This House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial

by Helen Garner, Sarah Weinman (introduction)

Anyone can see the place where the children died. You take the Princes Highway past Geelong, and keep going west in the direction of Colac. Late in August 2006, soon after I had watched a magistrate commit Robert Farquharson to stand trial before a jury on three charges of murder, I headed out that way on a Sunday morning, across the great volcanic plain.

On 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.

In 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.

This House of Grief is a heartbreaking and unputdownable book by one of Australia's most admired writers.

Helen Garner's first novel, Monkey Grip won 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 The First Stone, a controversial account of a Melbourne University sexual harassment case. Joe Cinque's Consolation (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, The Spare Room (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.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime, Australia, Mystery, Book Club, Audiobook

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 2014

About the author

Helen Garner was born in Geelong in 1942. She has published many works of fiction including Monkey Grip, Cosmo Cosmolino and The Children's Bach. Her fiction has won numerous awards. She is also one of Australia's most respected non-fiction writers, and received a Walkley Award for journalism in 1993.

Her most recent books are The First Stone, True Stories, My Hard Heart, The Feel of Stone and Joe Cinque's Consolation. In 2006 she won the Melbourne Prize for Literature. She lives in Melbourne.

Praise for Helen Garner's work

'Helen Garner is an extraordinarily good writer. There is not a paragraph, let alone a page, where she does not compel your attention.'
Bulletin

'She is outstanding in the accuracy of her observations, the intensity of passion...her radar-sure humour.'
Washington Post

'Garner has always had a mimic's ear for dialogue and an eye for unconscious symbolism, the clothes and gestures with which we give ourselves away.'
Peter Craven, Australian

'Helen Garner writes the best sentences in Australia.'
Ed Campion, Bulletin

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't even going to read this yet. It was for later. But once I picked it up, that was that.

This is about a murder trial in which a father was accused of drowning his three children. It was in Australia in 2005. His car left the road and drove straight into a dam and plunged down 30 feet. The three kids in the car died, the father survived.

In a case like this the whole thing turns on the state of mind of the father at that precise moment, 7 pm, 4th September, 2005.

A whole sad parade of ordinary people become principal actors in the court drama. One of the most appalling public ordeals, I suppose, that anyone now has to go through is cross-examination. You are postman, a mechanic, a farmer, a window cleaner, and because of where you were and what you saw at this one particular time you become the focus of the high-beam intensity laser-intelligence of a barrister who will try to tear you in pieces. Here’s how Helen Garner describes cross-examination of a woman who had remembered something very damaging to the defense.

The whole point is to make the witness’s story look shaky, to pepper the jury with doubt. So you get a grip on her basic observations, and you chop away and chop away, and squeeze and shout and pull her here and push her there, you cast aspersions on her memory and her good faith and her intelligence till you make her hesitate or stumble. She starts to feel self-conscious, then she gets an urge to add things and buttress and emphasise and maybe embroider, because she knows what she saw and she wants to be believed, but she’s not allowed to tell it her way. You’re in charge. All she can do is answer your questions. And then you slide away from the central thing she’s come forward with, and you try to catching her out with the peripheral stuff – “Did you see his chin?” – then she starts to get rattled, and you provoke her with a smart crack – “Are you sure it wasn’t a football?”… she tries to get back to the place she started from, where she really does remember seeing something and knows what she saw – but that place of certainty no longer exists because you’ve destroyed it.

Powerful stuff. There’s probably more human misery in this book than I can really recommend to the non-true crime fan, but if you can stand looking one single horrific act in the face for 300 pages, Helen Garner is the most precise and compassionate guide.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a big true crime reader but this one has been getting some good reviews. As with anything concerning the deaths of young children, this one was heartbreaking. Would a father, just to get back at his ex-wife, actually stage an accident to murder his children?

Rating a book such as this one is hard. What am I rating, the quality of the case? Doesn't seem right somehow. The only thing I can say is that this was clearly written, easy to understand the trial and the evidence. It was presented in as unemotional a way as is possible in such a case. Not an enjoyable read but it was interesting seeing how the case was put together and the thoughts of the writer as she witnesses this case that had such a terrible outcome.

ARC from publisher.

[PamG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fathers’ Day September 4, 2005 will be remembered by many in Australia as a tragic day. Robert Farquharson was returning his three sons to his estranged wife Cindy Gambino when his car left the road and plunged into water. Robert escaped, but Jai, Tyler, and Bailey did not.

This book describes Robert’s arrest for murder and the subsequent trials. The author attended the trials and the narrative is written in first person. Unfortunately, the writing style did not appeal to me. Despite this, I wanted to know what the result of the court proceedings would be.

The author shares her opinions and observations of the people and evidence presented. There is a large amount of information related to various aspects of the accident reconstruction as well as from various medical experts. Other threads running through the narrative include devastation, loss, grief, anxiety, distress, effects of marriage breakups, and much more.

Overall, the story is emotional, heartbreaking, and informative. Those who enjoy reading true crime books will likely greatly appreciate this one.

Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor – Pantheon and Helen Garner provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for October 10, 2023.

My 2.88 rounded to 3 stars review is coming soon.

[Bharath · Rating 4 out of 5]

This covers the tragic & intriguing case involving Rob Farquharson, which I had not known about. Helen Garner, followed and attended the trials in Australia.

Rob Farquharson was divorced from Cindy Gambino’s, who later married Stephen Moules. Moules was a contractor who did work for the family. Farquharson moved to his father's place a few blocks away after their separation. On the evening of Father’s Day, 2005, Rob was driving to his ex-wife Cindy's house to take their 3 boys (Jai, Tyler, Bailey) back to her. The car runs off a bridge, Rob survives, while the boys die. Rob claims he had an episode of coughing syncope (considered very rare) which caused him to lose consciousness momentarily and he found himself in water.

