A Murder Without Motive: the Killing of Rebecca Ryle

by Martin McKenzie-Murray

In 2004, the body of a young Perth woman was found on the grounds of a primary school. Her name was Rebecca Ryle. The killing would mystify investigators, lawyers, and psychologists – and profoundly rearrange the life of the victim's family.

It would also involve the author’s family, because his brother knew the man charged with the murder. For years, the two had circled each other suspiciously, in a world of violence, drugs, and rotten aspirations.

A Murder Without Motive is a police procedural, a meditation on suffering, and an exploration of how the different parts of the justice system make sense of the senseless. It is also a unique memoir: a mapping of the suburbs that the author grew up in, and a revelation of the dangerous underbelly of adolescent ennui.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Australia, Contemporary, Mystery, Memoir, Crime

256 pages, Paperback

Published January 27, 2016

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 1 out of 5]

More an author memoir than true crime, A Murder Without Motive: the killing of Rebecca Ryle is not what I expected - in a bad way. Rather than writing a book about the murder, investigation, court room battles, and interviews with subject matter experts close to the crime, the author launched a self indulgent tirade which lacked relevance to the subject matter and bored this reader with a tale of a stock standard middle-income male growing up in suburbia, moving away then boasting an intellectual superiority to his peers when he returns of which he also casts the murder victim, Rebecca Ryle (who happens to be the core of the book, though the reader wouldn't know it) among his ilk despite not conversing or KNOWING her aside from third party information.

This book is about the way the author felt about the murder and his own perception and conclusions in-conjunction with his brothers thoughts and insights (him, having known the killer in a somewhat limited capacity) - some eight years after the tragedy.

It's not until the Afterword that the author mentioned he wanted to write a true crime book that emphasized the family aspect and the hardships of moving on as opposed to the crime itself that the theme started to make sense. Had this been consistent, and not derailed by the authors free rein to talk about himself, I may have felt differently - may have.

What the Afterword doesn't do, is justify the need to write about the author listening to NWA, picking fights with kids 4 years his junior, touching upon Perth's race gangs, attending or commenting on teenage house parties, or why including the his own correspondence with the Ryle family via Facebook was necessary (it didn't add any context or substance).

I also found the over stimulated vocabulary a constant blight that served no purpose other than to impress upon the reader, the author's ability to over-use and under sell his sentences. Rarely does a book leave me feeling so underwhelmed.

I was given a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Carol - Reading Writing and Riesling · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very personal look at a senseless crime

My View:
A very personal look at a senseless crime.

A community in shock, two families’ lives for ever changed; a teenager the victim of a senseless murder, her death impacting on the psyche of those who knew her, those who were in her orbit and even those who knew her only because of the media attention surrounding her death. The murder of Rebecca Ryle was to have a profound influence on so many including the young man soon to be journalist Martin McKenzie-Murray.

The proximity of her death eclipses the innocence of this young Martin McKenzie-Murray; the author lived close to the Ryle’s and was familiar with the everyday places of Rebecca’s life, the personal ‘second hand’ knowledge existing because the author’s brother had at one point associated with a social group that included the perpetrator of the crime as a member, and because of the similarity in ages between the writer and the victim, this death weighed heavy on the mind of the author. Eight years later the author is still haunted by Rebecca’s death and seeks to discover how “the psychic bruising of the suburbs” contributed/affected her life and ultimately led to her death. This book is the result of his discoveries, personal interviews, research, theories regarding urban society and its social constructs. This book is more than a dry summation of facts or court or police records, this is an intensely personal study of the effects of one young person’s death on a community and on the writer of this book.

This is a very personal look at a senseless crime – I keep repeating the word senseless, this crime makes no sense; occurring just 50m from Rebecca’s home, a life ending for no apparent reason and the perpetrator with no recollection of his motivation for causing her death (or one that he is willing to share), this crime stunned so many. If you lived in Western Australia around the time of Rebecca’s murder you will have your own memories of this event, memories that cannot be erased.

