Historian Patrick Renfield is at his son’s funeral. The size of the tiny coffin reveals a premature tragic death. Renfield is shunned by everybody, contempt written on the mourners’ faces. The author leaves us guessing how this tragedy has unfolded, yet there is no doubt that Renfield is responsible.

Renfield is a celebrity in the world of military historical fiction. Criticised by academics and peers, his colourful retellings of historical battles and personalities fly off the shelf. He is not afraid to embellish and exaggerate, negotiating the grey nuances of history. But a scandal has seen publishers scuttle away and his wife has kicked him. Renfield decides to write a biography on his famous grandfather, Nathaniel.

‘Rennie’ is a famous anthropologist known as the saviour of Jesustown, an old mission town of Indigenous people. He spent most of his adult life living with them studying their way of life and fighting for their rights. The narrative is told in the present by Patrick, but also in the past by Rennie, through a collection of audio tapes that Patrick is transcribing for his book.

Daley uses the insidious behaviour and immoral crimes that the colonists perpetrated on the Indigenous population and culture of Australia as a backdrop, shedding light on the theme that history, and indeed people, are not always what they seem. As Patrick researches the biography, he discovers much more than he bargained for, and is left with the dilemma of how to write Rennie’s story.

A brilliant novel.

Reviewed by Neale Lucas