as she is constantly led along the wrong path in life. Each of these characters experience conflict, betrayal, and tragedy as they attempt to find their way in life, and it helps produce one hell of a story.

I really enjoy historical fiction books that follow the lives of multiple characters as they follow their own path amid the backdrop of real-life history, and it is a format that has served many authors, such as Ken Follett, Jeffrey Archer and Peter Watt extremely well over the years. Byrnes is another great author who perfectly utilised this story telling method, and I had a lot of fun getting to know the Leach family and their various friends and associates. The author pulls together a great layered narrative, and I loved the mixture of story elements that emerged, including personal stories of self-discovery, a gritty war narrative, and a continued dive into the criminal underbelly of Sydney during the 1930s and 40s. While all these major storylines are great in their own way, I personally found myself drawn more to Bob’s narrative, mainly because his dangerous dive into the world of underground boxing is full of excitement and action.

Each of the three main protagonists have intriguing journeys in their respective chapters, and I deeply enjoyed where each of their specific storylines go. All their story arcs have a great mixture of success, tragedy and self-discovery, and you grow attached to all of them as a result. The storylines also blend into a fantastic major narrative, and while for the most part they are kept separate from each other, they play off each other well, ensuring that readers get a good mixture of emotions and different experiences, as well as alternating character highs and lows. Byrnes also makes excellent use of the 1930s and 40s background setting throughout The Youngest Son, and the author ensures each character’s story cleverly evolves to face the various changes occurring around Sydney. The entire narrative goes in some interesting directions, and you willingly follow these characters wherever they end up, even if that leads you even deeper into tragedy.

While the three main characters are all entertaining in their own ways, I felt that the fourth perspective character Byrnes added in really helped to make The Youngest Son especially special. This fourth character is the villainous Vince, a cowardly street thug who makes a big impact on the Leach family’s lives in different ways. Vince proves to be a great recurring antagonist, and his slimy story of success blends in well with the alternating fortunes of the Leach children while also providing some real entertainment value. You really cannot help but dislike Vince as he succeeds, but you really can’t look away as he succeeds, especially as his various dastardly and snivelling interactions with the other characters, primarily Bob and Maureen, prove to be excellent bridges between these protagonist’s respective storylines. I really appreciate how Byrnes wove the story of Vince amongst the other major narrative threads of The Youngest Son, and the use of the excellent antagonist continuously moves the plot in the best direction, including with the big finale.

Overall, I felt that this was a great book from John Byrnes, who created an amazing and captivating novel with The Youngest Son. A slick and easy-to-read novel with some real heart that makes excellent use of its impressive character-driven narrative, historical setting, and engaging protagonists, The Youngest Son is an awesome book to get lost in, and it was fantastic to see how Byrnes has grown as an author.

An abridged review of this book also ran in the Canberra Weekly on 5 September 2024:
https://unseenlibrary.com/2024/12/17/...

For other exciting reviews and content, check out my blog at:
https://unseenlibrary.com/

[Marissa Dominic · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Youngest Son by John Byrnes was a book that had me on the edge of my seat, while I was filled with anticipation, shock, sadness, happiness and contemplation. This book follows the lives of 3 siblings, who grow up on the unforgiving and dangerous streets of lower-class Sydney, where relationships are tested, knives of betrayal are stabbed and talents are found. Each character in this book, including the main antagonist, Vince, has their storyline and perspective, making it easy to feel a personal connection and dive head-first into the thoughts of each mind. This book dives into deep issues, such as prostitution, drug addictions, domestic violence, and suicide yet also shows the forgiving bond of family and friends. Maureen, John and Bob Leach are three siblings struggling, suffering and hoping for a better life as they each push through different, suspenseful experiences that shape their lives forever..

John Byrne is an exceptional writer, who brought me to tears as I continued to read this book. He portrayed each character's emotions beautifully, adding to the suspenseful, unpredictable plot. John made it easy to fall in love with each sibling, especially Bob Leach who the book is named after. Bob was my favourite character, a strong-minded, street-fighter, who eventually found his purpose. I also felt great affection towards John Leach, a once faithful golden child who was betrayed and had to rebuild his life, leading to a great sacrifice at the end that caused tears to fall down my cheeks.

Before The Youngest Son, I was struggling to find a good book to read and was losing my interest in reading. As soon as I picked this book up, I couldn't put it down, and I thank John Byrnes for creating such a beautiful book. The Youngest Son reignited my love for reading and made me feel inspired and loved by the emotional plot line. I've never felt such affection towards a book, a plot, and beautiful characters, but The Youngest Son changed that for me greatly.

Please do yourself a favour and give this book a go, you absolutely will not regret it. From betrayal, revenge, brotherhood and family, The Youngest Son is a book that truly changed the game.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel set in my hometown Sydney always adds something as I am familiar with the locations.
I was thoroughly engrossed when reading this family saga.
Parody: a criminal's devotion to catholicism ??????

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The historical background is interesting and some of the places mentioned. The story is a bit one dimensional