Martin McKenzie-Murray has written a thought provoking and intense narrative. As someone involved in the documentary industry this books reminds me so much of the process of documentary making - the gathering of facts, the research, the interviews, the connections you cannot help but make with the subject of the documentary (book) and those close to your subject. As in documentary making your life becomes entwined with those in your film (book), you relate to them and their feelings. The documentary is a journey (you have made a personal journey in this book). Thank you for sharing your journey; this incident perhaps weighs more heavily on me now than it did at the time because of your book.

[Tilda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to preface this review by saying that I am an enormous fan of Martin McKenzie-Murray. I routinely dive into his columns in The Saturday Paper, and like many Victorians, enjoyed his eloquent prose via former Chief Police Commissioner, Ken Lay. He is, in fact, one of my favourite Australian commentators on matters of policy and current affairs (this absolutely slam dunk piece on family violence being a prime example: https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/n...).

So, it is with a heavy heart that I report that this book sucks.

I think when you take on a true crime story without having access to the key players (in this case, the killer, his family and a key witness from the night) you not only face significant obstacles in making your book credible and worth publishing, you also confront significant additional responsibilities to glean absolutely every crumb of information you can to justify your inevitable need to fill gaps with speculation. It demands discipline in maintaining an open and impartial mind and resisting the temptation to warp your interpretation based on the narrow access that one does gain (in this case, the victim's family). I think Martin sadly failed on this front.

To me, this book read as absolute classic 'vibing' drawing disproportionately from Martin's own dramatised adolescence, his brother's (tenuous?) familiarity with the killer and the painfully obvious (albeit unashamed) empathy and rapport he developed with Rebecca's parents. The prose is overwrought but the substance undercooked - with boring tangents, the repetitious drilling of the themes of misspent youths and misdirected masculinity (lest you miss it!) culminating in the painfully embarrassing and inauthentic attempt of Martin to embody the killer's mindset at the end as he lays out his theory of events, which was basically the Crown case with no further insights. Le sigh.

It is a true shame as I believe Martin is a beautiful and incisive writer, commentator and speechwriter. He doesn't shy away from the difficult issues or the things that people don't like to acknowledge or talk about, which is why I was so disappointed to read a two-dimensional rendering of information largely already available on the public record, with a little bit of extra Perth yoof context and justifiable empathy for the family thrown in. His writing, which can be so beautiful and evocative, was overwrought, unnecessarily dense and had all the literary restraint of a sledgehammer. Helen Garner's successor he is not.

Despite this, I will continue to consume everything Martin puts out and hope he'll publish a second book that truly demonstrates his talents. It's a shame that his publisher didn't send him back to the drawing board to ensure his debut was the show-stopper it should have been.

[Michael Livingston · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoughtful book that belies its generic title, McKenzie-Murray artfully blends memoir and sociological theorising with a clear and insightful discussion of an utterly senseless murder. Even with the best of intentions, there were times where this all felt a bit ghoulish, but I guess that's impossible to avoid. Perfect length for a Sydney->Melbourne flight too - I finished it right as we got to the gate.

[Zora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a fan of the author from his writing in The Saturday Paper: he always brings a fresh and considered perspective to whatever topic and he's certainly drawn to the dark stuff. A brave and sensitive account and analysis of a senseless crime, and it read as something he needed to get out of his system, having grown up in the parts of Perth where this happened. It was refreshing to read a bloke take on toxic masculinity too. I am keen to see what he does next.

[Derek Pedley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cookie-cutter title belies the true worth of this masterful debut, which blends memoir with police procedural, to create a unique and compelling portrait of the origins and consequences of a suburban murder.

The author’s coincidental connection to a killer lures him into the story of 19-year-old Rebecca Ryle and her murder, just metres from home, in 2004. McKenzie-Murray delivers a deeply insightful - and personal - exploration of the banal and often dangerous teenage culture in Perth’s northern suburbs, while also expertly assembling the nuts-and-bolts police investigation.

But the book’s emotional heart is the author’s relationship with the victim’s parents. Their rapport – cultivated by his honesty and sensitivity (and a shared lager or two) - is such that he is able to delve deeply into their pasts, their pain and their extraordinary resilience.

