Revelation Beach

(Paperback)

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Following her stepmother's murder in a house fire in Sydney, 44-year-old interpreter Eleanor Freeman is forced to flee to the mid-north coast of NSW. Eleanor is the orphaned daughter of the former Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, and works as a respected interpreter for the Australian government. All she can do for now, though, is take refuge in her family's rundown lighthouse, at Revelation Beach.

During the police investigation that follows, Eleanor is traumatised to learn, that in 1975, Ida (her stepmother), worked as an Indonesian spy. She was supposedly responsible for the imprisonment and torture of hundreds of East Timorese resistance fighters and was also suspected of betraying the Australian journalists known as the Balibo Five.

All Eleanor wants is to be left alone, but the past won't disappear. Wracked with guilt, and with the threat of a murder charge hanging over her head, she travels to East Timor seeking to discover the extent of Ida's involvement in these atrocities. Here, however, she must confront her own feelings of betrayal and the treacherous role played by both the Australian and Indonesian governments in their obsession with Timorese oil and gas.

'Rich with vivid detail and evocatively drawn, Revelation Beach is a compelling reckoning with a dark chapter in our past.' Mark Brandi, award-winning crime writer

'A literary page-turner for thriller lovers and everyone with an interest in Timor-Leste and Australia.' Tony Park, best-selling author of adventure thrillers

'Susan Francis has taken the tragic story of the Balibo Five as a starting point to create a psychologically intricate cross-cultural thriller with the superbly rendered Eleanor as its complex and unwilling protagonist. Reminiscent of Christopher Koch at his best.' Ed Wright, editor and critic

Author Bio

Susan Francis is an award-winning Australian writer, living in Newcastle, on Awabakal land. Her much-loved memoir, The Love that Remains, was a finalist in Varuna's Publisher Introduction Program and her short stories have appeared in such places as Island Magazine, The Saturday Paper and The Newcastle Short Story Competition anthology. Revelation Beach is her second book for which she received a Varuna residency, a Neilma Sidney Travel scholarship, and in 2024, an Australian Society of Author's mentorship. Susan has a graduate degree in Australian Literature and is currently studying for a Master's in Creative Writing. She has worked in education, and the media, and has appeared on SBS Insight and ABC Conversations.