John Watt
John Watt was born in 1936 in Western Australia, and grew up in Perth. His early education was in Catholic schools, culminating in two and a half years in the local seminary. This was followed by studies in Arts at the University of Western Australia, and a PhD in philosophy at the Australian National University.
After a few years teaching in high schools, he taught at Monash and Murdoch Universities, accumulating the standard academic's publication history, including three books and a couple of dozen journal articles. He co-authored a non-fiction work, The Whitefella Problem, with his late wife Wendy.
He lives in Busselton, WA, with his wife, Lesley, where he pursues his interests in writing and making music.
John Watt
Thomas, a 23-year-old student priest, emerges alone from the wilderness four days after surviving a plane crash. But a missing woman's footprints are found with his, near the crash site. What part did Thomas play in her disappearance? And why does he claim he can remember nothing?
Sent to a psychiatrist by Church authorities to recover his memories, Thomas’ life and world unravel in ways he could never have foreseen, shaking the very foundations of his faith, his loyalty to the Catholic Church and the vocation he had chosen.
Grappling with impossible expectations and burdened with guilt, the flawed characters show the consequences of oppressive rules colliding with impulses that can’t be tamed.
This compelling and timely novel explores the underpinnings of a deeply conservative Australian Catholic community in the 1950s whose outward piety hides a shameful underbelly that dares not be exposed.