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Yandilli Trilogy #3
Captivity Captive
Two sisters and a brother are found bludgeoned and shot to death in a paddock in 1898. The case is never solved - until Patrick Malone, more than half a century later, decides the time has come to sift the truth from the lies.
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
3 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Rodney Hall
63 books21 followersBorn in Solihull, Warwickshire, England, Hall came to Australia as a child after World War II and studied at the University of Queensland. Between 1967 and 1978 he was the Poetry Editor of The Australian. After a period living in Shanghai in the 1980s, Hall returned to Australia, and took up residence in Victoria.
Hall has twice won the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal, and has received seven nominations for the prestigious Miles Franklin Award, for which he has twice won ("Just Relations" in 1982 and "The Grisly Wife" in 1994).
Hall has twice won the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal, and has received seven nominations for the prestigious Miles Franklin Award, for which he has twice won ("Just Relations" in 1982 and "The Grisly Wife" in 1994).
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 30, 2023
An engaging murder mystery, historical fiction novel set in 1898 on the coast of NSW, Australia. Three Malone siblings are murdered on Boxing Day, Michael aged 29, Norah aged 27 and Ellen aged 18. The story is told by Patrick Malone, aged 22 in 1898. He is writing the story fifty years on.
The Malone family consisted of twelve people. The father, Daniel Malone, was born in Tasmania, is 6’ 10” tall and weighed 26 stone. His wife was over 6’ tall. The Malone sons all helped in clearing and farming the land owned by Daniel Malone. Patrick Malone was destined to be a priest and was encouraged to receive an education. Initially Daniel Malone is accused of the murder as he had a falling out with Michael Malone.
The novel has good plot momentum and interesting characters.
This book was shortlisted for the 1988 Miles Franklin award.
The Malone family consisted of twelve people. The father, Daniel Malone, was born in Tasmania, is 6’ 10” tall and weighed 26 stone. His wife was over 6’ tall. The Malone sons all helped in clearing and farming the land owned by Daniel Malone. Patrick Malone was destined to be a priest and was encouraged to receive an education. Initially Daniel Malone is accused of the murder as he had a falling out with Michael Malone.
The novel has good plot momentum and interesting characters.
This book was shortlisted for the 1988 Miles Franklin award.
July 25, 2020
Rodney Hall as poet emerges from this novel, well worth reading in its complex, twisted prose, although perhaps best placed at the end of the loose trilogy of novels. Although it is not connected to them plot-wise (aside from a couple of subtle references), this story of lust, fear, and captivity on the harsh Australian coast at the end of the 19th century builds much of its strength from Hall's other explorations of such a world.
I am just going to post one of the many powerful passages from the novel, rather than attempt to come to terms with the experience of reading Hall. He deserves to have a much stronger presence on Australian bookshelves.
"Sitting round the oil-lamps of a winter's night, Pa read Lives of the Saints at the rate of about one sentence an hour. Mum read even more dreadful things in the darkness beyond her own familiar dark. And we played a card game called Happy Families.
When the wind blew from the north-east, which it often did, we could hear a distant crash of waves down at the cliffs below the twenty. And when we had gone to bed - as we preyed on each other, breathing each other's snores, turning together in our separate sleep so our bed-springs made harmony or screamed in someone else's nightmare - the cracks between the planks of the rough walls gaped wider and hair-fine glints of a silver sheet turned its wave to our drowning eyes; our bodyheat went sleepwalking till the dogs grew restless and put up their pointed noses and the horses, musing as they stood round in mockery of sleep, bent to stir the fog with caressing tongues and shook magnificent necks in the moonlight of a mare's eye.. While the ocean, that relentless heart, beat beat beat away at the rocks."
I am just going to post one of the many powerful passages from the novel, rather than attempt to come to terms with the experience of reading Hall. He deserves to have a much stronger presence on Australian bookshelves.
"Sitting round the oil-lamps of a winter's night, Pa read Lives of the Saints at the rate of about one sentence an hour. Mum read even more dreadful things in the darkness beyond her own familiar dark. And we played a card game called Happy Families.
When the wind blew from the north-east, which it often did, we could hear a distant crash of waves down at the cliffs below the twenty. And when we had gone to bed - as we preyed on each other, breathing each other's snores, turning together in our separate sleep so our bed-springs made harmony or screamed in someone else's nightmare - the cracks between the planks of the rough walls gaped wider and hair-fine glints of a silver sheet turned its wave to our drowning eyes; our bodyheat went sleepwalking till the dogs grew restless and put up their pointed noses and the horses, musing as they stood round in mockery of sleep, bent to stir the fog with caressing tongues and shook magnificent necks in the moonlight of a mare's eye.. While the ocean, that relentless heart, beat beat beat away at the rocks."
November 13, 2013
'Captivity Captive' is my favourite book by Rodney Hall. I've read about five of his. I think this one stands out for me because it has the sharpest, most tightly constructed plot. It's pretty much a thriller, whilst retaining Hall's trademark thoroughly literary and poetic style.
