I’m sorry, but this is one of the strangest “true crime” books I’ve ever read.

The author, who has no connection to the crime, for whatever reason decides to place herself front and center in this story. I didn’t want her constant interjections, opinions, and all the random minutiae of her observations. I wanted the story.

The writing style was, I don’t know… Odd is the best descriptor I have. Also, it somehow manages to be both dull and irritating.

I just can’t go on with this book. I’d rather read the Wikipedia page and/or Google some news articles.

DNF

I am devastated. What a raw, emotional book. I can't even call it true crime... that seems so garish and small. This is a masterpiece portrayed in tragedy. The courtroom scenes were gripping- every description, every emotion- I could see the woodgrain, I could feel the cool air, I could hear a pin drop.
This is my first outting with Helen Garner. I was picturing Anne Rule, but I feel like Garner's style is much more personal. I got a clear sense of her feelings throughout the trail and her growth and discovery as the case went on.
This is a rough read. A heartbreaking topic. But so well done.

From the publisher: On the evening of Father’s Day, 2005, separated husband Robert Farquharson was driving his three young sons back to their mom’s house when the car veered off the road and plunged into a dam. Farquharson survived the crash, but his boys drowned. Was this a tragic accident, or an act of revenge? The court case that followed became a national obsession.

A parent and their children go into a body of water in a vehicle; the parent survives but the children don’t. This unfortunately is a story we’ve heard before. Robert Farquharson claims he had a coughing fit and passed out. Once in the water, he was able to exit the car and swim to the surface, but his three sons were not. This book about his trial was published in 2014 in Australia; now a new edition has been published in the United States.
I can well imagine what a sensation this was in Australia. I remember the media fascination with Susan Smith in the 1990s after she left her sons to drown. I remember the Jaclyn Dowaliby case in the Chicago area in the 1980s. (That case didn’t involve drowning, but a child reported abducted from her home and found murdered a few days later, and a trial of the mother.)

This House of Grief feels like it was written much longer ago than 2014. It is a call back to classic works of true crime like In Cold Blood. It has a literary feel to it that most modern true crime that I’ve read does not. The author acts as a cool and objective narrator. She has no connection to the case other than reporting on it. She feels emotion – pity, grief – but not passion over whatever happened. Robert Farquharson himself remains a remote figure; I felt I got to know and understand his ex-wife’s parents better than I did Farquharson or his ex-wife.

On page 6, Garner writes, “When I said I wanted to write about the trial, people looked at me in silence, with an expression I could not read.” She is very thoughtful and philosophical as she observes and comments on the trial and all the people involved. The subtitle of the book is “The Story of a Murder Trial,” and the author does write her book as a story (a story with an ending that will not satisfy all her readers).

If you like classic works of true crime, I recommend This House of Grief. If you like graphic descriptions, every criminal detail, and proper closure in your true crime, this may not be the book for you. I read an advance reader copy of This House of Grief. It was published on October 10, and Galesburg Public Library’s copy will be added to the collection soon.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, for gifting me a digital ARC of this heartbreaking book by Helen Garner - 5 stars!

On Father’s Day, 2005, in Australia, separated husband Robert Farquharson was driving his three young sons back to their mom’s house when the car veered off the road and plunged into a dam. Robert survived the crash but his boys drowned. Was it an accident due to medical reasons? An attempted murder-suicide? Or an act of revenge to get back at his estranged wife?

This is the story of the trial of Robert Farquharson, told in beautiful, eloquent writing that will make you really think about trials, courtrooms, and all those caught up in such stories, which is all of us. It's impossible not to grieve for the loss of those three little boys and the lives they could have lived. But there are feelings for everyone involved, from the defendant and his family and friends, to the investigators, lawyers, and witnesses, and to the jurors tasked with making life-or-death decisions. The author witnessed the entire trial and subsequent appeal, becoming for the reader a part of the story; one of many witnesses in the house of grief.

Well this was the strangest true crime I have ever read…? My rating and review are purely based on the *writing style* of this book, not the actual case. The actual case was… horrifying.

But this book? Wow. I had a rough time with this book.

So the author basically made herself the main character of this story? Which, is fine if you’re, say, Ann Rule and actually knew Ted Bundy or a journalist who was covering the case and got to know the family and ~became part of the story.

