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The Revisionists
Gripping, propulsive and intelligent, The Revisionists is a tour de force, an absorbing, unputdownable novel about ambition—and how we curate our own stories and rescript our memories in order to survive.
Upper East Side, Manhattan, 2023: Christine Campbell, former journalist, turns on the television to watch a documentary paying homage to her Pulitzer Prize–shortlisted coverage of the unrest in 1999 in the North Caucasus. She is newly widowed, wealthy, and attempting to write a memoir celebrating her bold life and significant achievements in writing about the silencing of women during conflict.
But truth has a way of resurfacing, even when buried deep beneath money, memory and reinvention. When Dr Frankie Pearson, Christine's oldest—and estranged—friend, knocks on her door, the pair must reconcile their memories and come to terms with the far-reaching and disastrous decisions they both made over twenty years ago. What really happened in that small mountain village in Dagestan in the dying days of the millennium, while Christine was hellbent on getting the scoop of a lifetime?
An elegant, thrilling and brilliantly compelling novel of the consequences of the conflict between a person's principles and their desire for acclaim, The Revisionists examines the malleability of memory and the slippery nature of the truth—and the lengths that people will go to to avoid facing both.
"A beautifully crafted story...the immense detail and beauty in the writing create an altogether genuine setting for the reader to become absorbed in. A powerful examination of truth, memory and ambition...a sophisticated novel that both overtly and subtly turns the spotlight on the oft-overlooked keepers of women." Books+Publishing
Upper East Side, Manhattan, 2023: Christine Campbell, former journalist, turns on the television to watch a documentary paying homage to her Pulitzer Prize–shortlisted coverage of the unrest in 1999 in the North Caucasus. She is newly widowed, wealthy, and attempting to write a memoir celebrating her bold life and significant achievements in writing about the silencing of women during conflict.
But truth has a way of resurfacing, even when buried deep beneath money, memory and reinvention. When Dr Frankie Pearson, Christine's oldest—and estranged—friend, knocks on her door, the pair must reconcile their memories and come to terms with the far-reaching and disastrous decisions they both made over twenty years ago. What really happened in that small mountain village in Dagestan in the dying days of the millennium, while Christine was hellbent on getting the scoop of a lifetime?
An elegant, thrilling and brilliantly compelling novel of the consequences of the conflict between a person's principles and their desire for acclaim, The Revisionists examines the malleability of memory and the slippery nature of the truth—and the lengths that people will go to to avoid facing both.
"A beautifully crafted story...the immense detail and beauty in the writing create an altogether genuine setting for the reader to become absorbed in. A powerful examination of truth, memory and ambition...a sophisticated novel that both overtly and subtly turns the spotlight on the oft-overlooked keepers of women." Books+Publishing
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First published July 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 7, 2025
With depth and nuance Michelle Johnston has written her best book yet. Excellent plotting supported by research, writing and ideas that overlap and intertwine to make a story that stands alone and is also deeply of our time.
September 20, 2025
By coincidence, I've just read Colum McCann's exploration of journalism wrestling with issues of truth and memory, and my very next novel is about the same theme. In some ways it also reminded me of Ceriden Dovey's Life After Truth which I reviewed in 2020.
In our 'post truth' world, that's a theme that can take a good deal more exploration, and Michelle Johnston's third novel The Revisionists tells a great story while unpacking the moral imperatives that impact on every journalist. When should there be silence, a story not reported for the harm it might do? When does silence serve the journalist rather than the truth? How does a journalist reconcile the desire to give authentic voice to those who have been silenced by custom, indifference or malice, with the reality that the story might identify people at risk? How does journalism guard against ambition's triumph over truth?
There's also a question for all of us in this era where we curate our lives in the glare of social media. What do we lose when we rescript our memories of events to suit our preferred narratives?
In a dual timeline signalled by time and place at the start of each chapter, the novel traces the personal and professional life of Christine Campbell, a journalist from small town Western Australia who sought The Big Story in Dagestan the the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. I'm sure I'm not the only Australian who's never heard of Dagestan, but those of us old enough to pay attention after the fall of the Soviet Union have heard of the wars in Chechnya when Boris Yeltsin was president of newly democratic Russia and Vladimir Putin was on his way up. Johnston introduced me to something I had failed to recognise in the anti-Russian narratives I'd heard about Chechnya and its brutal repression: it's not as simple as ethnic nationalists wanting to be independent of a regime that (putting it mildly) hasn't served them well. Radical Islamic fundamentalist insurgents in the region supplemented their military efforts with terrorism in their campaign to import ideologies aligned with ISIS Islamic State including Sharia Law...
