Books

Jane Sullivan is an author and literary journalist who loves books and has always written about them.

Murder In Punch Lane

Inspired by real events and people, Murder in Punch Lane is a dark and gripping crime novel that maps the sins and secrets of nineteenth-century Melbourne.

Storytime

What was it exactly? Wonder, rapture, delight, surprised recognition, laughter – but also darker feelings that made my heart beat fast and my stomach turn over, and sometimes a frantic urge to close the book before whatever it was sucked me in and destroyed me. But always, I read on.

Little People

When Mary Ann, an impoverished governess, rescues a child from the Yarra River, she sets in motion a train of events that she could never have foreseen. It is not a child she has saved but General Tom Thumb, star of a celebrated troupe of midgets on their 1870 tour of Australia.

The White Star

The White Star is an engrossing story about the unraveling of damaged lives and the sinister face of charisma. “Beauty is soul deep” is Jessie’s mantra. But childhood fears can run even deeper.

Fallen Women

Jane’s short story Fallen Woman features the famous little person Commodore George Washington Nutt and his slightly larger brother Rodnia, who also star in her novel Little People. You can read the story in the anthology New Australian Stories 2

This eclectic anthology of new stories showcases some of our finest short-story writers, and proves that the short story is alive and well in Australia.

Jane’s first novel The White Star was published in 2000 by Penguin Australia. My second novel Little People was published in April 2011 by Scribe Publications. 

You can read a short story featuring some of the characters in Little People in Fallen Woman, published in New Australian Stories 2. My first non-fiction book Storytime was published in August 2019 by Ventura Press.