Peter Burke: The Silk Merchant’s Son.
Peter Burke is a doctor and a novelist whose books are enjoyed for their filmic nature and ironic humour …. but his secret aim is really to seduce the reader into learning and reflecting a bit on the history of the western third of the continent.
His first novel, The Drowning Dream, is a Broome pearling mystery, his second book, Wettening Aurelia, featured CY O’Connor.
Peter Burke’s latest novel focuses on the Spanish Benedictine monastery at New Norcia. In 1845, linguistics professor Fabrice Cleriquot is despatched from Lyon to the Swan River Colony, sent away with a box full of silkworms to stop him from bringing more disgrace upon the family.
Accompanying him on board the Elizabeth are twenty-eight mismatched and misguided Catholic missionaries including Dom Salvado, who seeks to create a Spanish Benedictine monastery deep in the bush, and the Irish Sisters of Mercy, who are fleeing a dreadful famine.
RTRFM’s Danae Gibson chatted with Peter Burke about The Silk Merchant’s Son. Published by Fremantle Press.
