The Winter Road: A Story of Legacy, Land and a Killig at Croppa Creek

An epic true story of greed, power and a desire for legacy from an acclaimed Australian storyteller.
July 2014, a lonely road at twilight outside Croppa Creek, New South Wales: 80-year-old farmer Ian Turnbull takes out a .22 and shoots environmental officer Glen Turner in the back.

On one side, a farmer hoping to secure his family's wealth on the richest agricultural soil in the country. On the other, his obsession: the government man trying to apply environmental laws.

The brutal killing of Glen Turner splits open the story of our place on this land. Is our time on this soil a tale of tragedy or triumph - are we reaping what we've sown? Do we owe protection to the land, or does it owe us a living? And what happens when, in pursuit of a legacy, a man creates terrible consequences?

Kate Holden brings her discerning eye to a gripping tale of law, land and inheritance. It is the story of Australia.

Compellingly told, shattering in its reverberations, The Winter Road is a story for our times - a battle that is being fought the world over as we try to find a better way of managing the land and respecting the forces of nature that sustain us.' -Isabella Tree, author of Wilding

'This book is a major contribution to the canon of Australian land and social history: a bedfellow with Francis Ratcliffe, W.E.H. Stanner, Tim Flannery, Bill Gammage and Bruce Pascoe … Its power is in exposing a hidden, suppurating sore in the psyche of our nation.' -Charles Massy, author of Call of the Reed Warbler

'Holden brilliantly telescopes centuries of history and law into fatal conversations at a farm gate. As one man stalks another on a winter road, the whole psyche of modern Australian settlement comes under trial. An enthralling and disturbing tale told with deep insight and compassion.' -Tom Griffiths, author of The Art of Time Travel

'This is a special book, and I cannot thank Holden enough for writing it.' -Anna Krien, author of Into the Woods and Night Games

'Holden finds the epic thread in this crime.' -Chloe Hooper, author of The Tall Man and The Arsonist 'An incredible writer.' -Books+Publishing