They divulge far more than most writers could ever hope for, allowing McKenzie-Murray to stretch his considerable talents as both a thinker and a writer and deliver a story that is a welcome antidote to the typically weary, gratuitous world of crime reportage.

[Xanthi · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a few things about this book that prevented me from giving it a higher rating. Firstly, whilst I don't mind it when an author includes himself in the story, I felt that in this case, the author overstepped the mark and just rambled on too much about his past life and experiences. Yes, he lived in the area where the victim, her family, and the murdrerer lived. And yes, his brother was an acquaintance with the murderer. But the endless reflection on the setting, its occupants and the over intellectualising all gets a bit too much in the end. Where were the details about the courtroom proceedings ? They were fairly scant. And whilst it is interesting to get a background on the victim's family and also on the impact the murder had on them, was all the detail about them really necessary?
In the end, this book ended up feeling scattered. Was it true crime? Auto biography? Biography? Social commentary? Who was the central 'character'? What was the focus of the book? I know who and what it should have been, and yet it wasn't.

[Scribe Publications]

Honest, sympathetic, reflective — this is true crime at its best. A striking debut from McKenzie-Murray, which pursues uncomfortable truths with candour and care.
Damon Young, Author of Philosophy in the Garden and Distraction

Martin McKenzie-Murray is a writer of exceptional moral heft. He assays pain and loss with an intimacy few others achieve, never losing sight of the humanity that blooms around trauma. As a journalist, his great project is the unexplainable. Nowhere is that project explored with more clarity than in this book. He feels and is felt on every page.
Erik Jensen, Editor of The Saturday Paper and Author of Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen

As my speechwriter and policy adviser, Martin McKenzie-Murray made our world a better place with his insight, his empathy, and his passion. In A Murder Without Motive, he brings these skills to the story of Rebecca Ryle, at the same time brilliantly challenging the tsunami of brutality and banality that male culture can be. This powerful book gives us a glimpse of a vibrant and much-loved daughter, sister, and friend — and I challenge any parent not to be touched by the courage, resilience, and generosity of spirit shown by Fran and Marie Ryle. At the time of her death, one man stripped away Rebecca Ryle’s dignity. In some small way, those involved in the telling of this story have reinstated that dignity with love, thoughtfulness, and a passion to challenge the status quo.
Ken Lay, Former Chief Commissioner, Victoria Police

I can’t think of a better, more literate and perceptive reporter.
Jonathan Green, ABC Radio National

[Martin McKenzie-Murray] is that increasingly rare thing … a reporter who will knock on the doors of the bereaved and afflicted, and write humanely about the people he encounters.
Sybil Nolan, Inside Story

McKenzie-Murray has been a columnist with Fairfax in the past, but as the Saturday Paper’s chief reporter, he’s better than he’s ever been. His writing this year has been unmissable for its earnestness, its probing nature, its compassion and its calm authority. More please.
Crikey, 2014 Columnist of the Year

[T]akes an unorthodox but illuminating approach to his subject, beginning with introspection and, perhaps, atonement … McKenzie-Murray firmly rejects the proposition that the murder was an aberration in a life otherwise considered “normal”, something Duggan’s defence counsel submitted in the absence of a criminal history. Indeed the notion of “normality”, particularly in the light of Duggan’s heinous crime, meets with the author’s disdain.
Martin Leonard, Weekend Australian

Penetrating and insightful … one of the most cogent and persuasive aspects of A Murder Without Motive is [McKenzie-Murray's] candid and forensic analysis of the youth culture of the northern-suburbs badlands and the “swell of casual violence and unripe, immature masculinity” he believed silently festered in these young people.
Bron Sibree, West Australian

[D]eeply thoughtful … The main strength of this book is the way it dips between genres — A Murder Without Motive is part-true crime, part police procedural, part-memoir. It’s a consideration of adolescent ennui in Australian suburbia and an engrossing investigation into masculinity and violence.
Tessa Connelly, Canberra Weekly

McKenzie-Murray’s adolescence is closely entwined with the crime, and his deep, thoughtful examination of the suburban male psyche is one of the many strengths of this remarkable book … Insightful and eloquent … His immaculate prose cuts cleanly through the social murk, and his clarity of vision renders the complicated ideas of male aggression and the ugly side effects of suburban malaise at once shocking and shockingly readable.
Michael McGuire, The Saturday Age

