The Other Brother

Author: Geoff Elliott

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $24.95 AUD
  • : 9781741143249
  • : Allen & Unwin
  • : Allen & Unwin
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  • : 0.256
  • : February 2005
  • : 208mm X 140mm X 17mm
  • : Australia
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  • : October 2022
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  • : books

Special Fields

  • :
  • :
  • : Geoff Elliott
  • : Paperback
  • : 1
  • :
  • :
  • : 920.068
  • :
  • :
  • : 224
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  • : illustrations
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Barcode 9781741143249
9781741143249

Description

This fascinating and compellingly told mystery about the disappearance of the adventuring Simon Holmes a Court, younger brother of Robert, goes into the heart of big game Africa.

'It was early morning when Bodo Muche jolted upright from a deeply unsettling dream. He was in a cold sweat and felt ill. An image of a rickety bridge was seared onto the back of his eyes. It was a picture he could not shake. Muche had long ago learnt not to dwell on things too much, you could go crazy otherwise. But his feeling that morning was that something awful had happened to someone, somewhere.'

In May 1977, as South Africa teetered on the brink of civil war, Simon Holmes Court, younger brother of billionaire Robert Holmes Court, left the Botswanan town he called his home and simply disappeared. Three years later his skeletal remains were found thousands of miles away in the lush, dank Tsitsikamma Forest. Simon's mother was convinced he had been murdered. This is the story of the shy, adventuring and sometimes reckless Holmes Court brother and the young journalist who went in search of the truth about Simon's death. It is peopled with everybody from a white Johannesburg witchdoctor, to a hard drinking and rumour-fuelled expat community living on the edge of the vast inland Okavango Delta, the South African secret service and a free-spirited married woman with whom Simon fell helplessly in love. The Other Brother is a fascinating mystery compelling told that takes you deep into Africa to expose the tragedy that lies at the heart of one of Australia's most prominent families.

Author description

Geoff Elliott has worked as a journalist for more than 15 years in Australia, Africa and Europe. He was a 2003 Walkely Award winner and is currently a senior writer for The Australian. This is his first book. He lives in Sydney and is married with two children.

Table of contents

ForewordOneMissing, May-June 1977The Okavango, 1970sTwoThe early days, 1939-59Life in the bush, 1959-66Lost at sea, 1967The Cold War spy, 1967-69A Caribbean affair, 1970-72Diego Garcia, 1972Reunited, 1973-76The Big Five, Christmas 1976Ethnee's quest, 1977The discovery, 1977-80ThreeThe journalist, 1995A town's silence, August 1995The forest's tragic secret, January 2000Daphne's lamentEpilogue: An old friend returns, 2004What happened to them?AcknowledgmentsNote on sources