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2025/09/16/t...
In our 'post truth' world, that's a theme that can take a good deal more exploration, and Michelle Johnston's third novel The Revisionists tells a great story while unpacking the moral imperatives that impact on every journalist. When should there be silence, a story not reported for the harm it might do? When does silence serve the journalist rather than the truth? How does a journalist reconcile the desire to give authentic voice to those who have been silenced by custom, indifference or malice, with the reality that the story might identify people at risk? How does journalism guard against ambition's triumph over truth?
There's also a question for all of us in this era where we curate our lives in the glare of social media. What do we lose when we rescript our memories of events to suit our preferred narratives?
In a dual timeline signalled by time and place at the start of each chapter, the novel traces the personal and professional life of Christine Campbell, a journalist from small town Western Australia who sought The Big Story in Dagestan the the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. I'm sure I'm not the only Australian who's never heard of Dagestan, but those of us old enough to pay attention after the fall of the Soviet Union have heard of the wars in Chechnya when Boris Yeltsin was president of newly democratic Russia and Vladimir Putin was on his way up. Johnston introduced me to something I had failed to recognise in the anti-Russian narratives I'd heard about Chechnya and its brutal repression: it's not as simple as ethnic nationalists wanting to be independent of a regime that (putting it mildly) hasn't served them well. Radical Islamic fundamentalist insurgents in the region supplemented their military efforts with terrorism in their campaign to import ideologies aligned with ISIS Islamic State including Sharia Law...
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2025/09/16/t...
August 9, 2025
Thank you Harper Collins for this review copy as part of the Bookstagram Book Club.
This is a solid novel that explores one woman’s inner battle with pursuing fame and glory as an up-and-coming journalist and war correspondent, but at the cost of far greater than her ethics: human lives and broken families.
I enjoyed the choice to alternate the two timelines (during the Dagestan conflict, 1999 and in modern NYC, 2023, where our lead’s actions still haunt her), but the storytelling felt a bit halted and distracted at times, diving into her relationships and rendezvous where I’d rather page real estate be spent on Christine’s complex friendship with Frankie just that bit greater.
Wasn’t short of emotions (I cried lol) during the tense and anxious moments of the conflict, but the side plots, along with my frustration towards Christine, meant this one didn’t blow me away. Fabulous prose and convincing dialogue, however!
This is a solid novel that explores one woman’s inner battle with pursuing fame and glory as an up-and-coming journalist and war correspondent, but at the cost of far greater than her ethics: human lives and broken families.
I enjoyed the choice to alternate the two timelines (during the Dagestan conflict, 1999 and in modern NYC, 2023, where our lead’s actions still haunt her), but the storytelling felt a bit halted and distracted at times, diving into her relationships and rendezvous where I’d rather page real estate be spent on Christine’s complex friendship with Frankie just that bit greater.
Wasn’t short of emotions (I cried lol) during the tense and anxious moments of the conflict, but the side plots, along with my frustration towards Christine, meant this one didn’t blow me away. Fabulous prose and convincing dialogue, however!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2025
Wow! Slow to start but one definitely worth reading. Thanks to publisher for ARC.
October 5, 2025
Great book that I read over a weekend, felt very current and I liked the moving between time - I didn’t particularly like the narrator but she grew on me as the story progressed.
July 11, 2025
Really strong character development. Loved the book also loved talking to Michelle about it at our author event last night. What an incredible woman!!
August 18, 2025
This novel focuses on a woman, a one-time journalist named Christine Campbell, who, in 1999 travelled to Dagestan to reconnect with her friend Frankie who was working as a doctor in a remote fictional town called Khumsutl. The narrative intertwines with one set in New York in 2023. Christine is recently widowed and trying to write a memoir. She is wrestling with feelings of failure, worthlessness and guilt in relation to some of the things that happened in Dagestan in 1999 and what she did, as a journalist, with those events. She has lost touch with Frankie and is a bit adrift. However, as the novel begins, Frankie arrives on her (extremely swish) New York doorstep – which provides an opportunity for them to unpack the events of 20 years ago and what really went down.
The 1999 events just precede the invasion of Dagestan – which precipitated the Second Chechen War. In an effort to revive her flagging journalistic career, Christine wants to unpack what is happening to the Dagestani women – and whether a war is coming. She agrees to meet a “warlord” for an interview, and from there, events unravel. A side story line involves Christine’s growing friendship with a war correspondent Angela Hollis – which enables a contrast between the authenticity of Hollis’s experiences and the much more feeble efforts of Christine to emulate/impress Hollis.
