Mark Brandi is an award-winning crime novelist whose fifth book. Southern Aurora - as one reviewer noted, “takes hold of your heart. Breaks it a little, as well as fills it with childlike hope and compassion.”

Hi there. I'm your host, Jenny Wheeler. And on Binge Reading today, author Mark Brandi talks about how his own experience as an Italian-born Australian has attracted him to write stories about young boys coming of age in hard times,

Like Jimmy his lead in Southern Aurora, a character who as one critic said was “impossible not to fall in love with. There's a Mark Twain innocence and inner wisdom to Jimmy one far beyond most adults as he skirts his underprivileged life, seeking meaning and dreaming of a larger existence.”

That's coming up with Mark in a moment or two

Links mentioned in this episode

Wimmera, Mark’s award-winning debut novel:

https://www.hachette.com.au/mark-brandi/wimmera-the-bestselling-australian-debut-from-the-crime-writers-association-dagger-winner

The Rip: https://www.hachette.com.au/mark-brandi/the-rip-from-the-award-winning-author-of-wimmera

The Others: https://www.hachette.com.au/mark-brandi/the-others

Jane Harper's The Dry:  https://janeharper.com.au/

Willy Vlautin: https://www.willyvlautin.com/

Sofie Laguna:  http://sofielaguna.com/

Tony Birch:  https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/tony-birch-202213710733

The Overland train: https://www.journeybeyondrail.com.au/journeys/overland/

Mark’s Writing teacher: Ania Walwicz: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ania_Walwicz

The Southern Aurora: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Aurora

‘Grief Invites This Kind Of Magical Thinking.”

https://www.theage.com.au/culture/books/mark-brandi-grief-invites-this-kind-of-magical-thinking-20211109-p597eo.html

The Anniversary, Stephanie Bishop:  https://www.amazon.com/Anniversary-Stephanie-Bishop/dp/0802161677

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo%27s_Nest_(novel)

Where to find Mark Brandi online

Website: www.markbrandi.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/markbrandiwriter/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mb_randi/

Twitter: @mb_randi/

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Introducing award winning author Mark Brandi

Australian literary crime author Mark Brandi

Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Mark. Hello there, Mark, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Mark Brandi: Hi, Jenny. It's great to be with you. Thanks for inviting me on.

Jenny Wheeler: Southern Aurora is the book we're talking about particularly today. It's your fifth novel, but it's set in similar locations to the first books that you've written.

They're all small town, rural Australia, with characters who generally live on the wrong side of town. They're seen as literary crime novels.

That's how they're defined. But the crime aspect in Southern Aurora is slightly downplayed. It's more of a coming of age novel. Would you agree with that?

Mark Brandi: Yes, I think that's a fair assessment. Jenny.