Rob is charged with killing his boys on purpose as revenge against his wife. The trial and a subsequent retrial involve witnesses and experts providing opinions based on his conduct, interaction with others and evidence on the scene.

Being a true crime story, I suppose many have heard of or known about the case (I did not though). Despite there being a good amount of public information, I will avoid discussing the evidence and verdict as that would a spoiler for those who do not know about it. I was a little surprised by the verdict considering the evidence presented.

The book does well to outline all key testimonies and evidence. The case itself is fascinating, though of course, extremely tragic. I found the narration to be very dry and felt the writing could have been better. Other than that, it would have been good to include some other perspectives on what common people and experts thought of the case and the verdict.

My rating: 3.5 / 5.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher Pantheon & the author for a free electronic review copy.

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘This House of Grief’ by Helen Garner is a truly sorrowful book, as one might imagine from the title. In 2005, on Father’s Day, in Winchelsea, Australia, Robert Farquharson drove off the road into a dam. He was able to exit the car safely, but his three young sons drown. Separated from his wife, Cindy Gambino, Farquharson had the children for the day, and was on the way to returning them to their mother. Purportedly suffering a syncopal episode caused by a coughing fit, Farquharson lost consciousness and control of the car. Garner writes of the Supreme Court of Victoria, where Farquharson’s trial takes place, “as a freelance journalist and curious citizen, I had spent many days, solitary and absorbed, in the courtrooms of that nineteenth-century pile in central Melbourne.” Garner follows the case, keeping notes, and witty observations of testimonies, defense and prosecuting lawyers, and body language of those involved. Questions abound. Did Farquharson plan to murder his children to get back at his wife who had gotten a new boyfriend? Was this really a horrific accident caused by the rare condition of cough syncope?

The truth is hard to pin down and Garner will show this as the lawyers question witnesses. Police evidence of tire prints, trajectory, whether there were steering inputs, how the bodies of the children appear, how Farquharson acted at the scene, the things he did immediately after, and following the incident, his relationship with his wife, his frame of mind in the weeks and months prior to the incident, and conversations taped by the police between Farquharson and his wife, and between Farquharson and a friend are all up for detailed inspection. The chapter about whether a car door can be opened after a car goes into the water had me online googling how to exit a submerged car. Someone, Farquharson? Or one of the boys had managed to unbuckle the youngest, a 2 year old. The other two boys had taken off their seatbelts. The driver's side door is open.

Garner paints a picture of the quest for truth, at times like a cast of actors participating in a theater play, and at times the earnest effort of a court of law. I love the cover picture of the three glasses of water, one for each of the boys. Garner writes,

“As he did every day, for the comfort of counsel, the tipstaff set out along the bar table several tall, clear plastic jugs of water. The eye rested with relief on those evenly spaced columns of purity.”

Getting to the truth isn’t easy, and sometimes, it may be impossible. An immersive experience to take in the courtroom drama as Garner presented it and a tantalizing puzzle of who did what and why, it was also a heartbreaking study of the dynamics of a destroyed family. It was more interesting to me because an acquaintance of my son and daughter-in-law was murdered along with her three children by the husband / father who then shot himself, committing suicide. I thought I might find some kind of answer in this book as to why something like that might happen. Those questions are probed, but not answered fully, not to my satisfaction at least, and I admit that might be an impossible task. Garner is a trustworthy and relatable observer. Sometimes, she cracks a little wry humor; it’s necessary. Recommended.

[Suz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous writer. I’ll review this next week. Can’t wait to see her in conversation at the end of the month. What a book.

Where is my review? I love this book. I recommended it to a student at work who got full essay marks. Where did it go…..

[Mish · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is nothing like sinking your teeth into a true crime. Is there.
But in this case, I honestly wish I were reading a crime of fiction then a real one, because the reality of the events, leading up and surrounding the death’s of three brave little boys is seriously beyond belief and outright distressing. And the memory is still fresh in the minds of Australians, and in particular Victorians who live and drive nearby the dam, trying get their head around this harrowing crime, wondering why and how it happened. Helen Garner was no exception – her unanswered questions became an obsession. And when it came for Robert Farquharson to go to trial – the father, accused of murdering his boy’s as an act of revenge on his estrange wife – Garner sat in every proceedings until the final, hoping for a explanation.

Do you think the story he told the police could be true – that he had a coughing fit and blacked out at the wheel? There is such a thing. It’s called cough syncope. The ex-wife swore at the committal hearing that he loved his boy’s. So? Since when has loving someone meant you would never want to kill them? She said it was a tragic accident – that he wouldn’t have hurt a hair on their heads.

Garner was my eyes and ears and this is as close as I’ve ever come to a real murder trial. Her meticulous attention to detail and picturesque imaging of the courthouse, portrayed in her elegant language is just immaculate. You can tell what a person is thinking by their body language and facial expression - a frown, tight lipped, a tugging of shirt collar – and Garner’s precise observation of the courtroom characters made it quite an absorbing read as you’re not swamped with so much of the factual details but getting an insight and gut feeling of the type of relationship between Farquharson and his family and the sway of the jurors during and after a witness testimony.

Garner didn’t give much indication on her views on whether she thought he was guilty or not, or whether a witness testimony was favourable but she had a daughter of a friend, Louise, sitting through the first trial with Garner, which she was very grateful and enjoying her company. Louise is an intellect young lady and her point of view was frank and direct. I really like Louise; she didn’t hold back in saying what she thought, and I could see myself nodding my head in agreement.