[Jenny O'Mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended

[Di · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've enjoyed M-M's journalism in The Saturday Paper, published in Melbourne. This is his first book and it is an outstanding debut.
He explores the many facets surrounding the murder of a young woman, Rebecca Ryle, in 2004 in a northern suburb of Perth. M-M grew up near where the murder took place and was loosely connected with some of the people involved - everyone knew everyone - or others like them, in the area.
This story gathers power from the author's personal connection because it is, in part, an exploration of his own growing up and the forces that shape young men especially in Australian cultures. But it is a lot more beside; M-M digs deep into the responsibility of the journalist following a story like this one. He foregrounds the dignity of the victim and her family while explicating the details of their stories; he respects the effort and the humanity of the police officers and those in the legal system who do the hard, tiring, excoriating work of tracking down criminals and bringing them to justice in an imperfect system; he illustrates the culture of the suburb and the lives of its young people, especially young men with telling, resonant detail about violent teen parties, drinking and drug culture, surf culture, tagger culture and more. The questions he explores, such as the line between Aussie male inarticulateness and the emotional wasteland it creates inside people, affect everyone living in the culture to a greater or lesser degree. His exploration of survival and enduring dignity in the face of terrible loss affects us all because we are human.

[Edward Rush · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am from Perth and escaped to Melbourne as soon as I was able. I loved the city in my childhood for its brazen light (if McKenzie-Murray didn't use this term, it was something like this) and wild streak, but it was also a very rough place to be if you didn't fit into the bigoted mainstream. When I made it over East in 1991, I kissed the ground. Life had started.

I was fascinated by the prospect of this story. A young woman gets murdered by an aimless young bloke in the wind blasted northern suburbs. What could be said about the violent Perth masculine culture by way of explanation? McKenzie-Murray offers some conjecture, but he never really cuts through.

I think I missed the point of this book. It was well-written, but it seemed a bit callow, and I judged it poorly in comparison to Robert Drewe's "The Shark Net" (probably an unfair comparison). I wasn't too impressed either by the letter the author wrote to the murdered girl's parents. It seemed awkward and opportunistic and actually quite poorly written.

I think McKenzie-Murray's next book will be of a higher standard.

[Sean Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 / 5)

Some people may be disappointed in this book, thinking that it is your usual true crime rehash of gory details and torture porn. It isn't. It's more of a memoir, of someone associated on the periphery of the killer and his friends, and how this case haunts him until he contacts the family and wants to talk to them about writing a book. As such, the author often inserts himself into the book, sometimes successfully and sometimes not (when it becomes a little egocentric). I could have done without his interpretation of what happened the night Rebecca Ryle was killed - the killer has never given a motive nor completely explained his actions so it is all just conjecture. That was the only time I felt the book strayed uncomfortably into the torture porn genre, and it was completely unnecessary. As it came towards the end of the book it marred all the good work that had come before it.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was less a police procedural than a meditation on the unknowables of crime. As McKenzie-Murray himself admits, "The reader might demand the pleasures of resolution. But the Ryles work with accepting its opposite."

And though the author's endless self-reflection leans at times towards the distracting, the end result is a thoroughly fair exploration of a murder and its consequent bereavement.

[Hilary Campbell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Proposed re-write of the blurb: "A white middle-class dude bro writes a self-indulgent memoir using every ten dollar word he knows under the guise of writing about a horrific murder that destroyed a family."

[Keen Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars!

I had never heard of this case before, but I was drawn to it having spent some time in Perth and WA. The author’s analysis and assessment of Perth’s northern suburbs is absolutely spot on and had me smiling in recognition.

There are a few times when this seems to be as much about the author as the victim, when he goes on for many pages about his adolescence, but this is actually relevant, as it is in context and gives us insight to the area that he would have inhabited at the same as the victim, who was growing up in the same suburbs, and was roughly the same age, although they moved in different circles.