Based on real-life unsolved murders that occurred in Queensland in the late 19th century, Hall has transposed the story to NSW, and provided a solution of sorts. The Malones, a farming family headed by both an imposing patriarch and matriarch, with ten children, lose three in brutal and tragic circumstances: they are bludgeoned and shot to death in a paddock in 1898. The story is narrated by one of the surviving sons, Patrick, fifty years after the event.
How Patrick's narration coils around these murders, what led to them, and what happened after, forms the most fascinating aspect of the book. He both delves into the bleakness of his family life and shies away from it. There is both love and hate in his reminiscences, which probably characterises most people's relations with family to a greater or lesser extent. The non-linear story-telling heightens this sense that Patrick is both delaying getting to the final revelation because of its true, sordid nature, and also perhaps because he is enjoying revelling in the telling of it, of being the designated family scribe.
The language is at times intoxicating, rising to the level of music.
Hall concludes his book by giving us an answer to the puzzle. But this answer only brings up deeper, more disturbing questions. It is a thriller, yes, but one that does not make itself redundant after a first reading by neatly tying everything up. I've read 'Captivity Captive' a number of times now, and it remains as elusive and mysterious, as dark and poetic, and as satisfying as ever.
In my opinion, it ranks as a timeless Aussie classic.
Based on real-life unsolved murders that occurred in Queensland in the late 19th century, Hall has transposed the story to NSW, and provided a solution of sorts. The Malones, a farming family headed by both an imposing patriarch and matriarch, with ten children, lose three in brutal and tragic circumstances: they are bludgeoned and shot to death in a paddock in 1898. The story is narrated by one of the surviving sons, Patrick, fifty years after the event.
How Patrick's narration coils around these murders, what led to them, and what happened after, forms the most fascinating aspect of the book. He both delves into the bleakness of his family life and shies away from it. There is both love and hate in his reminiscences, which probably characterises most people's relations with family to a greater or lesser extent. The non-linear story-telling heightens this sense that Patrick is both delaying getting to the final revelation because of its true, sordid nature, and also perhaps because he is enjoying revelling in the telling of it, of being the designated family scribe.
The language is at times intoxicating, rising to the level of music.
Hall concludes his book by giving us an answer to the puzzle. But this answer only brings up deeper, more disturbing questions. It is a thriller, yes, but one that does not make itself redundant after a first reading by neatly tying everything up. I've read 'Captivity Captive' a number of times now, and it remains as elusive and mysterious, as dark and poetic, and as satisfying as ever.
In my opinion, it ranks as a timeless Aussie classic.
August 13, 2012
Can a writer of fiction provide a plausible solution to a real-life, unsolved murder? Rodney Hall confronts that challenge in Captivity Captive, an interesting, disturbing novel from Australia. As Hall tells it, the brutal life of an outback farming family in New South Wales is forever changed when three of the family's ten grown children are found murdered under mysterious circumstances. The scenario for this novel draws upon the true story of the still-unsolved “Gatton murders” that occurred in rural Queensland in 1898. Hall's proposed solution to the mystery of these murders seems ingenious rather than plausible; but Hall successfully conveys the difficult nature of colonial Australian frontier life. Written in a somber and sometimes poetic style, Captivity Captive is an fine example of 20th-century Australian literature.
February 16, 2019
This book was amazing. Was significantly more violent than I was expecting.
September 18, 2019
A complete gem of a novel. A wonderfully inventive take on an event from Australian history executed with great style and aplomb by one of Australia's greatest, and sadly criminally ignored writers. Although Hall has won Australia's highest literary award, the Miles Franklin he sadly is an author, (like too many Franklin winners) that hasn't been read widely by enough Australians, even though he has been consistently critically acclaimed.
This is a relatively simple tale, but an engrossing tale, and if you can find this book, get it, and sit back and enjoy the ride. I'm now hunting out the rest of this trilogy, as yes, I've neglected reading Hall up to now as well. But not anymore! He's special.
This is a relatively simple tale, but an engrossing tale, and if you can find this book, get it, and sit back and enjoy the ride. I'm now hunting out the rest of this trilogy, as yes, I've neglected reading Hall up to now as well. But not anymore! He's special.
July 4, 2008
A rather dark and grisly story based on the true, unsolved triple murder in late 19th century Australia. Using real names and event, the author has developed the characters and come to his own conclusions. Compelling and well-written - sort of like "Cold Comfort Farm" meets "In Cold Blood".
September 1, 2011
This was a challenging read, however I am glad that I stayed the course and read it to the end. It was an interesting book.
April 15, 2013
Still love it, such powerful writing with that pure Aussie twang to it. Fear I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew in terms of using it for my critical appraisal essay. Eek!
May 1, 2007
Grisly story, but kept my attention. Very colorful writing. I enjoyed his style quite a bit.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews