Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

Dancing on air

The bunglings of Nosey Bob
by
May 2022, no. 442

An Uncommon Hangman: The life and deaths of Robert "Nosey Bob" Howard by Rachel Franks

NewSouth, $34.99 pb, 417 pp

Dancing on air

The bunglings of Nosey Bob
by
May 2022, no. 442
An illustration of Robert
An illustration of Robert "Nosey Bob" Howard in The Bulletin, 31 January 1880, p4 (National Library of Australia/Trove)

When the offer came to review this book, I accepted enthusiastically, and unthinkingly added, ‘That sounds fun!’. Upon reflection, I deleted that last sentence: what would it say about me, I wondered, that I should expect the account of a hangman and his work to be entertaining? I thought better of the sentence, but the anticipation remained.

From the New Issue

You May Also Like

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.