kate kelly the true story of ned kelly's little sister

Firstly there was no ‘supposedly’ about it – that’s exactly what he went there to do. ONE : Wilson writes that Fitzpatrick ‘arrived without a warrant to supposedly arrest Dan’. Heres a few of the obvious clangers, and remember this book purports to be a ‘ TRUE story’: Why would I believe the author was telling the truth about the things I had no knowledge of when her references to things I did have knowledge of were so often completely wrong? I had to struggle to complete the book, because I found myself doubting the truth of everything that was written that was new to me, because whenever she touched on topics that were familiar to me she so often got it completely wrong. In fact, though its subject is Kate Kelly it’s inevitable discussion of the Outbreak is so laden with demonstrable errors of fact, with claims that make no sense and with recitations of so much already out-of-date Kelly mythology, that I have to seriously question the authors credibility. ‘Kate Kelly: the true story of Ned Kellys little sister’ on the other hand purports to be nonfiction, the ‘true story’, and therefore potentially is an important contribution.

Never-the-less, the writing was engaging enough, and the story imaginative enough that I managed to read the entire thing. It’s a light read in a ‘sliding doors’ kind of style, that will be entertaining to Kelly devotees but will annoy people like me who can’t help noticing all the historical errors and Kelly myths that underlie and are perpetuated in the story. However, unlike Phelans novel, this one has a much looser attachment to the historical and a much greater reliance on the fictional. Author Nicole Kelly – not a relation – says she’s ‘loved the story of the Kelly gang’ as long as she can remember and writes sympathetically of the Gang in this novel, which, like Phelans is about Glenrowan and the aftermath.

‘Lament’ continues the trend started by Aidan Phelan last year for Kelly devotees to write historical fiction, rather than attempt the more difficult task of separating facts from fiction and writing the true story.

Kate kelly the true story of ned kelly's little sister