JF Was Here
| Author | Nigel Krauth |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary novel |
| Publisher | Allen & Unwin |
Publication date | 1990 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 168 pp. |
| Awards | 1991 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, winner |
| ISBN | 0044422830 |
JF Was Here is a 1990 novel by the Australian author Nigel Krauth.[1]
It was the winner of the 1991 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction.[2]
Synopsis
John Freeman has led a reasonable life. Born to well-off parents, he easily traverses school and university, gets married – though this doesn't work out and it ends amicably – before realising that he is homosexual. He moves to Papua New Guinea to be with the love of his life, and then, at the age of 40, he discovers that he has AIDS. He also discovers that his beloved grandmother Ina carried a dark secret; she had done something appalling in PNG. So he sets out to find out what he can about her by re-visiting her old haunts at the Hydra Majestic in the Blue Mountains.
Critical reception
In The Age Helen Elliott noted that author Krauth is "fascinated with the darker aspects of reality, of what lies behind our apparently ordinary lives. His writing brilliantly illuminates this dark beneath the sunlit surface." She concludes that "JF Was Here is a delicate, effortless and beautiful novel."[3]
Awards
- 1991 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, winner[2]
See also
References
- ^ "JF Was Here by Nigel Krauth". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
- ^ a b "Literary winner uncovers a purple patch in the mountains". Sydney Morning Herald, 10 September 1991, p3. ProQuest 2527555705. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
- ^ ""Shadows of exile under the sun"". The Age, 29 September 1990, p160. ProQuest 2521407519. Retrieved 22 April 2025.