First Name Second Name (Paperback)

Steve Minon

ISBN 10: 0702268801 / ISBN 13: 9780702268809

Published by University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 2025

About this Item

Paperback. In this darkly ironic novel, a dead man walks back through four generations of family estrangements to recover his lost identity.The journey will be long and difficult, one thousand miles. Try not to be too obvious. Stick to the backroads. You'll know you've arrived when you get there.Stephen Bolin leaves a bizarre note by his deathbed, asking his sisters to take his body back to his birthplace in Far North Queensland. When they ignore his request, Stephen's corpse makes the nocturnal pilgrimage alone. But what is compelling him and what will he find there?His journey, as a kind of jiangshi, takes him back through his turbulent family history- from his Chinese great-grandfather's life on the goldfields in 1860s Queensland, to his Scottish grandparents' migration to Australia as ten-pound Poms, and to his own coming of age and coming out in Brisbane and London.Original and satirical, First Name Second Name follows four generations of one family through a reckoning with racial, familial and sexual identity. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780702268809

Bibliographic Details

• Title: First Name Second Name (Paperback)
• Publisher: University of Queensland Press, St Lucia
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0702268801
• ISBN 13: 9780702268809
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

A haunting journey through family secrets, racial identity, and the search for belonging in Australia.

Stephen Bolin's deathbed wish is ignored, setting his corpse on a supernatural journey back to his birthplace in Far North Queensland. What compels him, and what awaits him there?

As a jiangshi, Stephen revisits his family's turbulent past: his Chinese great-grandfather's life on the goldfields, his Scottish grandparents' migration, and his own coming-of-age. This original and satirical novel explores four generations reckoning with identity. Will Stephen find peace, or will his family's secrets consume him?

• Perfect for readers of Australian literary fiction and family sagas
• Explores themes of race, sexuality, and cultural heritage
• Winner of the Queensland Literary Awards Glendower Award

About the Author

Steve MinOn was an internationally awarded advertising copywriter and a restaurateur before becoming a writer of fiction. He grew up in North Queensland and he now lives in Meanjin/Brisbane. Steve has written often about outsiders and his family’ s mixed-race ancestral history, and his articles and short stories have been published in SBS Voices, Mamamia and various anthologies. He won the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer in the 2023 Queensland Literary Awards for First Name Second Name.