But this woman did not have a horse in this race. And yet this entire book was basically just a transcript of every single detail of the trial (yawn already), peppered with *her* reactions to the events. What?!?

I never realized how much I appreciated the very focused and journalistic style of most true crime until I read this book. Because this read so much like fiction that it was hard to believe this was a real case.

This also mostly covered the trial and had very little additional information about the actual case. If you just read the Wikipedia article, you would get about the same information (except I did read the Wikipedia article and actually got MORE info???)

And this book was just boring? I don’t want to know the small, minute details of the trial (including what everyone is wearing????) I wanted information about the actual ~crime and the motivations of all parties. And more info about the victims.

This was a horrible, senseless crime and, in my opinion, did not do right by those little boys who did not deserve to die. I finished this book knowing *nothing* about them except their ages and that they were dead. It would’ve been a much better use of this book’s time to celebrate the lives of those boys than to tell me that the author gasped during the trial or that a witness was wearing a tie.

So this was very much not for me. I wish I’d just stuck with the Wikipedia article and skipped this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pantheon Books for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

With a stream of consciousness that won't take a break, the author dives right into the case.

This was at first engrossing, the reader didn't know what was going on, who had done what to whom, or why.

The author is/can be abrasive in the fact that the court case is all you get. you get no background information unless it is revealed in court.

I had a hard time following along with all that was happening. I did not like the run on narrative of the author. Further, when the conviction was appealed, it was all I could do to not peel off my eyelids...I was so done with the case and the book.

The author was not for me, I didn't like the set up of the book, the never ending snides/comments from the author, and the run on of the court witnesses.

There was a great true crime novel that was screaming to get out, the author could NOT let it escape.

Helen Garner does a great job of covering this tragic event in Australia. At times it seemed repetitive, but, that is also the story line being told with differing views by various groups in this strange event. I really liked Helen's writing style with additions of how she viewed or felt interspersed throughout the story . I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in true crime or mystery.

Robert Farquharson was returning with his three sons from a Father’s Day outing. He and his wife were separated, but he had the three boys on authorized visits. This visit ended in tragedy. Robert’s car swerved of the road ran through a chain link fence, across a field and crashed into a dam. As the car filled with water, Robert was able to escape. He swam to safety, but the three boys perished. Robert was arrested for murder.

This is the story of the two trials that decided Robert’s fate. Helen Garner attended both trials. She an excellent listener. She reported the attorney’s examination of witnesses and even was able to learn what happened in sidebars between the judge and the attorneys. It’s an excellent job of reporting.

The story itself is gut wrenching. It’s hard to believe that a father who loved his children was able to kill them. The trial explored several theories of his state of mind. Was he incapacitated when the car swerved? Was it a planned murder-suicide? Was it a revenge killing aimed at his wife? All these ideas are explored during the trial.

I found the book emotionally very hard to read. It is well written. The style is more literary than I am used to in true-crime stories which makes the pace a little slower. It is worth reading for the look at the Australian criminal justice system. The trials resolved the issue from the state of the Australian justice system, but reading the book you have to decide for yourself what to believe.

Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for this review copy.

I feel fortunate to have received an advance copy of This House of Grief. Helen Garner is a prominent Australian author and this book has been considered one of her very best works. It is nonfiction, the story of an Australian couple with three sons between the ages of two and ten. When the wife told the husband, Robert Farquharson, to move out, that she no longer loved him, it felt to him like his life had been taken from him. Almost a year later, September of 2005 on Father's Day, Farquharson had the boys for the day and as night fell, he drove the car off a highway and into a deep pond. The boys all drowned, but Farquharson survived. Rather than indicate *spoiler alert*, I'm going to suggest that readers trust the many excellent reviews and allow the story to unfold for them.
The author tells this terribly tragic story as she experienced the events herself as a journalist. Rather than forming an early opinion as to what actually happened that night, Garner allows the reader to experience it all as she did herself. It is truly a mystery story and most readers, I suspect, will waver in their beliefs as to the facts. Garner is far from an omniscient narrator, and the reader will learn, as Garner did, what probably happened to the boys. The name of the book is apt...I certainly felt grief throughout for the boys and for those who loved them.
I have only one wish: that the book had been shorter. The events are cyclical and the investigations are repeated, each time with an uncertain outcome. There is always suspense and detail is crucial but the book might have benefitted from some judicious pruning.

