This is the definitive biography of one of Australia's most celebrated and controversial writers. A member of the communist party from an early age, Frank Hardy's first secretly published novel Power Without Glory was the subject of an infamous criminal libel case. Hardy continued to challenge political and social issues with his writing until shortly before his death in 1994. Jenny Hocking includes material from interviews with surviving Hardy family members and never-before-published archival documents that shed new light on one of the most important Australian writers of the twentieth century.

Contents: Acknowledgements -- 1 The boy in the hedge 1 -- 2 Pick the winner 7 -- 3 A fighting truth 23 -- 4 The blackest lie 43 -- 5 Absolutely tasteless and harmless 67 -- 6 Party boy in Moscow 95 -- 7 Baby, it's cold outside! 111 -- 8 Death of a communist 135 -- 9 A short walk into history 157 -- 10 The road to recognition 179 -- 11 Flight from fame 199 -- 12 Mary, my Mary 219 -- 13 I thought Frank Hardy was dead! 235 -- Endnotes 259 -- Major works by Frank Hardy 289 -- Bibliography 291.

"Major works by Frank Hardy": p. 289-290. Bibliography: p. 291-304.