One of the most stunning debuts I've ever read ... every word is near perfect

David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Guilty
Australian and New Zealand cover for Jane Harper's The Dry
 

The Dry

Jane Harper's debut novel

Luke Hadler turns a gun on his wife and child, then himself. The farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily. If one of their own broke under the strain, well…

When Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk returns to Kiewarra for the funerals, he is loath to confront the people who rejected him twenty years earlier. But when his investigative skills are called on, the facts of the Hadler case start to make him doubt this murder-suicide charge.

And as Falk probes deeper into the killings, old wounds start bleeding into fresh ones. For Falk and his childhood friend Luke shared a secret… A secret Falk thought long-buried… A secret which Luke’s death starts to bring to the surface...

The Dry is on sale in Australia (Pan Macmillan), the United States (Flatiron Books) and the United Kingdom (Little, Brown).

Read Chapter 1 here first

The Dry  book club notes (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Bana stars in The Dry movie

Australian screen legend Eric Bana plays the lead role of Aaron Falk in the film adaptation of The Dry by Made Up Stories.

The Dry was filmed across more than 15 towns in rural Victoria in 2019, with Robert Connolly (Balibo, Paper Planes) directing.

Bruna Papandrea, Jodi Matterson and Steve Hutensky produced The Dry for Made Up Stories.

The movie grossed more than $20.5m at the Australian box office ahead of being released overseas.

Bana said he had already read and felt a deep connection with the book before he was approached to play the lead.

"Jane had plotted this amazing journey that we then got to turn into the best possible version for cinema," he said.

More than 1 million copies of The Dry have been sold worldwide.

 

Awarded

2018 BRITISH BOOK AWARDS
Crime and Thriller
Book of the Year

2018 BARRY AWARDS
Best First Mystery

2017 UK CRIME WRITERS'
ASSOCIATION AWARDS

Gold Dagger for
Crime Novel of the Year

2017 SUNDAY TIMES
Crime Book of the Year

2018 LIVRE DE POCHE
Reader's Prize for
Best Crime Thriller

2017 ABIA AWARDS
Book of the Year

Fiction Book of the Year

2017 INDIE AWARDS
Book of the Year
Debut Fiction
Book of the Year

2017 PRIX COGNAC
AWARD (France)

2017 AMAZON
Best Mystery and
Thriller Novel

2017 GOODREADS
CHOICE AWARDS

Best Mystery Thriller
Best Debut

 

2017 NED KELLY AWARDS
Best First Fiction

 

2017 DAVITT AWARDS
Best Adult Crime Novel
Readers' Choice

 

2015 VICTORIAN PREMIER'S
LITERARY AWARDS

Unpublished Manuscript

 

ALSO: 2020 Barry Awards Best Mystery/Crime Novel of the Decade shortlist; 2018 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year longlist; Kobo's Top 10 eBooks of the Year 2017; 2016 Christina Stead Fiction Award shortlist; 2018 International Dublin Literary Awards, AudioFile EarPhones Award – Highly Commended.

Reviews

quotegraphicNew York Times

Harper has made her own major mark long before any film version of The Dry
Full review

quotegraphicThe SMH

Something mythic and valiant ... a quintessential Australian story beautifully told
Full review

quotegraphicThe Guardian

A sense of place so vivid you can almost feel the blistering heat add up to a remarkably assured debut
Full review