Deception

'I felt always that the crumbling paper must hold something that was more like speaking flesh and blood that somewhere amid these shreds I would learn something of this family lost to silence; something about a house that was quickly abandoned and a family divided, and then all gates shut on the past.

'From the blood-soaked streets of the 1870 siege of Paris, to the tear-gas and chaos of its student riots of 1968; from the desolate, windswept Australian desert to the appalling dank prisons of 19th Century New Caledonia, Deceptiontells an epic, dramatic story of a search for truth, spanning continents and generations.

A young Australian man arrives in riot-ravaged Paris, armed with an ancient manuscript written in French and an obsessive desire to piece together the fragments of a mystery that has haunted him since childhood. His journey takes him back and forth in time, over the ruins of desert and city, and through the wrecks and mirages of history and memory.

Michael Meehan is the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Salt of Broken Tearsand Stormy Weather.

Deception, his long-awaited third novel, is a triumph of storytelling, imagery and language, a powerful, haunting work from a writer with 'an imagination of another order' (The Australian).

Praise for The Salt of Broken Tears, winner of the 2000 Christina Stead Award for Fiction:

'...a masterwork.' - The Age

'...a tour de force an astounding performance. It will, I think, provide one of the most memorable literary experiences of recent times.' - Michael Sharkey, The Australian

'...a novel about desire and despair that is altogether stunning.' - Debra Adelaide, Sydney Morning Herald

'...a major talent.' - Adelaide Advertiser