Launch of Endless River, by Robert Bowker

Join us at Paperchain Bookstore for the launch of Endless River: Life, Love and Death on the Gellibrand, by Robert Bowker. In conversation with Robert will be Frank Bongiorno.

Endless River combines historical events—notably the drama, tragedy and heroism which surrounded the wreck of the Fiji at Moonlight Head—with a fictional account of life on and around the Gellibrand River at Princetown in 1891.

It brings to life, in the framework of a single family history, the personalities and tensions within a community struggling with the challenges of early life in the colony of Victoria.

It is a tale of romance and larrikinism; of squatters, settlers and an ex-convict; of humour and tragedy, successes and failures. And murder.

A great great grandson of two early settlers featured in Endless River, Bob Bowker was raised where this novel is set, at Princetown in Victoria. Following a 37 year career as a diplomat working mostly on the Middle East he is an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the ANU Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies. The author of six books on Middle East issues, his professional memoir, Tomorrow There will be Apricots: an Australian Diplomat in the Arab World was shortlisted for the 2023 ACT Book of the Year.

Frank Bongiorno is the author of three acclaimed histories: Dreamers and Schemers, The Eighties and The Sex Lives of Australians. He is professor of history at the Australian National University and President of the Council for the Humanities Arts and Social Sciences.

This event is free but as space is limited please book to secure your place.