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On the Java Ridge

On the Java Ridge

Jock Serong

  • awardWinner, Colin Roderick Memorial Award, 2018
  • awardWinner, Staunch Book Prize, United Kingdom, 2018
  • awardShortlisted, Melbourne Prize for Literature: Best Writing Award, 2018
  • awardLonglisted, Indie Book Award for Fiction, 2018
  • awardLonglisted, ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year, 2018
  • On the Java Ridge, skipper Isi Natoli and a group of Australian surf tourists are anchored off the Indonesian island of Dana. In the Canberra office of Cassius Calvert, Minister for Border Integrity, a federal election looms and a hardline new policy on asylum-seekers is being rolled out.

    Not far from Dana, the Takalar is having engine trouble. Among the passengers on board fleeing from persecution are Roya and her mother, and Roya’s unborn sister.
    The storm now closing in on the Takalar and the Java Ridge will mean catastrophe for them all.

    INTERVIEWS

    ABC Melbourne, Friday Revue
    Radio NZ, Nine to Noon, Taking aim at Australia’s hard-line refugee policy
    RTR FM

    REVIEWS

    Shelf Awareness, Jul 18
    Swellnet
    Weekend Australian 
    ($)
    ANZ Lit Lovers Blog

    Jock Serong
    About the Author

    Jock Serong’s novels have received the ARA Historical Novel Prize, the Colin Roderick Award, the Ned Kelly Award for First Fiction and, internationally, the inaugural Staunch Prize (UK) and the Historia Award for Historical Crime Fiction (France). He lives with his family on Victoria’s far west coast.

    Read Moreright
    Extent:
    320pp
    Format:
    Paperback
    Text publication date:
    30 July 2018
    ISBN:
    9781925603804
    AU Price:
    $22.99
    NZ Price:
    $26.00
    Australian
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    Praise for Jock Serong
    andOn the Java Ridge

    ‘Jock Serong creates a sense of foreboding from the very start of his third novel, and then constantly ratchets up the tension with a keen sense of pacing.’

    ‘With this book, Serong cements his growing reputation as the thinking person’s adventure writer. On the Java Ridge is such a strong piece of writing on so many levels. Andrew Bolt would hate it!’ 

    ‘Blow me down if I didn’t hang on every word.’

    ‘Expertly written, vast in scope…A compelling literary political thriller and a must-read commentary on the Australian political environment and its treatment of refugees.’

    ‘This is the mastery of Serong’s novel, understanding that fictional dystopias are at their most profound when they take the everyday and tilt it towards the darkness…it is a deeply considered novel that steers us to the logical conclusion of an entrenched system rooted equally in brutality and silence.’

    ‘Terrifying, compelling.’

    ‘You might want to clear the decks before you start Jock Serong’s third thriller, because the odds are you won’t be able to put it down.’

    ‘The best surf-related fiction I have read in a long, long time, possibly ever—Jock Serong’s riveting On the Java Ridge.’

    ‘The rescue and the scenes that follow it are the real heart of the book, and they are exceptional. Serong invests the chaos and confusion of the wreck and its bloody aftermath with a visceral power that makes for confronting but exhilarating reading.’

    ‘Taut and impressive.’ 

    ‘Serong exhibits impressive control, leaping between three vastly different viewpoints and delivering a fevered crescendo as compassion competes with political survival.’

    On the Java Ridge cements Serong’s place as one of Australia’s most innovative and ambitious crime writers.’

    ‘The author’s knowledge of the sea, weather, boats and Australia’s political disdain for modern day immigrants is described with fierce anger and deep compassion.’

    Other editions ofOn the Java Ridge
    • On the Java Ridge
      ebook
      ISBN: 9781925410662
      31 July 2017
      Buy ebook
    • On the Java Ridge
      Paperback
      ISBN: 9781925498394
      31 July 2017