AS UNIVERSITY STUDENT OLIVIA WELLS sets out on her quest to find an unpublished manuscript by Gloria Graham – a now obscure mid-twentieth century feminist and writer – she unwittingly uncovers details about a young woman found murdered. Strangled with a nylon stocking in the mangroves on the banks of the river in wartime Brisbane, the case soon became known as the river girl murder.
Olivia’s detective work exposes the sinister side of that city in 1943, flush with greenbacks and nylons, jealousy and violence brewing between the Australian and US soldiers, which eventually boiled over into the infamous Battle of Brisbane. Olivia soon discovers that the diggers didn’t just reserve their anger for the US forces – they also took it out on the women they perceived as traitors, the ones who dared to consort with US soldiers.
Can Olivia rewrite history to bring justice to the river girl whose life was so brutally taken? Even if the past can’t be changed, is it possible to undo history’s erasure?
Meet Me at Lennon's is available for purchase direct from UQP
Theresa Smith, reviewer
...intelligently offered and not bogged down with genre conventions.
Cass Moriarty, author
Meet Me at Lennon’s is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma ... The novel moves back and forth in time, and the reader must be sharp-eyed to pick up the hints and connect the dots.
Kali Napier, author
An immensely enjoyable read and evocative of life for women in wartime Brisbane.
Kerry Goldsworthy, SMH
Using the Battle of Brisbane as her historical focal point, Melanie Myers paints an intriguing picture of life in Brisbane during World War II, with its recurrent tensions between Australian and American soldiers. ... one of the most engaging things about this novel is the way that Myers shows Olivia's quest for knowledge.
Alyssa Mackay, Primer
'But its female experiences at the heart of this story, which holds a mirror up to the lives of women in wartime Brisbane and asks, how much has changed and how much remains the same? ... A thought-provoking read that will stay with you long after you’ve read the final page'.