Interestingly Enough …: The Life of Tom Keneally

For five decades Tom Keneally has been one of Australia’s finest and most loved writers. Celebrated across the world as a master storyteller, and known especially for the Booker Prize-winning Schindler’s Ark, he is also respected for his humanitarian work and his commitment to causes such as republicanism.

But beneath Keneally’s warm and garrulous exterior is a complex man intermittently troubled by depression and anxiety. The prolific writer and popular raconteur has known many ‘dark nights of the soul’. His commitment to Catholicism once led him to train for the priesthood, but crippling doubt left him unable to fulfil that ambition. Instead, he became a haunted writer - and then an uninhibited storyteller.

Keneally’s remarkable career has seen him win literary acclaim and commercial success across the world. His works are frequent and diverse, ranging from much-loved novels (Bring Larks and Heroes, Confederates) and memoir (Homebush Boy, Searching for Schindler) to respected works of history (The Great Shame, Three Famines). A number of his novels have also been made into award-winning films (The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Schindler’s List).

The story of Keneally’s life and work is brilliantly told in this engaging and accessible new biography by Stephany Evans Steggall. The result of exhaustive research and unique opportunities to interview Keneally himself, Interestingly Enough is the definitive account of an extraordinary Australian.