The cast

Julia Collis: a brilliant but unconventional publisher, more than a little controlling of her m nage

Candy Collis: an opera singer with a bright future and a dark mother

Matthew Light: a young actor, taken under Julia’s wing as a teenage boy, obsessively in love with Roman Anthem

Roman Anthem: the 21-year-old grandson of a legendary Australian prime minister, renowned for his good looks, despised by Julia

The scene

Valhalla: an incestuous household of steely alliances, lopsided infatuations, and dark impulses

The plot

Roman Anthem is missing and no one knows why.

Witty, satirical and full of intrigue, set against a backdrop of opera, publishing and politics, Peter Rose’s first novel is unlike any other Australian fiction.