The Bellarmine Jug Nicholas Hasluck 1984

Dustjacket synopsis:
"Subversion thrives on turmoil.

"In Holland to study at the mysterious Grotius Institute. Leon Davies is accosted by a student linked to foreign radicals.

"The encounter plunges him into an intrigue which wil haunt him for a lifetime - leading finally to his interrogation by a counter-espionage expert who confronts him with evidence gathered in Amsterdam, Indonesia and Australia.

"The questions probe deep. Doubts, fears, myths, betrayals, utopian illusions, are all relentlessly exposed, then stripped away.

"At the centre of the affair, stands the Bellarmine Jug, the strangely inscribed curio which seems to hold the key..."

Quotes:
"Rich in suspense and intrigue...a major novel of the eighties" - Helen Daniel, Age Monthly Review
"Here is compelling reading...Better than most novels and superior to any week of television" - Humphrey McQueen, Sydney Morning Herald
"Detective thriller or history mystery, Nicholas Hasluck's latest novel is an adventure on the high seas of Higher Education" - Hugh Barbes, The Times

First Paragraph

A phalanx of wine glasses stood upside down in a wooden rack above the bar. As the proprietor of The King's Arms and the barmaid assisting him squeezed past each other in order to reach the till, the glasses rattled softly.

Leon Davies, as he had done many times before at this hour of the afternoon, plucked a glass from the end of the nearest row. He placed it upright on the counter and waited for service.

The pity of it is, Leon reflected, that Grantham should choose this particular week to come nosing around. If Leon had been left to his own devices, by now he would have presided over his last seminar for the term and would be preparing his speech for Sunday's rally.

From the Penguin paperback edition, 1985.

Notes:
This novel won the Age Book of the Year Award in 1984.

This page and its contents are copyright © 2001 by Perry Middlemiss, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Last modified: November 26, 2001.