This is absolutely one of the best true crime books I've read in some time. The story is engrossing but Helen Garner's skillful writing added so much to the story as she shows all sides of the trial. It really deserves more than 5 stars......

WOW! What a great book. True crime fans should NOT miss Helen Garner’s THIS HOUSE OF GRIEF.

Was it an accident or murder? On Father’s Day 2005 Robert Farquharson of Melbourne, Australia stumbles out of the water onto the roadway, flags down a car to take him to his ex-wife’s home to report that their three children, Jai 10, Tyler 7 and Bailey 17 months were in the car and drowned. He doesn’t initially ask that the occupants of the car call for help and is adamant about going to Cindy’s, who THEN raises the alarm. Did he even try to save the children or leave them in a watery grave? What exactly happened in the car as it was sinking? Why was the ignition and heater in the off position? Were the lights switched off to cause more confusion in the water? How did Robert get out and the children perished? Was he so despondent after his break-up with Cindy that he would harm his own children? Or was it a murder/suicide plan? And what of the conversation he had with an old chum about the best way to get back at Cindy? Follow the trial as Robert faces life in prison.

This one had me so interested from the very beginning. Helen Garner brought the trial to the middle of my living room. (It would seem that Australian courts are much more civilized, just saying.) And she made me want to cheer for the defense attorney as he made Swiss cheese of the prosecution’s theories. She hears bits and scraps of information and most of the involved are willing to talk to her which is just fascinating to me. Her writing style is very smooth and her insights reminded me a lot of Dominick Dunne (one of my personal favorites). It is no wonder then that she has earned so many accolades in her native country. I loved this one and will certainly look for more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin/Random House for this ARC opportunity. All opinions are my own and given voluntarily.

The House of Grief is a true crime story thattook place in Australia on father's Day in 2005. It's about a man who is told by his wife that they are through. He is driving his kids and crashes into a damn and the car ges into the. water. He escapes the car but leaves his three kids behind. He flashes down a car along the way and asked to be taken back to his ex-wife to tell him what he did. The book is a layout of the case told from the perspective of the author and what she sees. You see people appraching the stand, leaving the stand and we get to decide through her words and the testimony of whether he is guilty or not. His excuse was he was having a coughing fit and blacked out. It's a very easy to read book. I read it in a few hours because once you pick it up you won't want to put it down. The jacket says it reminds you of In Cold Blood and I would have to say I totally agree with that. A really great book for a book club because everybody likes to come up wtith their own therory. I had no idea about this case before I read the book and am glad I edcuated myself about it. Very timely. Thank you to #netgalley and #pantheon #randomhouse

PS There is so much more to tell but I'll be giving things away!!!

I was hoping that this book would get a better cover before publication, but i guess not. This is a tremendous work of nonfiction that I feel a lot of people will pass over because the cover really tells you nothing. It looks like a pamphlet at the DMV.
Other than that it is a stellar account of a family's pain and the judgement of the community around them that bleeds over into international headlines.
A highly recommended true crime account from the tragic fleeting minutes to the court drama that went on for months.

I love true crime and I think writing about actual cases is an art that requires research and analytical skills combined with a lot of empathy and compassion.

I did struggle with this one, though. I'm not sure if it's because I was completely unfamiliar with this Australian case, or because the book focused largely on the trial and the author herself. The case, of a father who is either a family annihilator or just a sad figure who was accidentally responsible for a tragic accident, is a fascinating one to be sure.

This is the non fictional account of a father accused of drowning his three sons in 2005. On Father’s Day, Robert Farquharson, separated from his wife, drove his car over a dam and into the water. He escaped, but his sons, whom he was returning to their mother, did not. Farquharson claimed he had a coughing spell that rendered him unconscious. But he was upset by his estrangement, especially since his wife had taken up with a new man. Well known award winning Australian author, Helen Garner, recounts the incident and her first hand account having attended the trials as well as becoming acquainted with many of the family and friends of the Farquharsons.

I enjoy true crime novels and this reads well as a story and legal thriller. It was interesting learning about the Australian justice system. Garner interjects some of her own feelings into the book and this added to the humanity of the case. The jury, of course, rendered their opinion, and Australian citizens all had their own views, but it is up to the reader to decide whether they feel justice was served or not. I think even those who are not true crime enthusiasts but appreciate good writing and like a solid mystery or legal narrative will enjoy this book.

