When 16-year-old Shaun discovers a dead body in the lake of a quiet mining town in outback Queensland, he immediately reports it to the police. But when he returns to the site with the constable, the body is gone.
Shaun’s father drowned a few years ago, and now his mum and the authorities question whether he saw a body at all. Determined to show the town the truth, Shaun and his best friend, Will, open their own investigation. But what they discover is far more sinister than a mining mishap or a murder, and reveals a darkness below the surface of their small mining town.
A young adult novel from University of Queensland Press.
“‘The reader in me wanted to race right through this to solve the mystery. The writer in me thought I should put the brakes on and appreciate the fine writing. The reader won. I had to know. Had to. That’s how good the writing is.” Nick Earls
Click here to listen to a chat I’ve had with Rhianna Patrick from ABC about the origins of The Man In The Water.
The Man In The Water was inspired by my extended time in regional Queensland working with Queensland Music Festival, particularly mining towns. On the ground, I experienced a whole new culture and landscape that I hadn’t seen represented elsewhere in mainstream fiction.
I found the young people there particularly inspiring. They were often dealing with some pretty tough issues with a great deal of resilience and were frequently called upon to possess maturity beyond their years. Shaun and Will, the two main characters in The Man In The Water, came from them.