The Graven Image: A Tale of Two Hemispheres

E. W. Hornung's first book, *A Bride from the Bush*, was greeted with acclaim in 1890. The critics were delighted by its freshness and originality but puzzled at having to wait until 1893 for a sequel. It may have seemed that the novelist was resting on his laurels. But “Willie” Hornung had, in fact, been hard at work in 1891 on an ambitious romance; he came within a hair’s breadth of finishing it. Whether it was the upheaval resulting from a move to a different address, illness, or another insurmountable problem, the creative process suddenly stopped. That novel is *The Graven Image*, a sensitive, beautifully wrought narrative with much humour and drama and vivid descriptions of people and places alike, the action moving from a cheerless Midland town in England to the wide open spaces of southeast Australia. This is the second unfinished novel edited by Peter Rowland, the companion volume being *His Brother’s Blood: The Last (Unfinished) Novel*, published by ELT Press in August 2015. As with *His Brother’s Blood*, Rowland rounds off *The Graven Image* with speculation on how, at one level, it might have reached a resolution. Together these books are designed to celebrate in 2016 the 150th anniversary of Hornung’s birth.