Markus Zusak

Australian author Markus Zusak was born in 1975 in Sydney. He is the son of an Austrian father and German mother and he is the youngest of four children. He studied teaching at university and has taught at high school. Zusak lives in Sydney with his wife, daughter and son, and has taken up surfing.

Zusak began writing at the age of sixteen. The Underdog, his first novel, was published in 1999 and was followed by two sequels, Fighting Ruben Wolfe (2000) and When Dogs Cry (2001). Two subsequent novels The Messenger (2002) and The Book Thief (2005) have earned him international recognition.

The Lieutenant

Review by Catherine Hume

It’s easy to see why Kate Grenville won the Orange Prize in 2001 for The Idea of Perfection. The story of The Lieutenant begins by introducing us to Daniel Rooke, a young boy who lives with the curse of being a gifted child whose main interests are mathematics and astronomy. He is offered a place at a public school where boys still make fun of him for his exceptional abilities, but where he is given one-to-one attention in his interests.

We then encounter the thirteen-year-old Navy Officer Rooke, who is more excited at the prospect of viewing the stars of foreign skies than defending the Realm and conquering ‘natives’. Rooke, as a man-child, experiences the horrors of war, but after a time of recuperation with his family, is sent to another ship with a familiar face in the shape of friend and raconteur Lieutenant Silk.

Kate Grenville

The Australian writer Kate Grenville was born in Sydney. After graduating from Sydney University she worked in the film industry before living in Europe for several years and starting to write. In 1980 she went to the USA, where she did an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Colorado. Her first book was a collection of short stories and has been followed by seven novels (Lilian’s Story, Dreamhouse, Joan Makes History, Dark Places, The Idea of Perfection, The Secret River and The Lieutenant) and four books about writing. In 2010 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of New South Wales.