Cape Grimm

Caleb Mean is born into a religious community in remote north-west Tasmania and grows up believing he is the Chosen One. On his 33rd birthday, he commits a terrible, destructive act: but why?


First published in 2004, Cape Grimm concludes award-winning author Carmel Bird’s compelling Mandala trilogy, which examines the dark danger of charismatic leaders.


Novelist, essayist and non-fiction writer Carmel Bird won the Patrick White Award in 2016. Her books include The Blue Bird Café (1990), and the thematically-linked Mandala trilogy The White Garden (1995), Red Shoes (1998) and Cape Grimm (2004), all of which are in the Untapped Collection. Her most recent novel is Field of Poppies (2019) of which Robert Drewe wrote: ‘How to describe Field of Poppies? A lush feast of wit and wisdom? Writing so rich you simply want to devour it? A forensic examination of an Australian country town? Literary tour de force will have to do.’