Men of Twisted Cloth : Secrets and Lies in the Hunter Valley (Paperback)

They were slick; they were powerful; they were revered -- and they were evil. My mother had no idea who her friends really were. For decades, they had glided into churches, homes and schools with their carefully polished shoes and been given absolute trust. And all the while, they had been hiding terrible secrets. These men of twisted cloth have deceived, manipulated and destroyed lives across the globe. But how did they manage to fool my kind, feisty mother, who had lived through a bitter romantic betrayal in World War 2, followed by a marriage marked by cruelty? Who had escaped and followed me from the UK to Australia, forging an independent, vibrant life? Whose golden years should have been productive and peaceful -- until the day she met the "Monster of Merewether" and was drawn into a den of evil?Men of Twisted Cloth is a story of secrets and lies, deception and abuse, told through our eyes - my mother's and mine - as it unfolded piece by piece. But it's also a story of resilience and courage, the persistence of journalists and a police strike force, helped along by the determination of Australia's first female Prime Minister to fight patriarchy and bring an end to institutional crimes. It's a story of long-overdue justice. Written in creative non-fiction style, Men of Twisted Cloth takes you right there; it is both a moving memoir and a serious investigation into the rampant corruption and deviant collusion that went on in one small Australian town in the Hunter Valley. But it's a town that could be anywhere -- and it could just as easily be yours.