Behind the respectable facade of turn-of-the-century Melbourne lies another, darker city -- one of obsession, derangement, dissipation and crime. This is the world that has driven Albert Walters to the brink of madness, that haunts his abused wife Anna and infects the lives of their children, Paul and Ondine. Led astray by a mysterious charlatan, Paul's artistic ambition conflicts not only with society but with a sister who finds her reflection distorted in the decadence that surrounds her. Spurred on by a shocking murder and fuelled by the absurdities of war and nationhood, Paul is drawn into the darkness that inspires him, while Ondine takes dubious refuge in the light. Written with an historian's eye for detail and a painter's love of beauty, The White Body of Evening is a breathtaking literary debut.