Peter Morrissey, Farquharson’s defense lawyer, would’ve been amazing to watch live. I got the impression that Garner was initially anxious and skeptical of Morrissey by his entrance; disheveled cloak and wig, and his blokey nature - whistling the Collingwood football anthem as he strolled in. But I had a feeling it change during the proceeding, when she had the opportunity to see him at work, I think she admired what Morrissey was trying to achieve. He’s a raging bull; persistent, intimidating and grilling with his cross-examination; that by the end, the witness would even doubt their own memory. He discredited a key witness to the prosecution in the second hearing; and in doing so there was a good chance of a non-guilty verdict in the second hearing. They bought in expert medical witnesses, all with numerous theories and diagnosis on Farquharson mental state and the cough syncope. A three-day intense questioning on the Major Collision report in reference to yellow paint markings to indicate tyre tracks – apparently there was an error, the marking didn’t seem to be in-line. Cunning tactic used by Morrissey to make the juror’s forget a previous statement, which made his client look bad. But instead they were so bored; they were drifting off to sleep.

The only time the courthouse was eerily quiet was the profound statement from the police diver; who dived into the dam to try and locate the car. She spoke to the court with her eyes shut and her arms outstretched - it was deep, it was dark, she couldn’t see a thing. When they lifted the car from the dam, it’s the image of the boy’s that will stay with me for a very long time.

So many holes, theories, contradicting statement in this case that I don’t think we’d ever know what really happened except Robert Farquharson. But obviously the jury saw something there to come back with a guilty verdict twice

[Li'l Owl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing! Truth is often stranger than fiction!

Once there was a hard-working bloke who lived in a small Victorian Country Town with his wife and their three young son's. One day out of the blue, his wife told him that she no longer was in love with him. She did not want to go on with the marriage. She asked him to move out. The kids would live with her, she said, and he could see them whenever he liked. The sad husband picked up his pillow and went to live with his widowed father, several streets away. But 10 months later, just after dark on a September evening in 2005, while the discarded husband was driving his sons back to their mother from a Father's Day outing, his old white Commodore swerved off the highway, barely five minutes from home, and plunged into a damn. He freed himself from the car and swam to the bank. The car sink to the bottom, and all the children drowned.

I saw it on the TV news. Night. Low foliage. Water misty and black. Blurred lights, a chopper. Men in hi-viz and helmets. Something very bad here. Something frightful. Oh Lord, let this be an accident.

*****************

This house of grief by Helen Gardner follows the trial of Robert Farquarharson, an estranged husband and father of three, whose car went off the road into a deep dam in Australia.
We get a unique look into the courtroom as the witnesses take the stand, the experts in their field testify, and the evidence is layed out. Gardner does an beautiful job of allowing the reader to experience the intimate atmosphere of the room throughout the proceedings. I was especially moved by her unaltered descriptions of the body language and facial expressions of everyone in the room, effortlessly giving the reader a crystal clear image of Robert Farquharson, his family, the reporters, the council, Judge, and members of the jury as they endured the lengthy trial. I, myself, had made up my mind early on concerning Robert Farquharson's guilt or innocence, only to question my decision as the trial progressed. This is a profound and moving experience.
It chilled me to the bone that Robert was even on trial— that he could have drowned his three boys on purpose. But, did he? Or was it an accident that he had no control over?
Truth is often stranger than fiction.
You decide.

[Eliza Genang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuckyeah this book.
My jury experience years ago got rid of any misty-eyed romanticism about the democracy of the jury or court system, it is clear that this system of ours is a highly imperfect compromise. This book is about the courts. And it is so well done. Neither schmaltzy nor hard-nosed. Intelligent, honest and important. I want to hear about these things in long form. I want diverse observers in the courts, bearing witness, telling the story. This is a good use of a writer's time and energy and she has done a good job.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2005 an event occurred that horrified all Australians. Robert Farquharson, estranged from his wife, was returning his three young sons, Jai, Tyler and Bailey, to their mother after an access visit on Father’s Day when his car swerved off the road, through a fence and across a paddock plunging his car into a seven metre deep dam. While he managed to escape and swim to safety his three children drowned. He claimed to have blacked out after a coughing fit and came to as the car was filling with water. Both he and his estranged wife asserted he loved his children and would never hurt them, let them kill them. However, the police were less convinced as several factors didn’t seem right, including the path travelled by the car and Farquharson’s behaviour during and after the accident and he was eventually charged with the murder.

Helen Garner sat through the entire six week trial in 2007 and then an appeal and retrial in 2010 hoping to learn the truth. Was this a dreadful accident or a horrific murder carried out as an act of revenge on his wife for dumping him and taking a new partner? Perhaps it was a planned murder/suicide but Farquharson failed to go through with killing himself? Perhaps it wasn’t premeditated at all but happened in an instant in a fit of rage? Throughout the trial Garner doesn’t take sides, she prevaricates between thinking this can’t have been an accident and feeling sorry for the sad, downtrodden man on trial.

While showing us the human faces of this trial, the accused and his estranged wife, their families, the witnesses, the lawyers and judges Garner takes us through the anatomy of a criminal trial. She carefully describes the way in which evidence is given by witnesses and picked apart by the lawyers with the microscopic examination of tiny details often taking up long stifling days. She further shows us the human side of the trial as she watches the unspoken interactions between the accused and his family, listens to the banter and opinions of the journalists and observes the jury’s response to the witnesses and evidence.

Did the jury make the right decision? You’ll have to read the book to see what you think. In the end however, no amount of punishment or retribution can make up for the death of three innocent young boys. As Garner herself concludes

”Every stranger grieves for them. Every stranger’s heart is broken. The children’s fate is our legitimate concern. They are ours to mourn. They belong to all of us now.”

[Britta Böhler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helen Garner's non fiction book tells the story of a real-life murder trial in Australia: a father accused of deliberately driving his car off a dam and killing his three young sons. The father on the other hands claims that it was an accident, that he passed out behind the wheel and lost control over the car.
Garner sits through the court-trial as a spectator and she gives a detailed account of all the witness statements & expert hearings. And although this was interesting to read I thought the book lacked deepth and reflection, e.g. about principles like the presumption of innocence, or regarding the presention of evidence and the way we - as the outsiders - judge and weigh that evidence. But maybe this is just my lawyer's brain talking...

