Michael Robotham's latest novel, Tell Me Something True, is his most autobiographical yet
Author Michael Robotham discusses his latest novel, 'Tell Me Something True,' which is a reimagined version of his first manuscript written in the 1980s. The book marks his return to setting stories in his native Australia after a successful career writing UK-based crime thrillers.
Why it matters
It highlights the evolution of a prominent author's career and the changing landscape of the international publishing market for Australian-set fiction.
Michael Robotham is a two-time winner of the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel. ( Supplied: Hachette Australia )
Link copied Share Share article Michael Robotham was a 22-year-old journalist working for a Sydney newspaper when he began writing his first novel in the early 1980s.
"[It] was going to be my great Australian novel … [and] win me every prize in the world," Robotham tells ABC Arts.
He finished it six years later, when he was living in London. It came very close to being published.
Set in a small country town based on his hometown of Gundagai in the Riverina region of NSW, the novel had the working title Blessed Are the Meek.
"I missed out by a single vote in an acquisitions meeting for a major publisher," Robotham says.
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