Only Killers and Thieves -- Paul Howarth

<p><strong>Powerful. . . . Paul Howarth brings early Australia to life, bloody warts and all, in an epic tale of murder, revenge, and colonial oppression, with very little room for redemption. The story and his words will stay with you, long after you have finished the book." -- <em>New York Review of Books</em></strong></p><p><strong>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 <em>The Son</em> and the novels of Cormac McCarthy.</strong></p><p>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, fourteen-year-old Tommy and sixteen-year-old Billy meet with a shocking tragedy.</p><p>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 Australi