Summer Reads 2010 - About Chloe Hooper

Author Biography

Chloe Hooper’s first novel, A Child’s Book of True Crime, became a New York Times Notable Book, and was short-listed for the 2002 Orange Prize. In 2005 she began following the death in custody of Cameron Doomadgee in Far-north Queensland, and her book-length account of the case, The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island (2008), won may Australian literary awards and has been widely published internationally.

Selected Quotes

"Chloe Hooper's masterful book of reportage is a kind of moral thriller about power, wretchedness and violence"
Philip Roth

"Life springs from every page of this enthralling book...It is first-class reportage, meticulously researched, studded with superbly observed human detail - and all the more moving for its intense restraint"
Helen Garner

"It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this book."
Peter Carey

The Tall Man Synopsis

When Cameron Doomadgee, a 36-year-old member of the Aboriginal community of Palm Island, was arrested for swearing at a white police officer, he was dead within forty-five minutes of being locked up. The police claimed he’d tripped on a step, but the pathologist likened his injuries to those received in a plane crash. The main suspect was the handsome, charismatic Senior Sergeant Christopher Hurley, an experienced cop with decorations for his work.

In following Hurley’s trail to some of the wildest and most remote parts of Australia, Chloe Hooper explores Aboriginal myths and history and uncovers buried secrets of white mischief. Atmospheric, gritty and original, The Tall Man takes readers to the heart of a struggle for power, revenge and justice.


Other books by Chloe Hooper
•   A Child’s Book of True Crime

Author website
http://www.penguin.com.au/thetallman/