‘The Idealist’ by Nicholas Jose Is Out Now

Nicholas Jose’s latest novel The Idealist is available to purchase online and in stores now. Set in Australia, East Timor and Washington in the lead up to the East Timorese independence referendum in 1999, The Idealist is a novel which explores the entanglement of private and public life: it is a political mystery, a portrait of marriage, a reflection on friendship, and a study of a personality as it breaks down under pressure.

Jake, an Australian defence analyst, is torn between his support for the people of East Timor, whose commitment to independence in the face of mounting violence he has experienced personally, and his responsibility for and complicity in the actions of his government. When he is found dead in the garage of his Washington home, his wife Anne is determined to see justice done. Atmospheric, tender, subtle in its portrayal of conflicting allegiances, The Idealist takes the reader into the space of the personal and political with a rare artistry.

“The Idealist is Jose’s eighth novel – his first for nine years – and the attention to detail shows. This is a thriller for lovers of literary fiction, the beautiful writing turning an unflinching gaze on a shameful era of our nation’s history that is rarely explored in fiction.” – InReview

“Making a thriller work calls on considerable reserves of discipline, ingenuity and skill. To do it as well as Jose does requires even more: tact, wit, sensitivity and (above all) an ability to breathe life into the conventions of an often inflexible genre.” – Sydney Morning Herald

“The Idealist is in many ways a classical espionage novel, replete with possible double agents, sultry expatriate hotels, Machiavellian politicians and exotic femmes fatales.” - The Conversation

Published by Giramondo Publishing