In conversation with Jane Harper

Jane Harper is the author of the international bestsellers The Dry, Force of Nature, The Lost Man, The Survivors and Exiles. Her books are published in 40 territories worldwide. The Dry and Force of Nature have been adapted into major motion pictures starring Eric Bana and The Survivors has been adapted into a Netflix TV series.

Her latest book, Last One Out, takes place in a town that’s been decimated by a coal mine. In the opening pages young local man Sam walks into an abandoned house on his birthday. It’s a house that’s been bought up by the coal mine. Sam is never seen again. We pick up the story a few years later as his parents (now separated) reunite to mark the anniversary of his disappearance.

For this special out of season event for Sydney Writers Festival, Jane spoke with me about this slow burn of a book. We spoke about how she saw the community at the heart of the story. How she finds the balance in her novels between character and place. The mine is an ominous presence in this novel too and Jane reflected on what it might be like for characters whose town and lives have been stripped out by its presence. The novel is a mystery, a family story, it’s about community, about how people together turn an ordinary town into a place of memory and a place they’ll love, stay and fight for, at all costs. It’s also an unsettling and stripped-back meditation on the weight of grief and loss.