Because no one outside Australia knows (or gives a shit) about Ned Kelly, the American publishers of True History Of The Kelly Gang actually promoted it as a “great American novel”. The only comparison I can think to draw is to call him a self-styled Robin Hood, or Jesse James, of the bush.

We mythologise this guy to an unbelievable extent. Now, it’s hard to explain the Australian fascination with Ned Kelly to an international audience – especially being, as I am, an Australian who has never known any different. He includes a blurb at the beginning of each section describing the fictional manuscript’s condition, as though it were catalogued in a library or museum. Carey positions True History Of The Kelly Gang as an autobiography, written in Kelly’s own hand, and divided into thirteen sections. The National Museum of Australia has the full text available online, but if you can’t be bothered to take a look at it yourself, let me reassure you that the similarity in expression is uncanny. Carey modelled his style off the most famous surviving piece of Ned Kelly’s own writing, The Jerilderie letter.

All of the stylistic punctuation and grammar choices felt quite natural – because it was. There’s no punctuation for speech, which normally I would find pretentious and annoying ( looking at you, Richard Flanagan!), but in this case it didn’t bother me at all. As I recall, True History Of The Kelly Gang is the first book I’ve read written in a uniquely Australian dialect or vernacular (albeit one that is clearly heavily influenced by the Kelly family’s Irish roots). It’s a pretty good example of the tone and style of the book on the whole, which some people hate, and others love – I’m definitely one of the latter. of age and know what it is to be raised on lies and silences my dear daughter you are presently too young to understand a word I write but this history is for you and will contain no single lie may I burn in Hell if I speak false.” Blurb, True History Of The Kelly Gang The opening line serves as the blurb on the back, and it’s powerful as all heck: This edition is absolutely gorgeous, I was blown away by the design and layout clearly, the designers took a lot of time and care with it, and they did a bang-up job. True History Of The Kelly Gang won the Booker Prize in 2001 (always good to see an Aussie author get an international gong!), and the Commonwealth Writers Prize that same year, along with about a dozen other awards and short-listings. … and people have had plenty to say about it, believe me! Let’s start with the good stuff.

The true history of the kelly gang book