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Just Let Me Be

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Just Let Me Be
First edition
AuthorJon Cleary
LanguageEnglish
GenreCrime fiction
PublisherWener Laurie
Publication date
1950
Publication placeAustralia
Media typePrint

Just Let Me Be is a 1950 novel from Australian author Jon Cleary. It was his third published full-length novel.[1][2]

Premise

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Joe Brennan, an ex-serviceman, returns home to Coogee after World War II. He gets a job as a milkman and intends to make enough money to marry his girlfriend Connie.

He accidentally kills a man while defending local gangster Bill Pepper and is persuaded to hide the body.[3]

Reception

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The Sydney Morning Herald wrote "The details are exact. The dialogue, slangy but not self-conscious, is convincing. On the other hand there are a number of characters who never emerge as more than routine and conventional figures."[4]

Awards

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The novel won the 1950 Australian Literature Society Gold Medal.[5]

Republication

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The novel was later republished in 1990 under the title You, the Jury.[6]

Knife in the Family 1957 TV Version

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The novel was adapted for British TV in 1957 under the title Knife in the Family.[7]

It was the first acting job in England for Australian actor Rodney Howe who arrived in England seven months previously.[8]

The Liverpool Echo said "there was nothing to hold the interest of even the most tolerant viewer."[9]

References

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  1. ^ "BOOK REVIEWS---". The News. Adelaide. 14 July 1950. p. 10. Retrieved 18 October 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "Younger novelists merit more attention". The Argus. Melbourne. 18 November 1950. p. 10. Retrieved 18 October 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Violence Breaks Out At Coogee". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 February 1951. p. 10. Retrieved 6 March 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Violence Breaks Out At Coogee". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 35, 295. New South Wales, Australia. 3 February 1951. p. 10. Retrieved 11 August 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ The Cambridge Companion to Australian Literature p129
  6. ^ "Boom under way in crime writing". The Canberra Times. 25 March 1990. p. 26. Retrieved 18 October 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "TV Guide". Evening Standard. 11 September 1957. p. 6.
  8. ^ "This time his packet will be safe". Nottingham Evening News. 11 September 1957. p. 8.
  9. ^ "Norman Cook's television news". Liverpool Echo. 12 September 1957. p. 10.
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