[Nick Davies · Rating 2 out of 5]

My main problem with this book was that it took an interesting news story - that of an Australian man who drove his car into a reservoir killing his three sons inside, and the trial(s) which followed - and rendered it an unreadably long and convoluted read. Had it been a much shorter book dealing only with the facts relating to the crime and subsequent legal proceedings, this would've been a lot better. As it was, Garner's excessive focus on the minutiae of how every person in the courtroom looked and might have been feeling, plus irrelevant personal observations on how she felt as an author.. it made the book into something I was not interested in. The more factual style of true crime writing is much more to my tastes - this was reportage rendered flabby.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading about the death of children is never pleasant but to think of the death by drowning of these three young boys at the hand of their father is truly tragic and was a very devastating read. Helen Garner has once again captured the court room drama and described it so vividly and with an intensity that makes you feel you are right there in the court room experiencing the events as they unfold. This was such a tragic event with no one walking away unscathed. It affected everyone in Winchelsea and also in the greater community. As Garner herself implies in her book, we are all affected by the children's fate. We cannot help but be moved by what befell these children...this family.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What’s worse? – living with suspicions and various possibilities and never knowing the truth, or living with the truth of something too horrible to contemplate?”


When Helen Garner decides to faithfully follow the case of Rob Farquharson, -- an ordinary bloke, an unambitious “sook”, a hapless and bitter divorced husband, and an alleged murderer of his three young sons – she discovers that loss transcends a mere verdict of “guilty or innocent.”

She writes, “The only question they wanted to know was “Well? Did he do it? The least interesting question anyone could possibly ask.”

At its core, the case comes down to a simple question: did Farquharson suffer from cough syncope while driving – losing consciousness and driving his car, with his sons in the front and back seats into a watery grave? Or was this a heinous act of revenge against his wife, Cindy Gambino, who initiated the divorce and was now in love with another man?

The front-row intimacy of the trial – and the access to Garner’s private thoughts – provides the reader with a particularly chilling look into the twists and turns of a notorious Australian trial case. As the boundaries between journalist and participant begin to slip away, so does the reader’s own objectivity.

We want to believe very much that Farquharson – resplendent in his ordinariness – could never, ever, willfully kill his three sons, the youngest of whom is still feeding on breast milk. Evil deeds like that come from people who and psychopaths, and Farquharson presents himself as small, stumpy, and barely capable. And yet. And yet. The prosecutor’s depiction of him as angry, vengeful, and self-involved keeps becoming more real.

Ms. Gartner combines court dynamics, delicate legal points, flashbacks to an unbearably heartbreaking night, witness testimonies, and her own reactions together. The result is haunting and unforgettable, a true testimony to the power of literary journalism. I owe thanks to Pantheon Publishing and #NetGalley for enabling me to read this new edition of #ThisHouseofGrief.

[notgettingenough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why would you read a made up whodunit when Garner is writing these reflections on real cases? In her ruminations on, and observations of, human nature, she has the appropriate balance and sympathy, as well as empathy. It feels like she is calling it as it is, which is no easy task. It means to be involved, if only as observer, whilst being detached enough to admit and be inclusive of one's feelings, without their corrupting the job.

You might read this because it's a ripping good yarn, if a tragic one. Or because of the way it captures the small town Australia in which it is set, and the interactions between the people of that setting and the urban, sophisticated stage of the law with all its trappings.

On a more abstract level, an important theme is the nature of memory. The person accused of the murder of his three young boys comes out looking bad at a variety of levels. One is his entirely unconvincing attempts (if they are that) to explain what happened. Another, connected, is the way he behaved subsequent to having saved himself, while his children died. His behaviour convicted him.

Intellectually it is impossible to read his descriptions of what happened when he went into the dam and believe in him. But it brought to my mind a car crash I was in long ago.

rest here.

[Jülie ☼♄  · Rating 4 out of 5]

This House of Grief by Helen Garner

This story reads like a work of fiction, incredible...it makes me reflect on the absolute fragility of the human condition, and how, regardless of our culpability, things can radically change, in the blink of an eye...for better or for worse.
I find it quite disconcerting, to even for a moment, entertain the notion that in a flash moment of time, life can so drastically alter its direction, as to utterly and irrevocably change its course...and how, still regardless of actual culpability, our everyday behavior or persona prior to, and after events, can so influence the "perception" of culpability.
This truly gives food for thought on the way we present ourselves to the world at large on a daily basis.

So very many lives were permanently and tragically affected by the actions [conscious or otherwise] of one man, on the 4th September 2005...Father's Day. When, after an access visit and returning the children home to their mother in the light of early evening, Robert Farquharson, at the wheel of his old car, and with his three children as passengers, veered from his side of the road and travelled across the opposite side, through a paddock, and fence and plunged the car into a seven metres deep dam of murky dark water, where he miraculously escaped moments later, physically unscathed, and without his children.
What happens next is just too incredible to contemplate and is just the beginning of a very long and unbelievable account of this man's reasoning, and the eventual outcome.

Regardless of the stated reasons, those three children were let down in so many ways by so many circumstances which were totally outside of their own control...they were innocent pawns, always victims, in a saga being played out involving so many supposed experts in their fields!
Who was looking out for their mental and physical welfare whilst their pathetic "father" sought out and received "professional" help from various sources, for his "trauma" regarding the breakdown of his marriage...as well as the loss of his precious and favoured car!?
Who was/is responsible enough to deem someone like that mentally worthy of access to those innocent children? Clearly not the professionals whose help he so availed himself of for an extremely lengthy period...and probably at a great monetary expense.
One thing is for certain, his first agenda was NOT the welfare of his children, it was always about him.
Yet, those three children were obliged by their very innocence, to put their faith and trust in their father and all of the adults who had some say in their collective fates...however minor, directly or indirectly.

