The Making of Martin Sparrow

Brilliant debut. Sparrow is a terrific fictional creation. There is wit and wisdom to be had in the book. Following the frontier, and beyond, is precisely the direction the novel takes ... It is here, too, that Cochrane employs some of his finest writing, embarking upon perfectly modulated descriptive riffs that betray an appropriate sense of awe and developing understanding for what is a vast, ancient, storied landscape - a terrific accompaniment to the pitch-perfect dialogue and deep characterisation found in this fine novel.

David Whish-Wilson, Australian Book Review

Serious reflections and a good deal of grim humour are built into a well-paced narrative and rich description of both landscape and character in this impressive novel.

Dennis Haskell, The Sydney Morning Herald

The Making of ­Martin Sparrow is at once harrowing and entertaining, unsettling our expectations as it ­constructs yet another version of those convict times that seem always to stand up to another imaginative return.

Peter Pierce, The Australian

Written in a wonderfully evocative, muscular prose and rich in Biblical cadences, Martin Sparrow just might be Australia's answer to the novels of Cormac McCarthy.

Chris Saliba, Books+Publishing

The story moves back and forth between Sparrow and the constables – ambitious but not unfair martinet Mackie and equable, entertaining, insightful Thaddeus Cuff – to draw an utterly persuasive and atmospheric picture of a frontier society struggling with an overlay of violence and depravity, particularly towards women and the local Aboriginal population, who are making their own accommodations to the forced changes to their existence. The novel is full of memorable personalities (with terrible names) but they pale in comparison with the overarching authority of bush and weather, made luminous by the personal experience of the author, and with the hauntingly equivocal coda with which the book ends.

Katharine England, SA Review

Unsurprisingly, given Cochrane's position as a historian, the novel is well researched and brings vividly to life the danger, dirt, and darkness of the period. The smell of death and decay hangs over the events of the novel which paints the Australian frontier as uncompromising and unwelcoming.

Simon Clark, The AU Review

The Making of Martin Sparrow is a book well worth the reading. Its language, the accuracy of its depiction of life in the colony, the tension created by Martin’s escape and its consequences all contribute to an excellent historical novel.

Ian Lipke, Queensland Reviewers Collective

This deeply impressive novel brilliantly evokes the bleak, brutal world of early colonial life. In authentic, compelling prose and distinctive, convincing dialogue, it provides a nuanced and disturbing view of the brutal reality of our nation’s origins.

Jo Dyer, MUD Literary Prize