In 2005, on Father’s Day, in Winchelsea, Australia, Robert Farquharson drove off the road into a dam. He was able to exit the car safely, but his three young sons drown. Follow along through the trials and see if this was truly an accident or if it was planned.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and the author for my ARC!

When a tragic accident takes the lives of his three sons, Robert Farquharson was devestated. As he answered the police questions, he constantly asked, "what happens to me now?" While it was initially investigated as only an accident, questions soon started to arise as to whether the accident was really something more - a father's way of getting back at his estranged wife.

This book understakes the two trials of Robert Farquharson, and the burning question of whether or not it was homicide or accident. It was an interesting read, as the author peppers the court proceedings with her thoughts and what is going on around her. While she is clear that the opinions within the pages are her own, sometimes it was a bit hard to distinguish, although I had some pretty strong thoughts on whether or not he was guilty. There were also some dubious police techniques used, which as the reader goes through the book, raises some questions on the "innocent until proven guilty."

Decent read and a new case that I knew nothing about. I had not heard of this one before, so it was a great chance to dive into a new topic.

It seems that it takes a great novelist to write a great true crime book. Like Truman Capote with "In Cold Blood", Helen Garner has used her literary talent to tell a terrible story in the most beautiful and moving way.

The book is largely a courtroom drama written in the vein of an intimate diary. Garner not only describes the startling and mundane details of the subsequent trials, but also shares with us her impressions, her emotions, her doubts. It is a masterful study in psychology, and the author's acute observations allow us to see human beings - imperfect, fragile, fallible - in all the participants, from the lawyers to the families to the accused himself. It is also a meditation on justice. "What was the truth? Whatever it was, it seemed to reside in some far-off, shadowy realm of anguish, beyond the reach of words and resistant to the striving of the intellect," she writes.

As drastic and heartbreaking as the case described is - a father accused of murdering his three young sons - Garner mostly maintains an emotional distance, focusing on the perpetrator rather than the victims, allowing us - and herself, I guess - to come through this ordeal without a breakdown.

Thanks to the publisher, Pantheon, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

A true-crime recounting of the horrific events on Father’s Day, Sept 4, 2005, in Winchelsea, Australia, which resulted in the drowning of three children - Jai, Tyler, and Bailey Farquharson - and the trial of their father, Robert Farquharson. Told in the first person by a journalist, herself a grandmother, who observed first-hand the stories and claims of each involved, this is a tale for students of human behavior, in all its dark and excruciating complexity, and is not for the emotionally feint of heart.

With much of the story involving the legal proceedings of the criminal case, and the evidence, as it exists, against Robert, this detailed and insightful analysis provides up-close observations of a man whose behavior, for anyone with a beating heart, is unfathomable, whatever conclusion one may eventually come to about the motivation of his actions and his eventual culpability. Hardest of all to witness is Cindy, his ex-wife, portrayed here in the shifting sands, over time, of her unimaginable grief, as she is seen to initially remain loyal to Robert, throughout the revelations of his initial trial, unable to see this crime as anything but a terrible accident.

Without revealing the twisted path justice will take, true-crime buffs will appreciate the thoughtful and compassionate stance, personified by the voice of the author, allowing one to eavesdrop on criminal trial proceedings, as they unfold, as she attempts to extricate the strategies of both the Crown and Defense, and how they do play out.

A non-sensationalized (if such a thing is possible) and heart-rending look at what became one of the most publicized and emotional cases ever documented in Australia, this is a ultimately a story about grief, loss, and tragically, the fine line between love and hate, and the hideous possibilities of a vengeful heart.

A great big thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author, for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

*** four and a half shiny stars

This is a true crime story that explores the 2005 Father’s Day killing of three children. Was it an accident, or payback for his ex-wife?

Robert Farquharson was not supposed to have his sons today, but it is Father’s Day. On the drive home to their mother, his car leaves the road and plunges into a dam. He is the only survivor.

Helen became fixated on the trial and narrates the drama in the courtroom, all of them, listening to witnesses tell their truths.

Robert was kind of wimpy. And probably a bit off. To me nothing he said made sense, but things just keep coming out and I wasn’t sure. Until later.

I enjoyed the way this was written. We don’t usually get to hear everyone’s point of view and as hard as it was, it is a well-written account.

Netgalley/ Knopf/Panteon, October 10, 2023