There are so many things wrong with the way that this story was played out by the accused, his version of the events, both before, during and after.
There are so many things that weren't taken care of or considered beforehand, in the "natural" responsibility of a parent/parents in arranging the proper care of their children. Children who have no competent part in decision making where their livelihood is concerned, and who's every care is at the discretion or mercy, of their caretakers...real and imagined.

If this was a work of fiction I think it would be panned as being totally without credibility! Too ridiculous to be considered plausible, and yet as impossible as it is to believe, here it is, and three beautiful, innocent children were as lambs...

Wow...I am so floored by this story! I can't believe how no-one saw any flags or how vulnerable those three children were to the "possibility" of harm or anguish from, if nothing else, exposure to the mental state of their father's disposition.
What an inconceivably sad fate for those three children, three innocent little boys who understood nothing of the workings of the minds of their keepers.
And what an incredibly sad fate for their loved ones, also an incredibly sad chapter visited on the lives of all of the people involved in the long process of bringing justice and some ineffective sort of closure to this horror, this devastatingly sad account of an apparent senseless, selfish act of bitterness.
They will have to live with it forever...especially the juror's, who's only connection was to be randomly selected for that long and emotionally taxing process, they truly are brave people.

I hope I haven't overstated this review, but this is a really affecting story.
4.5★s

Kudos to Helen Garner for her determination in following this case right to the end, and portraying it so well here.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for my copy to read and review.

[meliverse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Küçük İncelikler

Hani kalabalık bir salonda koltukların arasından geçerken siz,
insanlar ayaklarını toplar ki geçesiniz,
Bunu düşünüyorum nicedir.
Yabancılar “çok yaşa” der hâlâ biri hapşırdığında,
hıyarcıklı veba günlerinden kalma bir hatıra.
“Ölme” diyoruzdur aslında.
Hani bazen limonlarınız dökülür alışveriş torbanızdan da
Koşuverir birileri toplamanız için yardıma.
Çoğu zaman birbirimize zarar verelim istemeyiz
Kahvemiz fincanda sıcak verilsin isteriz
Verene teşekkür eder, gülümseriz; o da gülümsesin dileriz.
Hani garson bir kase sıcak çorbayı koyarken önümüze,
afiyet olsun der,
hani kırmızı kamyonetin şoförü geçelim diye yol verir.
Birbirimizden öyle az şey var ki artık hepimizde.
Ne kadar uzağız şimdi
Kabileden ve kamp ateşinden.
Geri kalan bir bu kısacık etkileşim anları.
Peki ya kutsalın hakiki mekânı bunlarsa,
“Gelin, oturun yerime,”
“Geçin, önden buyrun,”
“Şapkanıza bayıldım”
filan derken hep birlikte inşa ettiğimiz o geçici tapınaklarsa?
(Danusha Lameris, Small Kindness. Çeviren: Nuray Önoğlu)

Bu şiire kitabı okumaya ara verip Aksu Bora’nın “Evli Evine” yazısını gördüğümde rastladım. Pek beğenince, kafamda Bu Yas Yuvası’yla teğelleniverdi. Mesela, aile içi cinayetler var. Çoğu zaman birbirimize zarar verelim isteme(yi)z miyiz, bilmiyorum, belki de, keşke, umarım.

Aile içi cinayetler ya siyahtır ya beyaz demekle çözülmediğine göre çözüm için atılacak en öncelikli adım anlamaya çalışmak, büyüteçle yaklaşmaktır belki de. Bu ilkeyle yola çıkılırsa metinden çıkarılacak çok ders var. Helen Garner’ın da metni kaleme alırken bu fikirden beslendiğini düşünüyorum. Onu harekete geçiren şeyin yalnızca gazetecilik refleksi olmadığını bir röportajında “Bir duruşmayı izlerken toplumun insanın vahşiliğiyle nasıl başa çıkmaya çalıştığını izliyorsunuz.” sözünden de anlıyoruz. Biraz da konu, duruşmalarda izi sürülen şeyin “kavrayış” olmasıdır, olmalıdır ya, Garner gibi gözlemci ve içgörüsü yüksek birilerine her zaman ihtiyaç var. Üstelik “katıksız duygudaşlık, katıksız önyargı kadar uygunsuzdur” sözüne bağlı kaldığının altını çizeyim.

En son yine bir true crime hikayesinde, Foucault’nun Bir Aile Cinayeti’ni okurken derin bir karar veremezliğe ortak olmuştum. Pierre Riviere deli(?) mi yoksa çok mu akıllıydı? Hem yazılış motivasyonları hem de kararların ikircikli olmaları tüm bambaşkalıklarına rağmen iki kitabı birbiriyle konuşturmama yetti.