This was one of those true crime books which was unputdownable, and I devoured it over many contented hours on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Not only do we get the background to the case, but we also get the compelling back stories to the victims, which really help give this a well-rounded feel.

McKenzie-Murray’s writing reads really nicely and his style is crisp, sharp and he makes some really well-made points. He asks difficult questions whilst still remaining sensitive to the victim's family and draws some interesting conclusions about the murder and his motives, and this book serves as a fitting tribute to the life and memory of the victim.

[Lliam Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both deeply private and sociological in its story telling, the book paints a vivid picture of the setting in which this tragedy took place. Growing up in nearby Fremantle, I got a real feel for the dunes, the marina, the quiet night time streets and of course, the precarious energy of the rowdy Wednesday night at the local pubs. McKenzie-Murray brings us not only into the arena, crime scene and court room, but into the home of the victims family. This experience left me deeply moved, not just by imagining the effects of such a crime, but by the resilience and optimism of the victims in the face of cruelty that most people on the West Coast of Australia will thankfully, never know. A wonderful work, a fitting tribute. And yes, the author used a thesaurus.

[Amy Mcquire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written insight into the grief of losing a child. I had a few complaints, but they are mostly to do with my own personal interests. I felt the book was lacking in that there was no access to Duggan. I didn't feel like we knew enough about him to even begin to understand, but that's not the author's fault. I also felt there could have been a better examination into policing in Western Australia - particularly the bit about Duggan's confession. Overall though, amazing book and definitely a welcome departure from the usual true crime book.

[Josiepearsonyahoo.com · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book on Kindle after it was recommended to me by Amazon and I had not done due diligence. I thought I was going to read a murder mystery, not a true crime novel, so I was disappointed by the dry material, the matter of fact prose and that the murderer is disclosed almost straight away. However I persevered and sure enough it was a dissertation on a murder without a motif and the impact that this has both on the Judicial system in Western Australia and the loved ones of Rebecca. Would I recommend it to friends probably not.

[Tania · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book to be more about the author and his life and I found it jumped around a lot I also found he wrote about things that had nothing to do with the murder case I found this book to be very boring

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for a good murder mystery book but this was a summary of the murder and court case, plus strange exerts by the author himself. I felt it was an odd choice to include himself so much in what is Rebecca’s story.

[Saskia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just don't know why this book needed to exist. It feels to be more about detailing the author's process in researching the book instead of offering anything really meaningful. A horrible crime, but a boring book.

[Rathkom · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was an enjoyable read

[Sherry Mackay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 maybe. A different sort of true crime story. Not salacious at all, which is good. In fact not really about the murder so much as about how the modern culture affects young men’s behaviour.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

True Crime writing seems, to this outside observer, to be a minefield of complications. Personal connections to a real crime event, either of the victim, the perpetrator, or community can create a situation that authors must carefully negotiate. Because of this it does seem that true crime structure either takes a particularly fact based / no conclusions drawn approach, or steps into a very personal viewpoint. Martin McKenzie-Murray grew up in the same neighbourhood as Rebecca Ryle, his brother knew the man found guilty of her murder, and even though the author didn't personally know any of the parties, he has used that concept of a personal viewpoint in an unusual manner.

The author is extremely present in A MURDER WITHOUT MOTIVE. Right from the beginning the recounting of the murder of Ryle is filtered through personal experience and observation. Alongside the facts of the case, McKenzie-Martin immediately offers his own analysis of the perpetrator's motives, and the community / society in which the events took place. There is an overwhelming sense that somehow, middle class Perth, created an environment of casual violence and male entitlement that this perpetrator bought into. This over-heated environment then the likely catalyst for why he killed, offering a possible reason in the vacuum of explanation left by the killer himself.

Speculation of motive also expands to a possible recreation of many of the events surrounding Ryle's death. This is a less successful aspect of the book, creating a slightly off tone, perhaps because it moves things from speculation on motive and causation, onto a path with a slight whiff of voyeurism along it.

