"Satherley is a name that will be around for years to come...compelling and fresh." -Sunday Mail* From the critically acclaimed author of Arch-Traitor's Lament comes Swimming to Krk-part memoir, part sailing adventure, part critique of modern life and past mistakes, and part "what if?" held together by hope, anger, pain, regret, and love. It is a salute to a true hero, Joel Satherley, a writer, musician, actor, comedian, disability advocate and living example of what a truly inclusive life can look like. Against all odds Joel-who was born with multiple disabilities-became the inaugural winner of the Australian Government's 2007 National Disability Awards Personal Achievement Prize. The award was presented by Bill Shorten (now leader of the Federal Opposition and soon perhaps to be Australia's new Prime Minister) in Canberra, the nation's capital city. Who was to know that at that historic ceremony, amid the glamour, glitter and champagne, 'it' was also present, insidiously eating away at Joel's victory? With mainstream medicine offering no hope, the family embarked on a journey through the labyrinth of alternative cancer therapies. But at 24, if you win the cancer lottery, you lose everything. To escape his sense of the utter futility of life, Joel's father, Garry, bought a boat he named Joely's Reel and undertook a dangerous sailing pilgrimage along the Australian coast to remember, to forget, to grieve and to heal in his own way. Arch-Traitor's Lament reviews: "If Garry Satherley continues to write such well-crafted and highly imaginative works, his is a name that will be around for years to come...his work is compelling and fresh." -Geoff Turner, Sunday Mail."Garry Satherley's bold, freewheeling and wonderfully idiosyncratic first novel marks a significant literary debut...Satherley takes extraordinary risks, with enough plot strands to fill two or three more cautious novels...his risk-taking pays high dividends, thanks in large measure to his skill and imagination. "The Arch-Traitor's Lament is admirably assured...and highly original...Satherley's powers of evocation are impressive...magnificently captured and conveyed...I found myself enthralled." -Andrew Riemer Sydney Morning Herald "A former wharfie, labourer, factory hand and newspaperman, Garry Satherley has just published his first novel, a formidable excursion that's left reviewers writhing in literary delight." -Sacha Molitorisz, Sydney Morning Herald."A masterly storyteller...a unique contribution to Australian literature." - Text Publishing.
