Thomas Keneally

Thomas Keneally, (born October 7, 1935, Sydney, Australia), Australian writer best known for his historical novels. Keneally's characters are gripped by their historical and personal past, and decent individuals are portrayed at odds with systems of authority. At age 17 Keneally entered a Roman Catholic seminary, but he left before ordination; the experience influenced his early fiction, including The Place at Whitton (1964) and Three Cheers for the Paraclete (1968). His reputation as a historical novelist was established with Bring Larks and Heroes (1967), about Australia's early years as an English penal colony. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972; film 1980) won Keneally international acclaim; it is based on the actual story of a half-caste Aboriginal who rebels against white racism by going on a murder spree. The Great Shame (1998), a work inspired by his own ancestry, details 80 years of Irish history from the perspective of Irish convicts sent to Australia in the 19th century.