I found the novel quite annoying – apart from the descriptions of Dagestan – which were evocative. This for example: “The view of both valleys and mountains from the village is, indeed, breathtaking. The light has caramelised, and the air has cooled along with it. The sun will not set properly for a few hours, and, until it does, twilight will circle them like a raptor, closing in on them with lazy grace.” She captures the countryside really well - but the people remain quite flat on the page - I could form no idea of that might be the culture of the place.
One of the things that annoyed me the most was that Christine never seemed to have any problems making herself understood – there are NO explanations for how she gets by with people who mostly would not have spoken much English. (I’m making assumptions here of course, about levels of English in Dagestan.) There was a very strange meeting with a warlord - with no particularly convincing rationale/behaviour from the warlord’s POV– except that the novel needed a dramatic incident that Christine might feel guilty and confused about.
I felt that the character of Christine was not convincingly drawn and while the feeling of shame is a very useful one for a novel, it failed to really carry the narrative.
The 1999 events just precede the invasion of Dagestan – which precipitated the Second Chechen War. In an effort to revive her flagging journalistic career, Christine wants to unpack what is happening to the Dagestani women – and whether a war is coming. She agrees to meet a “warlord” for an interview, and from there, events unravel. A side story line involves Christine’s growing friendship with a war correspondent Angela Hollis – which enables a contrast between the authenticity of Hollis’s experiences and the much more feeble efforts of Christine to emulate/impress Hollis.
I found the novel quite annoying – apart from the descriptions of Dagestan – which were evocative. This for example: “The view of both valleys and mountains from the village is, indeed, breathtaking. The light has caramelised, and the air has cooled along with it. The sun will not set properly for a few hours, and, until it does, twilight will circle them like a raptor, closing in on them with lazy grace.” She captures the countryside really well - but the people remain quite flat on the page - I could form no idea of that might be the culture of the place.
One of the things that annoyed me the most was that Christine never seemed to have any problems making herself understood – there are NO explanations for how she gets by with people who mostly would not have spoken much English. (I’m making assumptions here of course, about levels of English in Dagestan.) There was a very strange meeting with a warlord - with no particularly convincing rationale/behaviour from the warlord’s POV– except that the novel needed a dramatic incident that Christine might feel guilty and confused about.
I felt that the character of Christine was not convincingly drawn and while the feeling of shame is a very useful one for a novel, it failed to really carry the narrative.
December 8, 2025
How to sum up this bold, intelligent, fierce, tender, beautifully written exploration of memory, truth, reinvention, female friendship, conflict and ambition?
Set over one night in 2023 in the posh Upper East Side apartment of seemingly successful journalist Christine Campbell, it also takes us back to Christine’s childhood friendship with Frankie Pearson in Australia, and to the life-changing experience with Frankie as young women helping out in a small Dagestan mountain village – a village eventually caught in the crosshairs of war and terrorism in the dying days of the millennium.
As a cadet journalist in the late 1990s, I admired anyone who worked as a war correspondent. Still do. So tough, so noble, the ultimate pursuit of truth, human rights and international justice.
But, I also came to notice how wire stories from journalists embedded with a military, often didn't line up with accounts from local freelance journos or photographers on the ground. But why? And would it make any difference if the message was clear? As Johnston so brilliantly explores, truth can be slippery when it meets ambition, intention and revision. When the story angle becomes a weapon, as it always will. How can truth be found when there are narratives to uphold, loopholes to exploit, accolades to be won?
The Revisionists is a sophisticated story, yet incredibly accessible. It is a gripping look at the hotly topical issue of ethics in journalism and the beautiful but deeply flawed humanity at the beating heart of it all.
Set over one night in 2023 in the posh Upper East Side apartment of seemingly successful journalist Christine Campbell, it also takes us back to Christine’s childhood friendship with Frankie Pearson in Australia, and to the life-changing experience with Frankie as young women helping out in a small Dagestan mountain village – a village eventually caught in the crosshairs of war and terrorism in the dying days of the millennium.
As a cadet journalist in the late 1990s, I admired anyone who worked as a war correspondent. Still do. So tough, so noble, the ultimate pursuit of truth, human rights and international justice.
But, I also came to notice how wire stories from journalists embedded with a military, often didn't line up with accounts from local freelance journos or photographers on the ground. But why? And would it make any difference if the message was clear? As Johnston so brilliantly explores, truth can be slippery when it meets ambition, intention and revision. When the story angle becomes a weapon, as it always will. How can truth be found when there are narratives to uphold, loopholes to exploit, accolades to be won?
