It is 1856, San Francisco, a melting pot of cultures, a result of the gold rush of 1849. James ‘Yankee’ Sullivan is an Irish convict who had escaped from Australia, changed identity and has become an American boxing icon.
An organisation who call themselves the Committee of Vigilance.are determined to rid the city of all Australian miscreants, fearing that they will soon outnumber the American settlers. They have arrested Sullivan on the charge of election fraud and racketeering. While Sullivan is imprisoned, awaiting a probable lynching, he narrates his story to a journalist, Thomas Crane. And what a story it is. A penny dreadful story of crime, punishment, transportation, escape, boxing, celebrity and, sadly, lost love.
However, Thomas Crane has his own story. While working as a journalist he is furtively looking for what has happened to his father, an assassin who has disappeared with his three comrades after failing to kill their intended target, the powerful senator Sam Brannan.
As the judge holds Sullivan’s fate in his hands, Sullivan questions Crane, the interviewer becoming the interviewee.
During this interview, the perspective shifts. One page will be Crane, the next Sullivan. Crane’s perspective is in the first person and Sullivan’s shifts to the same.
Whish-Wilson’s descriptive writing is excellent as we invade the men’s thoughts. This format continues for most of the novel with some pages containing only one sentence. The technique works well, giving the impression of a flowing interview and conversation. Whish-Wilson has done his research and included within the story are actual press clippings covering Sullivan’s fights and career.
The Sawdust House is a departure from his usual style of book for Whish-Wilson but one he pulls off perfectly. A great story, superbly written, especially for lovers of historical fiction.
Reviewed by Neale Lucas
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Whish-Wilson is the author of eight novels and three creative non-fiction books. He was born in Newcastle, NSW but raised in Singapore, Victoria and WA. He left Australia aged eighteen to live for a decade in Europe, Africa and Asia, where he worked as a barman, actor, streetseller, petty criminal, labourer, exterminator, factory worker, gardener, clerk, travel agent, teacher and drug trial guinea pig.
David’s first novel in the Frank Swann crime series, Line of Sight was shortlisted for a Ned Kelly Award in 2012. He has since written three more in the series – the first three being published in Germany by Suhrkamp Verlag. David wrote the Perth book in the NewSouth Books city series, which was short-listed for a WA Premiers Book Award.
David also teaches in the prison system in Perth and previously in Fiji, where he started the countries first prisoner writing program.
He currently lives in Fremantle, Western Australia with his partner and three kids, where he teaches creative writing at Curtin University.
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