As a teenager I was also fed a diet of detective stories by one of my aunts. I don’t believe a book has to be great literature to leave a lasting effect and I was spellbound by Napoleon Bonaparte, known as Bony, the Aboriginal Australian detective created by Arthur Upfield. I remember nothing of the stories, but I will never forget Bony, nor the sharp lesson I learnt about colonialism and the way minorities were abased and their rights dismissed or ignored, a wrong which continues to this day all around the globe.
Mari Strachan
Reviews
I'd forgotten all about Arthur Upfield's Bony until this edition of Bookbite. It's years since I read any of these books but I do remember them passing many happy hours for me when I was breastfeeding my youngest son (now aged 50+!)