Kısa zaman önce eşinden boşanan Rob Farquharson, bir akşam, içinde çocuklarının da olduğu arabayı sulama barajına -tıbbın da muallakta kaldığı- bir öksürük senkobu nedeniyle mi, yoksa eski eşinden intikam alma hırsıyla çocuklarını öldürmek için mi sürmüştü? Kaza mı kasıtlı bir intikam aracı mıydı? İlkinde suçsuz, ikincisinde suçlu bulunacak birinin yedi hafta süren duruşmasına merak salan Helen Garner bizi de jüri koltuğuna oturtuyor. Aslında öldürüp öldürmediği sorusu en korkunç ve sıkıcı olanı. Çünkü doğru soru bu mu, emin olamıyoruz. Bir babanın çocuklarını intikam aracına dönüştürerek boğulmalarına sebep olduğuna inanmak o kadar da kolay değil. Kolay olan, bir babanın çocuklarının yaşamlarının kıymetli olduğuna inandığını düşünmek. Tabi şairin kastettiği o tapınaklar, “inşa ettiğimiz o geçici tapınaklarsa”, varsa.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly moving and well written account of a murder trial, which I found utterly gripping. On a September evening in 2005, Robert Farquaharson was driving his three sons – Jai, Tyler and Bailey – back home to his estranged wife. His wife, Cindy, had admitted that she no longer loved him and that she wanted him to move out. Later, she had begun a relationship with another man, but Robert seemed unable to move on. Although Cindy was eager that he should be involved with his sons, he resented her living in their house, while he was forced to move in with his father. He resented her getting the better of their two cars, while he had to rely on second best. He resented another man having influence over his children. The couple had been separated for less than a year when, on that evening – Father’s Day – Robert Farquaharson drove his car off the road and straight into a dam. Did he, as he claimed, have a coughing fit, which caused him to black out and lose control? Why did he flag down a car and ask to be driven to Cindy’s house, before calling the emergency services? Why did he leave his children to drown?

This is a very important book, which says a lot about the legal system (events happened in Australia, but much of what the author says is pertinent in any country) and also about why we seem to hear about so many tragic cases of divorce leading to the murder of children. The trial opened in 2007, in the Supreme Court of Victoria, but it was not clear cut. The author is present to witness the first trial, appeals, and a second trial, before a final decision is made on the father’s guilt or innocence.

During this book, we learn of the Court characters and personalities – of evidence, the family of the defendant and that of the mother of the children. Sometimes the evidence is bewildering (for three days, for example, there is a discussion on tufts of grass, leaving the jury confused and bored) and often the jury respond less to evidence and more to their sympathy, or otherwise, with the witness giving evidence. Over time, both the author and some of those involved – most notably the mother herself – will change their opinions about what happened that night and of the guilt of the father. The author muses not only on the guilt, or otherwise, of the accused, but of what could possibly have led to his actions that night. This was a tragic read, but written with sympathy and respect. Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

[Cynnamon · Rating 1 out of 5]

English version below

***********

Ein von der Familie getrennt lebender Vater holt seine 3 Söhne übers Wochenende zu sich. Auf dem Rückweg zur Mutter stürzt das Auto in einen tiefen Baggersee und nur der Vater kann sich retten. Nach zweijährigen Ermittlungsarbeiten wird der Vater wegen Mordes an seinen Kindern angeklagt.

Helen Garner macht diese Geschichte, die sich 2005 tatsächlich so in Australien ereignet hat, zur Basis ihres Buches.
Dabei wählt sie eine in meinen Augen merkwürdige Erzählperspektive. Sie macht sich mehr oder weniger selbst zur Protagonistin ihres Romans, indem sie als Ich-Erzählerin davon berichtet wie sie dem langwierigen Gerichtsverfahren beiwohnt. Dabei lässt sie uns bis ins winzigste Detail an an allem teilhaben, was sie in dieser Zeit erlebt, was sie empfindet, was sie hört und sieht, was sie denkt, mit wem sie spricht und welche Informationen sie erhält. Dadurch liest sich das Buch wie eine Kreuzung aus Ermittlungsakte, Gerichtsprotokoll und Erlebnisaufsatz.

Zudem kommt erschwerend hinzu, dass in meiner deutschen Übersetzung etliche Grammatikfehler im Text zu finden sind, die schwerwiegend genug für mich waren, dass ich darüber gestolpert bin.

Es ist sicher eine gründliche Vorgehensweise, die Leser beispielweise bis ins Detail über die Methode zu informieren, wie die Reifenspuren vermessen wurde. Für den Leser (zumindest für diese Leserin) ist es eher ermüdend.

Mir erschließt sich auch nicht, wieso dieses Buch mehrere Preise gewonnen hat. Da es alles australische Buchpreise sind, vermute ich, dass der Fall Farquharson das Land einfach stark bewegt hat.

Mich hat die Geschichte aufgrund der langatmigen und wenig ansprechenden Erzählweise leider vollkommen kalt gelassen, so dass ich die Lektüre nach meinen 100 Minimal-Seiten abgebrochen und das Buch mit 1 Stern bewertet habe.

----------------

A father who is separated from the family spends the weekend with his 3 sons. On the way back to the mother, the car crashes into a deep quarry pond and only the father can save himself. After two years of investigative work, the father is accused of murdering his children.

Helen Garner bases her book on this story, which actually happened in Australia in 2005.
However, she chooses a narrative perspective that I find strange. She more or less makes herself the protagonist of her novel by reporting as a first-person narrator how she witnesses the lengthy court proceedings. In doing so, she allows us to participate down to the smallest detail in everything she experiences during this time, what she feels, what she hears and sees, what she thinks, with whom she speaks and what information she receives. As a result, the book reads like a hyprid between an investigation file, a court record and an essay on a personal experience.

To make matters worse, there are a number of grammatical errors in the text of my German translation that were serious enough for me to stumble across them.

It is certainly a thorough procedure to inform the readers in detail, for example, about the method used to measure the tire tracks. For the reader (at least for this reader) it is rather tiresome, though.

I don't understand why this book won multiple awards. Since they're all Australian book awards, I suspect the Farquharson case just moved the country a lot.

Unfortunately, the story left me completely cold due to the lengthy and unappealing narrative style, so I stopped reading after my 100 minimal pages and gave the book a 1 star rating.

