Jane Harper

Jane Harper (born 1980) is an Australian author known for her crime novels The Dry, Force of Nature and The Lost Man.[1]

Early life

Born in Manchester in the UK, Harper moved to Australia with her family when she was eight. There, she lived in the Melbourne outer suburb of Boronia, and eventually acquired Australian citizenship. As a teen, Harper returned to the UK with her family and resided in Hampshire. Later, she attended the University of Kent and studied English. After spending time working on her career, she moved back to Australia.[2]

Career

After graduating with an entry level journalism qualification, she got her first job at the Darlington & Stockton Times as a trainee in County Durham.[3] Later in her journalism career, she earned the title as a senior news journalist for the Hull Daily Mail.[4] In 2011, she became a journalist for the Herald Sun.[5][6] Harper worked as a print journalist for 13 years before writing her first novel, The Dry, which was published in 2016.

The Dry

The Dry, Harper's first novel, is a thriller set in a fictional town five hours west of Melbourne.[7] A Federal Agent, Aaron Falk, returns to his old hometown to attend the funeral of his childhood best friend, Luke. Falk teams up with a local detective and tries to uncover the truth behind Luke's sudden mysterious death, only to find more questions than answers.[8]

Force of Nature

Harper's second thriller is set in the thickly forested mountains north-east of Melbourne, again featuring Federal Agent Aaron Falk. A group from a Melbourne company go on a retreat in the mountains, where one of the women disappears. Falk has been investigating the company for financial irregularities, and the woman was his secret informer.[9][10]

The Lost Man

Harper's third murder mystery is set in south-west Queensland on a large cattle station. The police find nothing in Cameron Bright's death from dehydration to suggest foul play, and the investigation is carried out informally by the dead man's elder brother Nathan.[11]

Awards and recognition

In 2014, Big Issue published one of Harper's short stories.[12] Soon after, in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards in 2015, Harper won an award for an unpublished manuscript (The Dry).[13] In 2017, Harper won the Gold ABIA for Book of the Year and the Davitt Award for The Dry,[14] and the Gold Dagger awarded by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom for the best crime novel of the year.[15] Harper became a New York Times bestselling author for The Dry.[16] Reese Witherspoon bought the rights to The Dry in order to turn it into a movie.[17]

Bibliography
  • The Dry, Sydney, New South Wales Macmillan, Pan Macmillan Australia, 2016, ISBN 978-1-74354-999-5
  • Force of Nature, Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd, 2017, ISBN 978-1-74354-909-4
  • The Lost Man, Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd, October 2018, ISBN 978-1-74354-910-0
  • The Survivors (2020, forthcoming)[18]

References
  1. Maslin, Janet. "'The Dry,' a Page-Turner of a Mystery Set in a Parched Australia". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  2. Harper, Jane. "About Jane Harper". janeharper.com. Jane Harper. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  3. Harper, Jane. "About Jane Harper". janeharper.com. Jane Harper. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  4. Romei, Stephen (21 March 2017). "Jane Harper's The Dry wins Indie book of year, Reese Witherspoon gets film rights". The Australian. The Australian. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  5. Harper, Jane (29 May 2015). "Herald Sun journalist Jane Harper wins 2015 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript with The Dry". Herald Sun. Herald Sun. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  6. Romei, Stephen (March 21, 2017). "Jane Harper's The Dry wins Indie book of year, Reese Witherspoon gets film rights". The Australian. The Australian. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  7. "The Dry: Book Summary". Book Browse: Your Guide to Exceptional Books. BookBrowse LLC. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  8. "(7)The Dry by Jane Harper". Charlotte's Web of Books. Charlotte's Web of Books. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  9. Lees, Alasdair (14 February 2018). "A deftly assembled and cleverly paced novel". The Independent. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  10. "Book Review". Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  11. Turnbull, Sue. "The Lost Man review: Jane Harper's third novel seals her spot as one of the best". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  12. "Jane Harper". The Wheeler Centre: Books Writing Ideas. Wheeler Centre. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  13. "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2015". The Wheeler Centre: Books Writing Ideas. Wheeler Centre. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  14. "The 17th Annual Australian Book Industry Awards Winners Announced". Australian Book Industry Awards. Abiawards. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  15. "The Dagger Awards winners archive". CWA. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  16. Maslin, Janet. "'The Dry,' a Page-Turner of a Mystery Set in a Parched Australia". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  17. Staff Writer. "Screen Australia backs projects from Bruna Papandrea and Reese Witherspoon". if.com.au. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  18. "The Survivors". Pan Macmillan Australia. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
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