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Gail Jones

The Name of the Sister

The Name of the Sister

$34.99 AUD
$34.99 AUD
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'One of the most important and prolific literary authors working in Australia today.' Sydney Review of Books
Susan's Review
Gail Jones is one of Australia’s most acclaimed authors of literary fiction, having produced ten prize-winning novels and two short story collections. Her recently released eleventh novel, The Name of the Sister, has been widely reviewed as a crime thriller, heralding a new development in Jones’ writing. The plot certainly contains elements of that popular genre: a mysterious crime; an investigative detective; atmospheric settings; and the creation of mystery and suspense. Initially set in Sydney and seen through the eyes of its central character, freelance journalist Angie, the novel initially confronts us with the image of an unknown, amnesiac woman who was found wandering at night on a highway, thirty kilometres north-east of the town of Broken Hill. Her traumatised state, visible on the television screen – her “empty blink” described as “recall[ing] the clicking eyelids of old-fashioned dolls” – leads police to suspect that she’s the victim of a violent crime, and to call for answers to her identity. After a series of misidentifications by members of the public, and with no further information, the unknown woman becomes in effect a Missing Person.

When the police investigation shifts to Broken Hill, Angie becomes involved through her close friendship with Bev, the detective assigned to the case. But instead of following this shift in location with a standard crime thriller, The Name of the Sister gradually unsettles the assumptions of crime fiction itself. The novel asks us to consider whether reason and deduction are the only forms of knowledge that might lead to the solving of a crime. It is also critical of the media’s use of crime as a form of entertainment – what it calls the “cruel devotion” of the camera to the faces of the suffering victims. And unlike traditional crime fiction, the novel reminds us that even though justice might ultimately prevail, there can never be closure for the loved ones of those who were killed. The Name of the Sister is, in short, ultimately concerned with crucial ethical, moral and psychological aspects of crime, rather than with the creation of a plot-driven thriller. 

This novel of ideas is also a lucidly written and often deeply moving story about one woman’s search for meaning. Angie’s marriage and her work as a freelance journalist are faltering, and she carries an unresolved burden from her familial past. But she also finds pleasure in the natural world and the tempestuous weather of Sydney, and in the richness of literature, music and film. But as always in Jones’ fiction, there are layers of meaning to an individual’s search for answers in a morally fractured world. The novel’s very title suggests the story’s thematic complexity: while the act of naming is both a necessary human activity for identifying ourselves, others and the world, it can also be a dangerous means of reducing people to categories, such as the Indigenous people and the Jews referred to in the novel. The title’s echo of the Lord’s Prayer also hints at the novel’s concern with the consequences of religious faith, and a “speaking back” to the Law of the Father. And while only one sister is referred to, the novel can also be read as a tribute to sisterhood as a form of resistance to misogyny.

Another great strength of the novel is its vivid and symbolic evocation of place. The sensorial richness of Sydney’s flora and the city’s drenching rain make Angie feel more alive. By contrast, the mining town of Broken Hill represents “the tyranny of the inert: machines, wrecks, holes, slags and mullock dumps … [and behind the train station] the gigantic black waste heap, and industrial mining shapes and poppet heads, some in use, others defunct.” The novel’s coda, set in the aftermath of the experience of Broken Hill, transports us to a different place entirely. But no spoilers: you will have to read the novel to discover its final destination, and what it might signify for Angie, and for the wider world. 

I’ve long been an admirer of Jones’ emotionally affecting, intellectually stimulating and beautifully written fiction. The Name of the Sister consolidates her reputation as one of Australia’s finest writers. 

I’m delighted to be interviewing Gail Jones about her new novel at the Lane Bookshop on Tuesday 8th July. You can buy tickets here.

Publisher Review

In this spellbinding new literary novel from award-winning author Gail Jones, the arrival of a mysterious young woman triggers an unstoppable series of events in the nearby town of Broken Hill.

A young woman stumbles onto an outback road at night, and is caught in the headlights of an approaching car. Who is she? Nobody knows, and she has lost the ability to speak. She is rushed to hospital and then exposed to the glare of the TV cameras.

This is how the story of the Unknown Woman begins, setting off a media firestorm that catches the eye of Angie, a freelance journalist and childhood friend of Bev, the police inspector in charge of identifying Jane, as the Unknown Woman is dubbed, and tracking down her assailant. Dozens of people step forward claiming to know Jane and to hold the key to her identity. 

Gail Jones new novel, set in Sydney and the Mars-red landscapes surrounding the remote mining town of Broken Hill, explores how stories about identity and history multiply in the absence of reliable facts. And then the stories redouble once the Unknown Woman is identified and given a name. In an urgent finale that neither of the major characters could have anticipated, contradictory clues will proliferate about the true name of the sister.
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