[Claire Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't remember where I heard about this non-fiction book about an Australian court case. Presumably on my true-crime extravaganza. And chose it because I'd read some of Garner's fiction and love her writing. The writing in this is great, vivid and succinct, but the story is not - succinct. Sometimes I felt like I was there in the courtroom falling asleep. It is a terrible and tragic story about a man who has been accused of deliberately driving his car off the road into a piece of water behind a dam, escaping from the car himself, and leaving behind his three young boys who drown. Garner reports on the trial in excruciating detail, as if because she had to sit through it, we should do so too. I was interested, I did finish, but it could have done with some editing.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book because it was on several best of the year lists. I am not sure why. I think the material could have been fascinating, and the back and forth between facts, wishes and speculation could have made for an interesting read. However, I felt that Garner had made her judgment early in the case. She was willing, hoping, to be swayed, but seemed to fit the evidence and her appraisal of it to her conclusion. For me, this then became a sympathetic reporting of two tragic trials, when it could have been so much more. Similar to several reviewers, I also recently served on a jury, and was surprised at the struggle I had between what was right, fair and just. I fip-flopped between what I wanted the vedict to be and what objectively was the 'right' decision. I did not think this book truly captured that struggle, nor did it explore in depth the razor's edge between love and hatred; sanity and insanity; hope and despair.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Father’s Day 2005 Robert Farquharson and his three young sons returning home from an outing swerve off a highway and plunge into a dam, the three boys are killed, the Father Robert survives, was it an accident or a deliberate act, a murder/suicide gone wrong or a planned act of revenge?

This here is the authors account of the ensuing murder trial, this book both chilling and horrifying, you are placed inside the courtroom right alongside Helen Garner with her insightful observations taking you on an emotionally draining journey. As with most true crime stories it is easy to get bogged down with the many scientific aspects, the author cleverly manages to wade us through all the graphic minutiae of the case. It was all these little insights and observations that really won me over, like the author I tottered from feeling deep sympathy to downright disgust towards the accused both leaning towards excusing his actions to believing he was completely at fault. I enjoyed the roller coaster of emotions and I felt the author expertly navigated the case into a thoroughly compelling story.

[Jmsness · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars is probably a tad unfair, because my disappointment is mainly due to poor expectation management. I've been waiting for this book for years, was bummed when I heard sh'd given up on writing it and literally fist pumped the air when an email came in saying it was about to be published. I LOVED Joe Cinque's Consolation, the first Garner I read a few years ago after seeing her at Darwin Writer's Festival, and couldn't wait to see how she would cover the Farquharson case.
Garner has been saying this book is a love letter to the courts, or something similar, and she certainly indulged a giddy fascination with the buildings, the legal fraternity and the processes, which I heard her articulate at the opening night of the Melbourne Writer's Festival. In a way, it provided the relief required from the gut wrenching topic.
After two nights of disturbed sleep, I had to shift my reading to daytime only, which meant it took a bit longer to get through. I finished it at a children's park and spent those last pages, where witnesses were being shot down in the second trial, examining every movement of the parents in the park in a way you seem to be required to as a credible witness in a tight trial.
Garner took me on the journey she wanted to - so desperately trying to find reasons to believe this man was innocent, that it was a tragic accident. I don't actually remember feeling that at the time, but you know, memory.
It fell a little flat for me, even though the writing was searing and felt like Garner. Maybe it's because this is such a well known case or maybe because true crime work needs to be exceptional to justify the tiredness that comes with the nightmares. I drove straight from the park to return it to the library, keen to firmly step out of the horror, although the last few paragraphs bounced around for a few hours.

[Esha Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This House of Grief is a compassionate portrait of a tragedy and its prolonged legal aftermath. It is at once journalistic and personal, with Garner peppering her own insights throughout a factual accounting of a criminal case. I never doubted the accuracy of what she reported, but at the same time, I could feel her being affected by what she heard. Her writing humanizes everyone in this awful story. She reminds you, repeatedly, unflinchingly, that these are real people.

[Repix Pix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apasionante.

[Tooter · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

[Text Publishing · Rating 5 out of 5]

The following book reviews have been shared by Text Publishing – publisher of This House of Grief

‘Helen Garner is an invaluable guide into harrowing territory and offers powerful and unforgettable insights. This House of Grief, in its restraint and control, bears comparison with In Cold Blood.’
Kate Atkinson

‘Helen Garner’s This House of Grief 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

‘This House of Grief has all the trademark Helen Garner touches: harrowing scenes recorded without restraint or censorship; touching observations of characters’ weaknesses; wry moments of humour. And also customary with Garner’s work, her words, and the boys’ fate, will haunt us long after we’ve turned the last page.’
Guardian

‘The twists and turns of this true-crime story are, in Garner’s hands, more engrossing and dramatic than any thriller. Really, this is the kind of book you’ll devour in one go.’
Age

‘This House of Grief is a magnificent book about the majesty of the law and the terrible matter of the human heart. It has its centre a feeling of the engulfing powers of love and hate and the way any heart unlucky enough may kill the thing it loves and drown in an eternity of grief. 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, Weekend Australian

‘Clear-eyed and deeply moving…Garner’s skills as a novelist combine with her journalist incisiveness to give a vivid, compassionate and complex assessment of the crime and the societal issues surrounding it…This House of Grief is a book that preys on the mind—its themes are enormous, classical and highly contemporary. Some readers will find they have to put it down, now and again, because the story it tells is so tragically sad—but so compelling that they won’t put it down for long.’
NZ Herald

‘A superbly balanced book about a terribly freighted subject: a violation of parental care of the kind that provokes outrage rather than thoughtfulness. It is also an elegant reiteration of many of the themes and concerns that Garner has, over four decades, made her own.’
Saturday Paper

‘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, Wall Street Journal, Books of the Year 2015

‘A brilliant, poetic work of jurisprudence…Another beauty of Garner’s writing is her exceptional lyricism. Garner’s spare, clean style flowers into magnificent poetry.’
Australian Book Review

‘Superbly done. Garner is one of the finest reporters in this country…Bad behaviour has always been her subject, from Monkey Grip all the way to This House of Grief. She doesn’t celebrate Farquarson’s fate as a triumph. In the crimes and misdemeanours we commit against one another, she has always found clues to being human.’
David Marr, Monthly

