The Coves [Paperback]

San Francisco, 1849: a place gripped by gold fever, swarming with desperate men come to seek their fortune. Among them are former convicts, Australians quick to seize control in a town without masters, a town for the taking. Into this world steps an Australian boy in search of his mother. Just twelve years old, and all alone in a time of opportunism, loyalty and violent betrayal, Samuel Bellamy must learn to become one of the Sydney Coves if he is to survive.

“A clever tale of criminal plots, family bonds, and the birth of a new world. Holds like a vice and never lets go. Every turn of the page builds the pressure.”  —Rohan Wilson, author,The Roving Party

“The Coves is what happens when Australian criminals take over Deadwood.”  —Paul Daley, author,Beersheba

“A lyrical coming-of-age tale and an historical crime novel, lit by something fresh, honest and generous.”  —Joan London, author,Gilgamesh

David Whish-Wilsonis an acclaimed crime writer and academic. He left Australia aged eighteen to live for a decade in Europe, Africa, and Asia, where he worked as a barman, actor, street seller, petty criminal, laborer, exterminator, factory worker, gardener, clerk, travel agent, teacher, and drug-trial guinea pig. He now lives in Fremantle and coordinates the creative writing program at Curtin University.