About the Book

Stephen Bolin dies at the novel’s outset, leaving an unusual death‑bed request: his sisters should walk his corpse back to his birthplace in Far North Queensland. When they decline, his reanimated body, portrayed as a jiāngshī (a Chinese undead), undertakes a solitary nocturnal pilgrimage from Brisbane to Innisfail. Along the thousand‑mile journey, his corpse decays, compelled by supernatural forces and subtle satire. Alternating with this macabre quest are intergenerational chapters that trace his family’s mixed Chinese–Scottish heritage. From the 1860s Queensland goldfields and 1920s Scottish immigration to Stephen’s coming‑of‑age, sexuality, and identity struggles in Brisbane and London. The novel weaves together migration, race, queerness, ancestry and belonging in a darkly humorous and haunting debut.

Event Details

When: Friday, 29 August · 6:30 pm – 8 pm
Where: Arts & Cultural Exchange (ACE), 8 Victoria Rd, Parramatta NSW 2150