‘No one can invoke the theatre of the law the way Helen Garner does. It isn’t just her acute mind for human psychology or her shimmering gift for metaphor, the masterly economy and dramatic poise with which she shaped the material.’
Age/Sydney Morning Herald/Canberra Times

‘Garner sat through [all the trials]: sifting the evidence, observing the duelling lawyers, digging deep into the relationships which contributed to the catastrophe. She has turned a courtroom drama into something deeply human.’
Jennifer Byrne, Australian Women's Weekly

‘This House of Grief will have your heart in your mouth.’
Ramona Koval, Best Books of the Year, Weekend Australian

‘A testament to it’s author’s extraordinary powers of observation…Garner’s account of a murder trial is full of characteristically shrewd encapsulations and telling details, framed by her deeply reflective and empathetic responses.’
James Ley, Best Books of the Year, Weekend Australian

‘Tender and electrifying. This House of Grief is Helen Garner’s masterpiece.’
Saturday Paper

‘It is as involving, heart-rending and unsettling a read as you could possibly find.’
Sunday Times

‘Helen Garner’s account of the trial is a non-literary variation of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. It is all the more shocking for her direct, no-nonsense, often horrified, approach.’
Eileen Battersby, Books of the Year, Irish Times

‘In This House of Grief, Helen Garner describes with wonderful subtlety and honesty the trail of a man accused of drowning his three sons; she is fascinated by what we’re capable of and how fiercely we hide it from ourselves.’
Helen Simpson, Books of the Year, Times Literary Supplement

‘This House of Grief exposes the deeply complex rivers of emotion that run through us all. Garner has a talent for scrutinising those aspects of life that most of us would rather turn away from and illuminating those truths for all to understand.’
Hoopla

‘In its literary alchemy it crystallises fundamental questions that we need to keep asking about our legal system.’
Conversation

‘Helen Garner’s riveting non-fiction gem is a darkly intriguing work.’
New Daily’s Top Ten Books of 2014

This is vintage Garner reportage, with brilliantly observed details and deft weaving of courtroom drama and small-town back story.’
North and South

‘[Garner] doesn’t merely listen. She watches, imagines, second-guesses, empathises, agonises. Her voice—intimate yet sharp, wry yet urgent—inspires trust.’
Atlantic

‘Compassionate and dispassionate in equal measure, Helen Garner takes us into the courtroom and shows a melting-pot of venality. She writes with a profound understanding of human vulnerability, and of the subtle workings of love, memory and remorse.’
Intelligent Life Magazine

The details of the story are fascinating, and Garner’s crystal-clear writing serves the story well…The resulting book is both troubling and deeply satisfying.’
Bookslut

‘Garner captures the breathless suspense during the wait for the jury to return; the blow of the decision and sentencing; and her own unsettled response to the shattering experience of contemplating an unthinkable crime.’
Kirkus

‘A mesmeric blend of pathos and skepticism that, despite the known conclusion, will keep readers in suspense.’
Booklist

‘Garner's ability to describe people is so precise, beautifully drawn…The economy of language…It’s like that painter in their master phase...It’s so alive. Every sentence is its own emotional iceberg...An amazing piece of writing.’
Culture Gabfest podcast

[Penni Russon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometime in the mid 90s, when I was around 20, there was an accident in Hobart. A woman was driving her mother and her two small children in Hobart. She had an epileptic fit at the wheel and drove into the docks. Two young men, around my age, dived into the greasy water after them.

The story was that, when they reached the car, the two women in the front seats of the sinking car urged them to save the children. The young men managed to get the kids out and swim them to safety, the car sank and the driver and her mother were drowned.

I knew people who knew those two young men - it was Hobart and we were about the same age, so this was inevitable. I heard that the young men were cynical about the media or the public calling them heroes. They had saved the children, but they hadn't saved the women. Perhaps they felt they had, at least in part, failed, or perhaps they were angry that more people hadn't come to their aid. I remember hearing that the women had wound down the windows to let the young men get the children, which is what caused the car to sink. But what else could they have done?

This memory played through my mind constantly as I read This House of Grief by Helen Garner...Read the full review here.

[Miss✧Pickypants ᓚᘏᗢ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a bunch of true crime in the past and was expecting more of the same with this book, but surprisingly it turned out to be more of a literary crime novel. I was unfamiliar with the case so had no inkling as to whether the defendant would be found guilty or not. No spoilers here to ruin the story for others.

What I will say is the book is part sad tale of the event, part chronicle of all the individuals touched by the tragedy as it moves through the Australian legal system, and part observational experience of the author as she struggles to process everything she witnessed related to the trial. The author does an excellent job of capturing what it felt like to be there sitting in court grappling with all the information presented along with how she processed it.

I rate this 3.5 stars but rounded up because GRs doesn't permit readers to give half stars.

[Ashley Hay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to joke that I would happily read Helen Garner's shopping lists – recently someone asked me where they'd been published, which makes me think I'm not the only person who relishes her words so much. One of the finest essays I've read about why Garner matters as a writer is Tegan Bennett Daylight's "Phone Call to Helen Garner", which was originally published in The Australian (you can read it here: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/...) – I love her description of reading "every word that Garner has published, and most of them so many times that her syntax seems entwined with my DNA". That makes sense to me.
I found "This House of Grief" utterly compelling – the kind of book who's story you could not step away from once you had launched in. It follows the complicated courtcases around the trial of Robert Farquharson, a man accused of driving his car off the road into a dam – a car which was also carrying his own three sons.
It's a stunning combination of a dogged kind of storytelling – of a story that's necessarily both complicated and unbearable – with a forensic account of how the processes of justice work and run and an extraordinary sense of humanity or love.
This book took my breath away.