Full of suspense, Harmless is the tightly woven story of eight year old Amanda, whose father is in prison, and Rattuwat, a Thai man burying his daughter in a strange land.Abandoning their broken-down car on the way to the prison’s visiting hour, Amanda and Rattuwat venture into the trackless scrub of Australia’s outer suburbs. As the day heats up, the sense of menace intensifies and each of them enters the no-man’s-land between safety and peril.
Julienne van Loon is the author of three novels and one non-fiction book, The Thinking Woman (NewSouth, 2019). Her novels include Road Story, winner of The Australian/Vogel Literary Award, and two other critically acclaimed works: Beneath the Bloodwood Tree, and Harmless. Her short stories and essays have appeared in The Monthly, Best Australian Stories, and Sydney Review of Books among other publications. In 2017, she was appointed an Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa. From 2015-2019 she was a Vice Chancellors Senior Research Fellow with the writing and publishing program at RMIT University, Melbourne; she now holds an ongoing appointment there as Associate Professor. A teacher of creative writing since 1993, she has taught and mentored many of Australias most talented emerging writersJulienne van Loon is the author of three novels and one non-fiction book, The Thinking Woman (NewSouth, 2019). Her novels include Road Story, winner of The Australian/Vogel Literary Award, and two other critically acclaimed works: Beneath the Bloodwood Tree, and Harmless. Her short stories and essays have appeared in The Monthly, Best Australian Stories, and Sydney Review of Books among other publications. In 2017, she was appointed an Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa. From 2015-2019 she was a Vice Chancellors Senior Research Fellow with the writing and publishing program at RMIT University, Melbourne; she now holds an ongoing appointment there as Assoc