An extremely unusual approach to True Crime, the style of language employed is also off the beaten track. Very descriptive, dare one say "flowery" at points, it's a style that's either going to engage or grate excessively on individual readers. Which sort of makes sense given the whole nature of A MURDER WITHOUT MOTIVE. The author states in the Afterword (and I'm paraphrasing) that he wanted to write a true crime book that illustrated the impact on family, and the problems associated with moving on. Readers are going to have to make their own minds up on whether or not that aim was achieved.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

*I won a copy of this book through a GoodReads contest - thank you to Scribe Publications for the book!*

I don't read much non-fiction, but this book intrigued me since it is set in a suburb of the city I live in and grew up in. This book focuses on the murder of Rebecca Ryle, which occurred in May 2004. I was in Perth at the time, so I was trying to figure out why the name Rebecca Ryle didn't sound familiar to me. Maybe it was because I was preparing to travel around the world on my own, and so was distracted. It does seem strange that I would've missed it on the news, though.

I am not really familiar with the suburbs in which this true story took place, as I have spent most of my life in Perth living south of the river. I'm glad I read this book and learned about Rebecca Ryle, as I feel like it isn't fair that she has been seemingly forgotten.

At first I was a little worried that the book was going to mostly be about the author, as he did bring in some autobiographical elements to the book. But my fears were allayed as the book went on, and the focus turned more clearly toward the Ryle family and their experiences then, and in the time since Rebecca's death.

I thought this was a well-written book that definitely does Rebecca and her family justice.

[Stringy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more in the Helen Garner mode than the police procedural type of true crime book. Partly because it wasn't a difficult crime to solve (police picked up the guy last seen with her the next day, and had evidence he did it very soon after), and partly because the author is more interested in how people survive such a devastating loss.

I was worried when I saw this included the author's memories of the time and place this happened, but it's not self-indulgent at all. He confines himself to the situations he was in that are similar to the life Duggan was living, and focuses for the rest on the Ryle family. They contrast so well - a family determined to live intentionally in a place where it's so easy to sink into beer, sport and low expectations.

I feel like his adult respect and understanding of suburbia and the place he grew up (compared with his youthful disdain and escape) led him to pull a few punches on the topic of toxic masculinity. But it's refreshing to see a male author address that topic at all, and I'm interested to see what he writes next.

[Amra Pajalic · Rating 5 out of 5]

ost true crime books are about the murder of an innocent and the plot is concerned with the motive. The victim acts as a plot device, but in his memoir A Murder Without Motive Martin McKenzie-Murray does something different.

The focus of his book is not on the why, because that is never clear, but on the how. How does a family deal with the aftermath of the brutal murder of their daughter, 50 metres from their doorstep and by someone in their community?

This was a beautifully written memoir that pays homage to Rebecca Ryle's life and that portrays the reality of living after being victims of a violent crime. It really highlighted the fact that our obsession with crime and especially true crime is voyeuristic and can dehumanize us in the process. This is a book that deserves wide recognition and I hope it is recognised on many award lists.

[Kate Wild · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a very big fan of Martin MM’s writing. He is a perceptive, deep-thinking journalist, so I was very excited to read this but I felt that the story he set out to tell was never really delivered on. I wanted to go more deeply into the damaged/ing masculinity behind the crime, which Martin sets up an expectation he will examine. I suspect the only reason this was not fulfilled is that the people the author hoped to speak to about this element of the story, wouldn’t talk. That happens, even to journalists as talented as MMM. I still look forward to Martin’s next book, he is a truly gifted writer.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in a day, staying up until midnight to finish it. From the very first sentence to the last I was completely engaged in this (true) story. I don't think I've cried that hard in a really long time. Thank you to the author for writing this, a very perceptive, thought-provoking and ultimately kind and respectful story about a very loved girl and her family. I lived for two years in the northern corridor of Perth where this story took place and so it resonated with me on several levels.

[Mark O'mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A non-fiction account of a murder, its context and circumstances set in my home town. When I came across this book a week or so ago I was surprised I wasn’t aware of it (being published a few years ago and set in my town) what also surprised me was how good it is. Wonderfully written and intelligently set up with the Janet Malcolm quote. This writer has straddled brilliantly the space between writing a gripping tale with a level of sensitivity, respect and insight that is as good as any Australian non-fiction/essay writing I have ever read. Highly recommended.