Mark McAvaney in-conversation with Laurel Henning

For everything there is an appointed time,

even a time for every affair under the heavens.

After thirteen years it’s time for Mac to return home to face a past he’s been running from. A past his best friend Dave has been unable to escape. It was 1990, their final year of school and with an INXS soundtrack, life was moving on. Bus stops, homework and football were giving way to pay slips and beer, to first cars and first loves. Until one night changed it all.

As the story of that evening unravels, so too do the binds that cross generations of family. The pride of fathers. The love of mothers and a sister. The love of a mate; the prejudices that run deep. Testing them, and the strong social ties that small towns have, Mac searches for honesty and for the precious words never said, while Dave fights for his story to be heard. 

Before it’s too late, can these once-close friends and their town still divided by tragedy find a time for peace?

Mark McAvaney is a new Australian author, originally from Clare, South Australia, who’s lived in London for many years, working in film, TV and publishing.

Laurel Henning has been working as a journalist reporting on regulatory affairs for the past decade, previously at MLex and now as a correspondent at Australia’s newest media startup Capital Brief. When she’s not buried in legalese, Laurel is a voracious reader, and a dedicated member of the Dolly Alderton fan club. She also professes to have made all her closest friends since moving to Australia at Better Read Than Dead Bookclubs.