Nonfiction

The Death of Holden Royce Kurmelovs Hachette Australia $32.99

So recent and vivid are some of the events covered by journalist Royce Kurmelovs — the Arrium steel woes and South Australia’s capacity “to build a canoe’’ – that this debut feels almost too new to be in print. Despite its inherent bleakness, it is worth persevering what amounts to a persuasive account of SA industry and society over half a century. Kurmelovs talks to the families affected by the collapse of manufacturing and the devastation wrought on their communities. Self-pity is absent and he takes a strangely detached view of the decline of a way of life he knew from childhood. He offers neither solution nor hope, yet this is a history lesson worth reading, for politicians especially. Verdict: important