Zahid Gamieldien in-conversation with Benjamin Stevenson

Ilene, a working class mother, is struggling to survive and desperate to reconnect with her children, Jack and Lonnie, in the aftermath of a near fatal tragedy. But her children vanish, setting off a chain reaction within the community. Suspended detective Omar helps out with the investigation, uncovering disquieting clues, but he keeps getting pulled away by a dangerous cold case. Benji, a recovering addict, finds peace by breeding lorikeets and caring for his mother, only to have his clean life upended by a stranger’s menacing threat. Nera, a city lawyer grieving on a country farm, wants to find out who killed one of her animals and is faced with increasingly strange and unsettling answers.

In this gripping tale of human frailty and the otherworldly, each of the characters must confront the mystery of what really happened to Jack and Lonnie.

Zahid Gamieldien is an author, screenwriter, editor and writing tutor. His short fiction has been published in literary journals including Overland, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, Island Magazine and many others. His co-written screenplays have been listed for awards such as the Australian Writers’ Guild’s John Hinde Award and the AMC One-Hour Pilot Award at the Austin Film Festival. His work has also been included in the ‘best of’ Forty Years of the UTS Writers’ Anthology, listed for the Richell Prize and rewarded with funding to undertake a residency at Varuna House. Most recently, he was awarded a major grant from Create NSW to complete his debut novel, All The Missing Children.

Benjamin Stevenson is an award-winning stand-up comedian and author. His first novel, Greenlight, was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction, and his second novel, Either Side of Midnight, was shortlisted for the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Original Paperback. Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, his third novel, was a huge bestseller and has so far been sold in twenty-seven territories around the world. It will soon be adapted into a major HBO TV series.