The Unearthed by Lenny Bartulin
About Lenny Bartulin
The author of five previous novels, Lenny Bartulin’s work has been twice longlisted in the Tasmanian Literary Awards and selected as a Most Anticipated Historical Novel by Oprah Daily in the US. He lives in Hobart with his wife and son.
Quote from Lenny Bartulin
“History holds the present in its hands and the novel is a vital artform in our understanding of how. The ARA Historical Novel Prize is a wonderful and welcome addition to our literary culture, and I am delighted and honoured to have The Unearthed recognised on this year’s shortlist.”
About The Unearthed
After decades-old human bones are discovered in the Tasmanian wilderness, Antonia Kovács returns home with questions for her father, a retired police inspector in Queenstown.
Meanwhile, Tom Pilar receives news of an inheritance, from a man he barely remembers, one of his father’s friends from the early days, newly arrived in the island and looking for work.
Set amidst the harsh terrain of the timber and ore industries of the west coast, The Unearthed is a haunting novel about the past and its quiet but tenacious grip on the present. It reveals the tragic connections between the disparate lives of post-war migrants and local workers, and the fallibility of memory, the illusion of truths and the repercussions on real lives.
Judges' comments
Beautifully crafted in visually poetic prose, Lenny Bartulin’s The Unearthed opens with the discovery of decades-old human bones in the Tasmanian wilderness and time-travels us through the landscapes of Hobart and Queensland. Flowing between a present-day detective mystery and past lives fleeing war-ravaged Croatia, Bartulin skilfully constructs a narrative cobweb of migrant stories ensconced in the harsh terrain of the timber and ore industries of Australia. Embracing childhood memories, he explores notions of obligation, family ties, and communities pressured into unlikely actions and alliances, to produce a bitter-sweet historical crime fiction novel that continues to resonate long after the final page is turned.
