THE ROAD BEHIND is a roller coaster ride through the seventies, eighties and nineties, as protagonist Mark Kidman traces a circuitous route from his childhood, in New Zealand and England, to fatherhood and impending middle age in Melbourne.
His story is told from a number of perspectives as it criss-crosses the Tasman, swirls around Sydney and Melbourne, digs into Central Australia and circles the globe.
As a young man, he flies into Sydney – as the singer of a punk band – full of expectations of success. But when his girlfriend takes off and the band goes nowhere, Mark hits the road in search of adventure.
As a bouncer, a taxi driver, a set builder, an actor and a writer, he’s constantly on the move. But as he powers along he is often overtaken by his past: his fragmented family, his numerous failed relationships and the ghosts of his brothers and friends. Again and again the road behind engulfs the road ahead.
A picaresque romp and an epic adventure, Mark’s story travels through cities and outback, though the masculine and the feminine, and though the dark side and the light side. He explores the physical space around him and the emotional space within and by journey’s end, has covered a lot of ground and come closer to himself, his family, his past, and his future.
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