Overview

True crime writing at its finest, from the multi award-winning, bestselling author of In My Skin. Winner of the 2021 Walkley Book Award, 2022 NSW Premiers Literary Awards- Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction, and 2022 Sisters in Crime Davitt Award (non-fiction). In July 2014, on a lonely road at twilight outside Croppa Creek, New South Wales, 80-year-old farmer Ian Turnbull took out a .22 and shot environmental officer Glen Turner in the back. On one side, a man hoping to secure his family's wealth and future by farming the richest agricultural soil in the country. On the other side, the object of his obsession - the government employee trying his best to apply environmental laws. The brutal killing of Glen Turner splits open the story of our place on this land. Is our time on this soil a tale of tragedy or triumph - are we reaping what we've sown? Do we owe protection to the land, or does it owe us a living? And what happens when, in pursuit of an inheritance for his family, a man creates terrible consequences? Kate Holden brings her discerning eye to a gripping tale of law, land and entitlement. 'Kate Holden finds the epic thread in this crime and weaves a quintessential Australian story.' -Chloe Hooper, author of The Tall Man and The Arsonist 'Beautifully written, meticulously researched, carefully plotted and seamlessly stitched together. This book is a major contribution to the canon of Australian land and social history- a bedfellow with Francis Ratcliffe, W.E.H. Stanner, Tim Flannery, Bill Gammage and Bruce Pascoe ... Its power is in exposing a hidden, suppurating sore in the psyche of our nation.' -Charles Massy, author of Call of the Reed Warbler 'A gripping account of our land, and our selves.' -Tara June Winch, author of The Yield 'This is a special book, and I cannot thank Holden enough for writing it. By telling the human story of a man and his land, Holden reveals the timelessness of brigalow country, and threads a narrative that is ecological, humane and grounding.' -Anna Krien, author of Into the Woods and Night Games

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9781760644567

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Reviews

'An incredible writer.' -Books+Publishing 'This is essential reading by one of Australia's finest nonfiction writers.' -Readings 'In prose as rich as the landscape it describes, Holden's book digs down into history, and sets it within the broader story of modern Australia's relationship to the land ... Holden is an excellent writer and weaves different elements together beautifully, moving from the Turner-Turnbull story to its historical and philosophical context with intelligence and panache. Above all, The Winter Road is a rebuke to the classical liberalism at the heart of societies such as our own.' -The Australian 'Holden relates with empathy and intelligence a dramatic and complex story, which has deep links to the past and profound implications for the future ... The genius of the book, which, as a model of reconstructive journalism places Holden alongside Chloe Hooper and Anna Krien, lies in Holden's ability to apply her intense intellectuality to a topic that, in the most literal of senses, is so down to earth.' -The Saturday Paper 'Vividly written and meticulously researched' -Tasmanian Times

Author Information

Kate Holden is an award-winning author of two highly praised memoirs, In My Skin and The Romantic, and a regular contributor to The Saturday Paper, The Monthly and The Age.

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