White Lies - Where There Is Smoke
Based on a true story, White Lies, is set in ‘God’s Own Country’, in Walwa, Northeast Victoria, in 1939, in the period between the devastating Black Friday Bushfire disaster and the last months of "peace" before World War II. It is a delicious mix of crime, mystery, history and intrigue.
A fiery car wreck extinguishes the life of Raymond (Dickie) White’s devoted wife, Elizabeth, and catapults him to the attention of enthusiastic police investigators and newspaper journalists. The local rumour mill is in overdrive and newspapers are provided with sensationalised copy for a national audience who are clamouring for more of the intriguing story.
Is White the victim of small-town gossip, hounded by misinterpretations of his actions? Did the horrors of his war service impact on his actions? Is he a cunning, scheming individual who manipulates situations and takes advantage of innocents to achieve his ambitions? Is the “evidence” as revealing as the police attest?
White’s life unravels as his web of lies is unpicked by the persistent, dedicated investigations of police utilising new-age forensic techniques and insightful deductions. As the net closes around him, he is left with only one option for escape.
New Book!!!
A Sandwich Short of a Picnic reveals another skeleton in the closet from the Australian High Country. The tale, which was preserved in numerous grainy newspaper clippings from 1924, but erased from memories and local folklore.The story is set in Walwa and Jingellic, two picturesque rural villages on opposite sides of the of the Murray River, at the junction of several fertile valleys, with a backdrop of rugged ranges. In 1924, the community of this remote rural district finds itself at a pinch point: once a renowned district for mining and agriculture, the local economy is under duress as alluvial gold is becoming scarce, tin mines are failing, and farms are devastated by the impacts of rabbits and drought. In addition, a looming global economic depression, in concert with dark echoes from a terrible war, fuel social upheaval and distress. Against this background, a misunderstood and socially challenged young man is broken by a series of misfortunes, gossip, manipulation and maybe, a poison he invented.
A blood-stained picnic rug heralds Claude Batson’s descent into madness, unleashing the Last Bushranger of the Riverina.
Autographed copies of Janice Newnham's books can be ordered directly from the author. They are also available on most online book retail platforms, but preferably, support your local bookshop!
Good bookshops will order a copy for you from the distributor.
From The Inside
Isolated from friends and family and enmeshed in the fight to defend her family’s farm from the 2019/2020 Black Summer fires, Janice Newnham was moved to document and communicate the situation to the outside world via Facebook posts.
It started as a need to quickly reassure worried friends and family, but soon became a mental health exercise, a necessity to unload by uploading to Facebook!
This book represents the first nine weeks of an ongoing story of the impact of bushfire disaster on a small rural community and is representative of many Australian farmers and rural communities during an unprecedented bushfire season: The Black Summer.