A Glorious Reimagining: Read Our Review of Good As Gold by Justin Smith

Some stories are too good to be true …

It’s 1861 and there are three campfires burning outside the gold-mining town of Mull Creek. At the first is Jesus Whitetree, an escaped orphan with no knowledge of his new world, not even his age or real name. He only knows he wants to find gold. Gold makes everything good.

At the second fire is the Jack Pink Gang. Jack is a little-known bushranger who is a violent criminal by day and a nervous wreck by night. His mother – a notorious felon known throughout the colony as Mother Pink – engages the services of a bush poet to get Jack’s name in the newspapers and make him feared and famous.

And at the third fire is police constable Harry Logan with Mary, a young Aboriginal girl in his custody. Harry has a good heart, but he also has Mary in chains. Despite her hard life and current circumstances, Mary remains smart, cheeky and troublesome to the struggling policeman.

With the announcement of the first Melbourne Cup, all three parties descend upon Melbourne town. The thrilling horse race offers something different for each of them – a new beginning, a chance to be written into history, or a prize bigger than they could imagine. But only one can take the gold.

This novel is a reimagining of the very first ‘race that stops a nation’, and a heart-warming story about triumph and the things that mean more than riches.

Good As Gold is an absolute ripper of a yarn! Delightful, clever and laugh-out-loud funny, this is a glorious read from cover to cover. From our initial introduction to the superbly loveable Jesus Whitetree (and how he came about his name), to the campfire evening rituals of the Jack Pink Gang, to the courage of Mary and her connection with Harry Logan, this is a tale of wonder and whimsy.

Justin Smith is the acclaimed author of Cooper Not Out and he excels at reeling you in from the get-go. His latest novel is no exception. Good As Gold is told with wit, exuberance and a huge appreciation for the quirks of being an Aussie.

Smith has cleverly devised a work that traverses beautifully over the origin of the Melbourne Cup, as well as our gold-seeking, bush ranger-ing and bush poetry historical longings. Being an award-winning journalist, Smith is skilled at cutting through to the guts of a story. But in Good As Gold I found each sentence a treat, and grinned from beginning to end of this excellent caper tale. I highly recommend it.

Buy a copy of Good As Gold here.