Publisher details

Author: Maryrose Cuskelly
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Genre: Fiction
Released: 01 February, 2022
ISBN: 9781760879853

The Cane

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Synopsis

Quala, a North Queensland sugar town, the 1970s.

Barbara McClymont walks the cane fields searching for Janet, her sixteen-year-old daughter, who has been missing for weeks. The police have no leads. The people of Quala are divided by dread and distrust. But the sugar crush is underway and the cane must be burned.

Meanwhile, children dream of a malevolent presence, a schoolteacher yearns to escape, and history keeps returning to remind Quala that the past is always present.

As the smoke rises and tensions come to a head, the dark heart of Quala will be revealed, affecting the lives of all those who dwell beyond the cane.

The Cane is an evocative and atmospheric thriller, and announces an exciting new voice in Australian crime writing.

Reviews

A Twisty Small-Town Mystery: Read an Extract from The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

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2 February 2022

A Twisty Small-Town Mystery: Read an Extract from The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

Your Preview Verdict: The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

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31 January 2022

Your Preview Verdict: The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

Gripping Rural Crime: Read Our Review of The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

Review

Review | Our Review

31 January 2022

Gripping Rural Crime: Read Our Review of The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

About the author

Maryrose Cuskelly

Maryrose Cuskelly is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. She has lived in Melbourne for many years, but she was born in Queensland, where, in the early 1970s, there were several high-profile child abductions and murders. The disappearance of Mackay schoolgirl Marilyn Wallman, in particular, made a lasting impression on her. In 2016, Maryrose was awarded the New England Thunderbolt Prize for Crime Writing (non-fiction) for her essay 'Well Before Dark' about Marilyn's disappearance and the way it percolated through her own childhood and later life. The Cane returns to some of the themes and preoccupations of that essay. In 2019, Maryrose's book Wedderburn: A true tale of blood and dust (Allen & Unwin, 2018) was longlisted for Best Debut and Best True Crime in the 2019 Davitt Awards. She is also the author of Original Skin: Exploring the marvels of the human hide (Scribe, 2010) and The End of Charity: Time for social enterprise (with Nic Frances, Allen & Unwin, 2008), which was the winner of the Iremonger Award.