Paul Howarth has 3 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 2 narrators, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 4 ratings. The most-rated is Only Killers and Thieves.
Only Killers and Thieves
Summary
Two brothers are exposed to the brutal realities of life and the seductive cruelty of power in this riveting debut novel - a story of savagery and race, injustice and honor, set in the untamed frontier of 1880s Australia - reminiscent of Philipp Meyer's The Son and the novels of Cormac McCarthy. An epic tale of revenge and survival, Only Killers and Thieves is a gripping and utterly transporting debut, bringing to vivid life a colonial Australia that bears a striking resemblance to the American Wild West in its formative years. It is 1885, and a crippling drought threatens to ruin the McBride family. Their land is parched, their cattle starving. When the rain finally comes, it is a miracle that renews their hope for survival. But returning home from an afternoon swimming at a remote waterhole filled by the downpour, 14-year-old Tommy and 16-year-old Billy meet with a shocking tragedy. Thirsting for vengeance against the man they believe has wronged them - their former Aboriginal stockman - the distraught brothers turn to the ruthless and cunning John Sullivan, the wealthiest landowner in the region and their father's former employer. Sullivan gathers a posse led by the dangerous and fascinating Inspector Edmund Noone and his Queensland Native Police, an infamous arm of British colonial power charged with the "dispersal" of indigenous Australians to "protect" white settler rights. As they ride across the barren outback in pursuit, their harsh and horrifying journey will have a devastating impact on Tommy, tormenting him for the rest of his life - and will hold enduring consequences for a young country struggling to come into its own. Re-creating a period of Australian and British history as evocative and violent as the American frontier era, Only Killers and Thieves is an unforgettable story of family, guilt, empire, race, manhood, and faith that combines the insightfulness of Philipp Meyer's The Son, the atmospheric beauty of Amanda Coplin's The Orchardist, and the raw storytelling power of Ian McGuire's The North Water.
©2018 Paul Howarth (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
Dust Off the Bones
Summary
The author of the acclaimed Only Killers and Thieves returns to 1890s Australia in this powerful sequel that follows the story of Tommy and Billy McBride, the widow of their family’s killer Katherine Sullivan, and the infamous Native Police officer Edmund Noone. In 1890, estranged brothers Tommy and Billy McBride are living far apart in Queensland, each dealing with the trauma that destroyed their family in different ways. Now 21, Billy bottles his guilt and justifies his crimes while attempting to revive his father’s former cattle run. He’s drawn to his boss’s widow, Katherine Sullivan, yet refuses to confront his feelings for her. Katherine cherishes her newfound independence, and struggles to establish herself as head of the vast Broken Ridge cattle empire her corrupt late husband controlled with violence and money. But even in the outback, the past cannot stay buried forever. When the McBride family murders and the subsequent reprisal slaughter of the Kurrong people become the subjects of a judicial inquest, both Billy and infamous Police Inspector Edmund Noone are called to testify. The inquiry forces Billy to relive events he has long refused to face. He desperately needs to find his brother, Tommy, who for years has been surviving in the wilderness with Arthur, the McBrides’ Indigenous stockman. But Billy is not the only one looking for Tommy. The ruthless Noone is determined to find the young man as well, and silence the brothers for good. An enthralling, propulsive adventure that builds in suspense, told in gorgeous prose and steeped in history and atmosphere, Dust Off the Bones raises timeless issues of injustice, honor, morality, endemic racism, and violence. With an unflinching eye, Paul Howarth examines the cruelty of power and the brutal realities of life in a world familiar to our own.
©2021 Paul Howarth (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers
Cul-de-Sac: An American Dream, Full of Nightmares
Summary
Max and Amy Jones wanted a fresh start following the loss their child and an injury ending Max's football career in the UK so they set off to experience the American Dream. As they settled into the Cul-de-sac they now called home, a weekend of pampering was approaching for the ladies of Vernon's Place when they headed off to the Belle Vue Hotel & Spa leaving the men with a brand new barbecue and plenty of beers. The fun soon turns into a nightmare as the mysterious man in black begins killing the men off in a gore driven game of who's next - as their numbers dwindle and suspicion begins to eat away at them, the men prepare to try and take down the man in black and discover why he has chosen them.
©2019 Paul Howarth (P)2020 Paul Howarth