The Revisionists is a sophisticated story, yet incredibly accessible. It is a gripping look at the hotly topical issue of ethics in journalism and the beautiful but deeply flawed humanity at the beating heart of it all.
November 8, 2025
Liked: the supporting characters, descriptions of the life of the village.
Disliked: the brief but graphic violence. Some of the descriptive writing that was aiming to be literary and beautiful but didn’t work for me. The main character.
“Marta was like the third glass of wine at a party. Irresistible at the time, rarely available, occasionally regretted.”
"It's not so much that the things she said in the documentary were not factual, Christine wants to tell Frankie...it is more that truth evolves, and communicating this requires a certain pliability - a malleable fusion of history, memory and imperative."
"Once, Christine read that memories are altered every time they are retrieved and examined. Each time an event is recalled, the ind puts a new spin on it, altering it to suit a complicated arrangement of need and context. Memories are not filed in some physical part of the brain, as she understood it, but are shifting chemical events, added to as needed before being split up and stored in new electrochemical styles and places. The more something is dragged out and reviewed, the more inaccurate that memory becomes. The only true memories are the ones that are never remembered. How do any of us know who we were two and a half decades ago?"
"Christine knows this is not true, but also knows there are times to witness and times to disagree."
Disliked: the brief but graphic violence. Some of the descriptive writing that was aiming to be literary and beautiful but didn’t work for me. The main character.
“Marta was like the third glass of wine at a party. Irresistible at the time, rarely available, occasionally regretted.”
"It's not so much that the things she said in the documentary were not factual, Christine wants to tell Frankie...it is more that truth evolves, and communicating this requires a certain pliability - a malleable fusion of history, memory and imperative."
"Once, Christine read that memories are altered every time they are retrieved and examined. Each time an event is recalled, the ind puts a new spin on it, altering it to suit a complicated arrangement of need and context. Memories are not filed in some physical part of the brain, as she understood it, but are shifting chemical events, added to as needed before being split up and stored in new electrochemical styles and places. The more something is dragged out and reviewed, the more inaccurate that memory becomes. The only true memories are the ones that are never remembered. How do any of us know who we were two and a half decades ago?"
"Christine knows this is not true, but also knows there are times to witness and times to disagree."
Read
August 4, 2025Inspired by the Chechen wars of 1999, The Revisionists is a riveting exploration of ambition and responsibility, and all that is left in their wake when the two are not aligned. Jaded Christine Campbell reinvents herself as an ambitious conflict correspondent on a mission to land the story of a lifetime, travelling to the Republic of Dagestan in Russia under the guise of helping her old school friend Frankie in her medical clinic. When opportunity comes knocking, Christine risks everything for this one chance at the big scoop. But everything turns out to be much more than she bargained for. When long-estranged Frankie turns up at Christine’s NYC apartment over two decades later, challenging Christine’s recently revisited and very public version of events, the reckoning begins in earnest. Unfolding in braided timelines between 1999 Dagestan and contemporary New York City, Christine alternately reflects on her flawed, perhaps reconstructed, memory of just what transpired, and grapples with her choices and her conscience. The Revisionists is a testament to Michelle Johnston’s accomplished storytelling. Recommended reading from me!
July 27, 2025
AHHHH i actually was so pleasantly surprised by this book mainly because i have a bias against books with real people on the cover I’M SORRY I NORMALLY HATE IT AND ITS REALLY WEIRD TO ME BUT THIS IS A SIGN TO NOT JUDEG A BOOK BY ITS COVER !! michelle���s writing was so beautiful i read it in one sitting becauss i generally couldn’t put it down. it was one of the books where i felt like i actually learnt a lot and made me want to learn more about the war in dagestan in 1999 as a whole as well as the politics surrounding journalism and reporting current affairs as a whole (which is very relevant for this political climate). i felt her storytelling was absolutely beautiful and the intricate weaving between the two timelines was done really well. i will 100% be reading more from michelle !
May 26, 2025
4.5 stars
An excellent read.
A story of two friends from Perth who ended up amidst a war time conflict in 1999.
One - a journalist - flees when the killing starts, writes an account of her time in Dagestan, and wins a Pulitzer.
The other, a doctor, stays to help the locals.
Now over 20 years later, they finally meet back up. Both have different versions of history, their memories of events. And their different guilt from that time that they have been burdened with for many years.
Described as compelling, this novel is definitely that.
An excellent read.
A story of two friends from Perth who ended up amidst a war time conflict in 1999.
One - a journalist - flees when the killing starts, writes an account of her time in Dagestan, and wins a Pulitzer.
