Highway 13
Title: Highway 13
Author: Fiona McFarlane
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Shortlist: Fiction
In 1998, an apparently ordinary Australian man is arrested and charged with a series of brutal murders of backpackers along a highway. The news shocks the nation, bringing both horror and resolution to the victims' families, but its impact travels even further – into the past, as the murders rewrite personal histories, and into the future, as true crime podcasts and biopics tell the story of the crimes.
Highway 13 takes murder as its starting point, but it unfolds to encompass much more: through the investigation of the aftermath of this violence across time and place, from the killer's home town in country Australia to the tropical Far North, and to Texas and Rome, McFarlane presents an unforgettable, entrancing exploration of the way stories are told and spread, and at what cost.
From the acclaimed author of The Sun Walks Down and The Night Guest comes a captivating account of loss and fear, and their extended echoes in individual lives.
Judges’ report
Highway 13’s startling voyage into darkness traces the fault lines of a fictional series of violent crimes in 1980s regional Australia. Fiona McFarlane’s mastery of form allow these interconnected stories to become a great glimmering work which upends time and expectation. The book’s mesmerising shadow play derives from characters’ intentions and actions; their oscillation between murkiness, coruscating moments of clarity and all that resides between. Much of its power resides in McFarlane’s remarkable rendition of life’s mystery and ordinariness. Her evocation of the human capacity for cruelty and tenderness, even within the same moment, is at turns shattering and glorious.
About the Author
Photo by Yanina Gotsulsky
Fiona McFarlane
VPLA book photography by Sarah Walker
The 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards are proudly supported by the Victorian Government through the Community Support Fund and Creative Victoria.