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The Refuge

The Refuge: Text Classics

Text Classics

Kenneth Mackenzie

Introduction by Nicolas Rothwell

Late at night Lloyd Fitzherbert, police reporter with the Sydney Gazette, is picked up by his man in CIB for a ‘last-minute job that won’t take a minute’ at the morgue. A body has been found in the harbour. Irma, a beautiful young woman who fled persecution in Nazi Europe, is dead.

She was Fitzherbert’s lover. And, though the police don’t know it yet, he killed her.

Gripping and atmospheric, The Refuge is a murderer’s confession—a tale of wartime Sydney, with its paranoia about communism and spies. Kenneth Mackenzie’s last novel is utterly different to his lauded debut, The Young Desire It, yet it shares that book’s psychological acuity and mastery of language.

Kenneth Mackenzie
About the Author

Kenneth Mackenzie was born in 1913 in South Perth. His parents divorced in 1919, and he grew up with his mother and maternal grandfather on a property at Pinjarra, south of Perth. He was a sensitive child who developed an intense love of nature.

At age thirteen Mackenzie was sent to board at Guildford Grammar School in Perth. His experiences...

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Nicolas Rothwell
About the Introducer

Nicolas Rothwell lives in Far North Queensland and is a former foreign correspondent. His award-winning books include The Red Highway, Belomor and, most recently, Quicksilver.

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Extent:
448pp
Format:
Paperback
Text publication date:
28 January 2015
First published:
1954
Region:
NSW
ISBN:
9781922182654
AU Price:
$12.95
NZ Price:
$15.99
Australian
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Praise for Kenneth Mackenzie
andThe Refuge

‘The history of a crime told as excitingly and with as much dramatic tension as anything byGraham Greene or Raymond Chandler.' 

‘Remarkable…A genuine personal tragedy.’

‘Fascinating, extremely skilful and subtle.’

One of our most gifted novelists.’

The Refuge is also a stunning enactment of its central idea. It could have been filmed by Hitchcock.’

Other editions ofThe Refuge
  • The Refuge
    ebook
    ISBN: 9781925095593
    28 January 2015
    Buy ebook
Other Titles byKenneth Mackenzie