'Clever and engrossing'
MAIL ON SUNDAY

'This Moebius strip of linked stories bends and twists the crime genre until it is barely recognisable . . . The result is a riveting study of human nature'
GERALDINE BROOKS, author of Horse

'Addictively engaging, profoundly serious fiction from an underappreciated master'
KIRKUS, starred review

'A standout meditation on a community's legacy of violence'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

In 1998, an apparently ordinary Australian man is arrested and charged for a series of brutal murders. The news shocks the nation, bringing both horror and resolution to the victims' families, but its impact travels even further: into the past, as the murders rewrite personal histories, and into the future, as true crime podcasts and biopics tell the story of the crimes.

From the killer's childhood town to Texas, Rome and beyond, from the mid-twentieth century to the near-future, Highway Thirteen asks how do communities make sense of such atrocities? How does the mourning of families sit alongside the public fascination with terrible crimes? And can we tell true crime stories without centring the killers?

About the Author
Fiona McFarlane's first novel, The Night Guest, won several prizes including the Voss Literary Prize and New South Wales Premier's Award, and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction and Miles Franklin Literary Award, among others. She is also the author of the short story collection The High Places, which won the International Dylan Thomas Prize, and The Sun Walks Down, which was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize. Her stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Zoetrope: All-Story, and Best Australian Stories. McFarlane grew up in Sydney and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews
McFarlane serves up a slantwise approach to crime writing in this crisp suite of tales . . . clever and engrossing * Mail on Sunday *
Addictively engaging, profoundly serious fiction from an underappreciated master -- Starred review * Kirkus *
A standout meditation on a community's legacy of violence * Publishers Weekly *
In Fiona McFarlane's gifted hands, this Mobius strip of linked stories bends and twists the crime genre until it is barely recognisable . . . The result is a riveting study of human nature -- Geraldine Brooks, author of HORSE
These sublime stories have the poise and clarity of classics. As Fiona McFarlane's characters edge towards revelation or disaster, her artistry shines on every page -- Michelle de Kretser, author of SCARY MONSTERS
McFarlane expands our understanding, illuminating what it is to be human . . . compulsory reading for anyone who's ever read (or written) a tale of murder -- Hayley Scrivenor, author of DIRT TOWN
McFarlane is a ventriloquist in these brilliant stories, voicing our fear and fascination around atrocity, the shocking ordinariness of its perpetrators -- Kristina Olsson, author of SHELL

PRAISE FOR FIONA MCFARLANE'S THE SUN WALKS DOWN

'Steinbeckian Majesty'
SUNDAY TIMES

'Moving and masterful'
DAILY MAIL

'Brilliant, fresh and compulsively readable'
ANN PATCHETT

'I can't think of another writer working today who I admire more'
KEVIN POWERS

Book Information
ISBN 9781529389913
Author Fiona McFarlane
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Sceptre
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Weight(grams) 41g