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This House of Grief

The Story of a Murder Trial

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This House of Grief

By: Helen Garner
Narrated by: Kate Hood
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This House of Grief is a heartbreaking audiobook by one of Australia's most admired authors. Anyone can see the place where the children died. You take the Princes Highway past Geelong, and keep going west in the direction of Colac.

Late in August 2006, soon after I had watched a magistrate commit Robert Farquharson to stand trial before a jury on three charges of murder, I headed out that way on a Sunday morning, across the great volcanic plain.

On the evening of 4 September 2005, Father's Day, Robert Farquharson, a separated husband, was driving his three sons home to their mother, Cindy, when his car left the road and plunged into a dam. The boys, aged 10, seven and two, drowned. Was this an act of revenge or a tragic accident?

The court case became Helen Garner's obsession. She followed it on its protracted course until the final verdict.

In this utterly compelling audiobook, Helen Garner tells the story of a man and his broken life. She presents the theatre of the courtroom with its actors and audience - all gathered to witness to the truth - players in the extraordinary and unpredictable drama of the quest for justice.

©2014 Helen Garner (P)2016 Bolinda Crime History Judicial Systems Law Murder Relationships True Crime Words, Language & Grammar Writing & Publishing
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Helen Garner is an accomplished journalist whose skills in research and engaging writing come to the fore in this examination of an Australian tragedy - the death of three young boys at the hands of their father. She manages to keep a critical distance from the trauma of the accident as she follows the court case allowing the reader/ listener to form their own judgements about the culpability or not of the defendant. It’s a very sad event but she does not allow the text to be maudlin or sentimental and she retains respect and sympathy for those involved.

Murder or tragic accident?

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Bit mystified about the critical acclaim for this book. It’s a not particularly interesting case told in a not particularly deep, interesting or insightful way. At times the tone feels a bit gossipy and the author seems happy to reduce her account to DIY attempts at body language interpretation, fleeting coffee house chats with people involved and not particularly revelatory armchair psychology. It’s bog standard court reporting, not particularly well done court reporting at that.

A dull slog at times

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This crime book was written from the perspective of the court case (and appeals). It was easy to follow, and posed a surprising theory of defence.

Crime story from a different angle

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Voice acting was so intense and distracting that I often felt detached from those awful real life facts.

What was with the narration?

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See title of review. No sense of character but I suppose interesting exploration of the adversarial court system and it did involve me in that but I was bored with the endless repetition of essentially the same story.

OK if you really enjoy the minutiae of tortuous courtroom detail

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