''Just Let Me Be'' is a 1950 novel from Australian author

Jon Cleary Jon Stephen Cleary (22 November 191719 July 2010) was an Australian writer and novelist. He wrote numerous books, including '' The Sundowners'' (1951), a portrait of a rural family in the 1920s as they move from one job to the next, and '' The ...

. It was his third published full-length novel.

Premise

Joe Brennan, an ex-serviceman, returns home to Coogee after World War II. He gets a job as a milkman and intends to make enough money to marry his girlfriend Connie. He accidentally kills a man while defending local gangster Bill Pepper and is persuaded to hide the body.

Reception

The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' wrote "The details are exact. The dialogue, slangy but not self-conscious, is convincing. On the other hand there are a number of characters who never emerge as more than routine and conventional figures."

Awards

The novel won the 1950

Australian Literature Society Gold Medal The Australian Literature Society Gold Medal (ALS Gold Medal) is awarded annually by the Association for the Study of Australian Literature for "an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year." From 1928 to 1974 it was awarded by th ...

Republication

The novel was later republished in 1990 under the title ''You, the Jury''.

''Knife in the Family'' 1957 TV Version

The novel was adapted for British TV in 1957 under the title ''Knife in the Family''. It was the first acting job in England for Australian actor Rodney Howe who arrived in England seven months previously. ''The Liverpool Echo'' said "there was nothing to hold the interest of even the most tolerant viewer."

References

External links

Serialisation of novel in ''The Australian Women's Weekly'' 26 May 1954: 65 Supplement
Accessed 6 March 2012
''Just Let Me Be''
at

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''You, the Jury''
at

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Knife in the Family
at

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{{Jon Cleary 1950 Australian novels Novels set in New South Wales Novels by Jon Cleary ALS Gold Medal–winning works