Bodies of Men

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What to expect

Shortlisted for the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards - FICTION

Longlisted for the 2020 ARA Historical Novel Prize

2019 Canberra Critics Circle Award - FICTION

'a beautiful, tender, captivating story' - Joanna Nell, author of The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village

'It is a tender, liberating love story, but, as Featherstone originally intended, a provoking one about our definitions of masculinity, bravery and courage.' - Canberra Times

'a novel about intimacy and devotion, the power of tenderness, the mysteries of time, presence, and absence, secrets revealed and withheld, and friendships between strangers emerging from dire circumstances' - Australian Book Review

There is nothing more important than love and refuge.

Egypt, 1941. Only hours after disembarking in Alexandria, William Marsh, an Australian lieutenant at twenty-one, is face down in the sand, caught in a stoush with the Italian enemy. He is saved by James Kelly, a childhood friend from Sydney and the last person he expected to see. But where William escapes unharmed, not all are so fortunate.

William is sent to supervise an army depot in the Western Desert, with a private directive to find an AWOL soldier: James Kelly. When the two are reunited, James is recovering from an accident, hidden away in the home of an unusual family - a family with secrets. Together they will risk it all to find answers.

Soon William and James are thrust headlong into territory more dangerous than either could have imagined.

'A beautifully written, tender and sensitive love story told within the tense and uncertain context of war.' - Karen Viggers, bestselling author of The Lightkeeper's Wife

'This is a strangely gentle novel about wartime conflict, violence, and chaos.' - Sydney Morning Herald

Critics Review

a novel about intimacy and devotion, the power of tenderness, the mysteries of time, presence, and absence, secrets revealed and withheld, and friendships between strangers emerging from dire circumstances
Australian Book Review
A beautiful story, so deftly constructed . . . Bodies of Men is a wonderful book.
Sara Dowse, author of As the Lonely Fly
Spare, elegant, beautifully written
RiotACT
A beautiful, lyrical, elegiac book of love and war. A different take on men and conflict, and
a war story like no other
Michael Brissenden, author of The List
Featherstone's writing rings with assurance, and echoes with love, memory and tenderness.
Karen Viggers, author of The Lightkeeper's Wife
a beautiful, tender, captivating story
Joanna Nell, author of The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village
a tender, liberating love story, but... a provoking one about our definitions of masculinity, bravery and courage
The Canberra Times
rich in tone and reflective, revealing the fragile nature of relationships within the shadows of war. Bodies of Men is a profoundly moving piece of fiction from a perceptive writer.
Mrs B's Book Reviews
a captivating and moving love story that acutely measures the deep paradox of the masculine condition... Featherstone brings it all together in refined, unpretentious prose - war writing without sentimentality or hyperbole. I was totally absorbed by this book, I think it's just the thing for readers of Sebastian Faulks. There are even some ethereal notes of Michael Ondaatje in this. It's that good.
The Booktopian
Review to come
The Guardian
a timeless novel of love between men in wartime... a novel that says sweetness and strength in a man make for no contradiction but are two halves of a whole, and that shows each man, in his own way, is a 'dangerous story'.
Newtown Review of Books
a strangely gentle novel about wartime conflict, violence, and chaos. Nigel Featherstone explores the emotional currents running between friend and friend, child and parent, lover and beloved. The novel is set in a time and place where everyone is vulnerable and anyone might be shot, betrayed, captured or abandoned, but love of all kinds endures.
NSW, VIC, ACT [PRINT] The Sydney Morning Herald, The Saturday Age, The Canberra Times
if the reader wants setting, description, action at breakneck speed and a bittersweet ending, Bodies of Men will give it all... if you want a tender and remarkable story of discovery and fidelity, this is the book for you.
ACT [PRINT] The Canberra Times
Bodies of men, then, is a war novel that questions war. But, it is told with a generous touch that doesn't undermine or betray those who choose to go. It's a page-turner, underpinned by a fundamental understanding of humanity. It's a very good read.
Whispering Gums blog
the novel is worth reading for Featherstone's keen understanding of desire and the consequences of generosity
Adelaide Advertiser
Extended Review
NATIONAL [PRINT] Australian Book Review

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