Australian Gospel

From one of Australia's most brilliant writers, a dark comedy about the tangled fates of two couples and the children trapped between them

Winner, Age Book of the Year 2025

Michael and Mary Shelley are Christian fanatics who loathe their fellow Australians – especially their 'reckless indulgence of alcohol and obsession with idiotic ball sports'.

Lenore and Tom Blaine are working-class Queensland publicans raising a large family in a raucous, loving, sports-obsessed home.

There's just one problem. Lenore and Tom are foster parents to three of Michael and Mary's children, who were removed from the Shelleys as infants. And the Shelleys are prepared to do anything to get them back. Anything.

Australian Gospel is the true story of Lech Blaine's family, a stranger-than-fiction tale that is heartbreaking, hilarious and altogether astonishing.

'The astonishing tale of a foster family held together by ferocious love and courage. What makes a real family? Whose rights should triumph in battles over a child? Which inheritances can we escape, and which will haunt us forever? All this is explored in an irreverently joyful family saga you'll never forget.' Charlotte Wood

'An extraordinary true story, beautifully told.' Tim Minchin

'Wild applause. Brave, funny and true.' David Marr

'This is the new benchmark for the quintessential Australian epic. I lost count of how many times I laughed and cried.' Grace Tame

'Fact is stranger than fiction but it never arrives fully formed. We need writers like Blaine to do that for us. Here he delivers a rollicking, insightful and moving account of the everyday heavens and hells we make for ourselves, and each other.' Sarah Krasnostein

'One of the best writers of his generation.' Benjamin Law

'Blaine's native tongue, an ocker irreverence, gives his writing an amiable charm and reflects the styles of artists such as Tim Winton, Stella Franklin and Helen Garner.' Australian Book Review