The other, a doctor, stays to help the locals.
Now over 20 years later, they finally meet back up. Both have different versions of history, their memories of events. And their different guilt from that time that they have been burdened with for many years.
Described as compelling, this novel is definitely that.
September 21, 2025
A potential modern day classic. A moving, funny, intellectual, thought provoking adventure of a story. Strong female leads and perspectives on war and life made this a gripping treat of a read. Thank you so much to the author.
January 1, 2026
great characters, good story
Following Frankie and Christine over decades of friendship and continents of experiences. The characters nicely evolve and a tale is spun. A good holiday read.
Following Frankie and Christine over decades of friendship and continents of experiences. The characters nicely evolve and a tale is spun. A good holiday read.
July 26, 2025
Beautiful and absorbing.
August 18, 2025
I did not connect with this novel although its subject had interested me. Rather, I found it overwritten and its back-and-forth narrative structure of time often confusing.
September 10, 2025
Thanks Michelle for taking me to Dagestan! I always enjoy hearing about new countries and Christine and Frankie’s experiences kept me turning the page.
October 4, 2025
3.75 stars
October 22, 2025
This was the first book I have read from this author and really enjoyed it and I will definitely read others to see if they are as good as this
December 15, 2025
Beautifully written
August 1, 2025
3⭐️.
Please ignore me. I’ve become too picky about books lately.
The story itself was okay-ish, although predictable at times. Laurie’s character was a cliche to the core.
I found the timeline in this book extremely disturbing and bothering.
The events in Dagestan were always happening “after a week”, “after a few days” but nevertheless stayed in June 1999.
In the scope of one month - Christine moved to a village in Dagestan, became famous among the villagers, learned to help in the hospital, started first-aid courses for women, went to Makhachkala several times, saved a kid, became best friends with a famous war correspondent, fell in love, went to London - came back.
How long was that June in 1999 - 200 days, a year?
How plausible is for someone to spend only a month and a half in another country and then don’t move on from that experience 25 years later?
And these two best friends would have never searched for each other during these years.
Come on, give me a break.
Please ignore me. I’ve become too picky about books lately.
The story itself was okay-ish, although predictable at times. Laurie’s character was a cliche to the core.
I found the timeline in this book extremely disturbing and bothering.
The events in Dagestan were always happening “after a week”, “after a few days” but nevertheless stayed in June 1999.
In the scope of one month - Christine moved to a village in Dagestan, became famous among the villagers, learned to help in the hospital, started first-aid courses for women, went to Makhachkala several times, saved a kid, became best friends with a famous war correspondent, fell in love, went to London - came back.
How long was that June in 1999 - 200 days, a year?
How plausible is for someone to spend only a month and a half in another country and then don’t move on from that experience 25 years later?
And these two best friends would have never searched for each other during these years.
Come on, give me a break.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 23, 2025
Christine Campbell, former journalist, recent wealthy widow, and former Pulitzer Prize winner, tunes in to watch a documentary paying homage to her coverage of the unrest in 1999 in the North Caucasus. When Frankie, Christine's oldest and long estranged friend, knocks on her door demandong to know why she lied in the documentary, the pair must reconcile their memories of what really happened in Dagestan and come to terms with the decisions they made decades ago. Told between alternating timeliness of 2023, the women growing up in rural Western Australia, and 1999 in Dagestan, we follow their friendship and the women they became. Frankie was always set on helping others, first working for MFS, and then starting a clinic in Dagestan. Christine was always determined to make a name for herself in journalism and when Frankie calls her to ask for help in the clinic, Christine sees an opportunity to get her story, but at what cost.
This was an interesting story about what motivates people and what memories people hold onto. It's also a lesson in friendship as neither of the womens memories of events are truly correct and without each other they have held onto falsehoods for years, their guilt and shame driving who they became. Both characters are flawed, Frankie is so sanctimonious and Christine was so focused on getting her story and then becomes a martyr, living an empty life. An interesting story about an an area which is about to once again become rather topical.
This was an interesting story about what motivates people and what memories people hold onto. It's also a lesson in friendship as neither of the womens memories of events are truly correct and without each other they have held onto falsehoods for years, their guilt and shame driving who they became. Both characters are flawed, Frankie is so sanctimonious and Christine was so focused on getting her story and then becomes a martyr, living an empty life. An interesting story about an an area which is about to once again become rather topical.
November 11, 2025
I wanted to enjoy this book, but by the end it hand the feelings of being forced to watch a SBS documentary with your parents as a kid. The uncomfortableness of thinking you will be tested on something you have no interest in.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews