Australian Gospel by Lech Blaine | Black Inc.

Australian Gospel: A Family Saga

You might also like

About the author

Lech Blaine

Lech Blaine is the author of the memoir Car Crash and the Quarterly Essays Top Blokes and Bad Cop. He is the 2023 Charles Perkins Centre writer in residence. His writing has appeared in Good Weekend, Griffith Review, …

More about Lech Blaine



Praise for Australian Gospel

‘The astonishing tale of a foster family held together by ferocious love and courage. What makes a real family? Whose rights should triumph in battles over a child? Which inheritances can we escape, and which will haunt us forever? All this is explored in an irreverently joyful family saga you’ll never forget.’ —Charlotte Wood, author of Stone Yard Devotional

'Fact is stranger than fiction but it never arrives fully formed. We need writers like Blaine to do that for us. Here he delivers a rollicking, insightful and moving account of the everyday heavens and hells we make for ourselves, and each other.' —Sarah Krasnostein, author of The Trauma Cleaner

'This is the new benchmark for the quintessential Australian epic. I lost count of how many times I laughed and cried. If I was a believer, I'd say that Lech Blaine's writing is godlike. Then again, it's something better than that; enchantingly human.' —Grace Tame

'One of the best writers of his generation.' Benjamin Law

'Blaine's native tongue, an ocker irreverence, gives his writing an amiable charm and reflects the styles of artists such as Tim Winton, Stella Franklin and Helen Garner.' —Australian Book Review

 ‘Wild applause. Brave, funny and true.’ —David Marr

Australian Gospel is one of the best books I’ve ever read ... It’s a very rich tale that’s true of their childhood. The humour, the poetic writing, it’s brilliant.’ —Grace Tame, The Sun Herald

‘Despite the nightmare-inducing creepiness of the Shelleys, Blaine’s writing maintains a light and sometimes comical tone. This emotionally charged book reads partly as a thriller and partly as a literary memoir, creating a strange yet compelling combination that makes it worthy of a TV series adaption … it’s a great pick for fans of Tara Westover’s Educated, who can finally satisfy their cravings for another equally unsettling memoir, this time in an Australian setting.’ —Books+Publishing
 

More from Lech Blaine