Robert hillman ww2

Robert Hillman

Robert grew up in a small town in rural Victoria – Eildon Weir, as it was known when he lived there. The town nestled under the weir, and he spent a fair bit of time as a child contemplating the thrilling prospect of the wall’s collapse. He imagined the opportunities the flood would provide for the rescue of old people and small children. The newspaper headlines would read: “Eildon Boy Saves Hundreds.”

Robert Hillman’s memoir, The Boy in the Green Suit (Scribe Publications), won the Australian National Biography Award for 2004. His collaboration with Najaf Mazari resulted in the bestselling and critically acclaimed, The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif (Wild Dingo Press) Robert is also the author of Gurrumul: His Life and Music (HarperCollins Australia) and the novel Joyful (Text Publishing).
Robert has collaborated with Stan ‘Yarra’ Yarramunua a highly successful Melbourne artist, musician, businessman and charity worker, to write A Man Called Yarra, which will be published by Black Inc Books in May 2018.
Robert’s new novel, The Bookshop of the Brok

Vale Robert Hillman

Wednesday, 4 December 2024   Books+Publishing @booksandpublishing

Author Robert Hillman has died.

Text Publishing writes:

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Robert Hillman.

Robert published more than 60 works of fiction and nonfiction. His memoir, The Boy in the Green Suit, won the Australian National Biography Award in 2004. His 2007 biography, My Life as a Traitor, written with Zarah Ghahramani, appeared in numerous overseas editions and was shortlisted for the 2008 Prime Minister’s Literary Award. His first collaboration with Najaf Mazari, The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif, has been a set text in many schools. He is also the author of Gurrumul: His Life and Music and the novels Joyful, The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted, and The Bride of Almond Tree, which was sold into six territories.

Robert was passionate about drawing attention to the people in Australian society who suffer social and political discrimination, and is greatly admired and critically revered for his work.

After growing up in a rural Victoria

The Bride of Almond Tree – July publication, Text.

The novel tells the story of twenty-one year old Wes Cunningham, who has returned from the Pacific War in 1946, and of Beth Hardy, the youngest of a family of four daughters. The setting of the tale is principally the Victorian town of Almond Tree. Wes is a Quaker, one of a small community of Quakers established in the town in the late nineteenth century. Wes had volunteered for a non-combative role in the Pacific War, was severely wounded but made a full recovery. When he returns to Almond Tree, he catches sight of Beth Hardy, now eighteen, a girl he has known since they were both children. She is now a young woman and Wes is captivated. He hopes to court her, but Beth is now an avid young communist, influenced by one of her teachers at secondary school, and she laughs off Wes’s attempts to woo her, with kindness rather than contempt. She is about to leave for university in Melbourne, and intends, as she says, never to marry. Wes honours her wishes, but remains devoted to Beth, all through her university years. Whe

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