Rose Boys

'... a deeply felt, passionately uplifting story...'
Liam Davison. The Weekend Australian

Rose Boys is the story of two brothers profoundly different, compellingly linked by blood ties, a famous sporting family and the terrible misfortune that befell one of them.

Robert Rose was an Australian Rules footballer and a cricketer who could have been one of the best of his generation. On St Valentine's Day 1974 all that changed when a terrible car accident left him a quadriplegic. Robert lived for another twenty-five years, totally dependent on others. His brother Peter followed a very different path, as a poet, a poet, publisher and leading Australian literary figure. This is Peter's tribute to his brother. 

Rose Boys is the story of Robert's unaffected heroism, the limitless love of a 
mother and father, and the intimate world shared by two very different brothers. 
Above all, it is a family memoir of rare penetration and candour.

'A deep family story of suffering, love and passionate devotion, richly and freshly told.'
Helen Garner

'Rose Boys is an intimate and moving though never maudlin story of familial love ... often simple, sometimes rich and lyrical, and always cliche free.'
Daniel Williams, Time

'Far removed from conventional sports writing, this is a sad and beautiful essay on suffering, fortitude, heroism and love...[it] reads like a fine and sensitive novel.'
Michael Costigan, Tain

'... a moving story expertly told.'
Andrew Riemer, Sydney Morning Herald

'I'm not sure when I last came across someone who has written so powerfully about death...'