First Name Second Name - by Steve Minon (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A haunting journey through family secrets, racial identity, and the search for belonging in Australia.

Stephen Bolin's deathbed wish is ignored, setting his corpse on a supernatural journey back to his birthplace in Far North Queensland. What compels him, and what awaits him there?

As a jiangshi, Stephen revisits his family's turbulent past: his Chinese great-grandfather's life on the goldfields, his Scottish grandparents' migration, and his own coming-of-age. This original and satirical novel explores four generations reckoning with identity. Will Stephen find peace, or will his family's secrets consume him?

• Perfect for readers of Australian literary fiction and family sagas
• Explores themes of race, sexuality, and cultural heritage
• Winner of the Queensland Literary Awards Glendower Award

Review Quotes

'First Name Second Name is the quintessential Australian novel - a stunningly complex and intelligent portrait of who we are now and who we are destined to become. MinOn is a critical, insightful and compassionate new voice. Absolutely a name to remember.' Michael Mohammed Ahmad

'First Name Second Name is a glorious, inventive novel about the experiences of a Chinese-Scottish family, from the goldfields in North Queensland to 1980s Brisbane to the present day. You will be both entertained and moved by this wonderful novel.' Mirandi Riwoe

'First Name, Second Name is exhilaratingly brilliant. Steve MinOn's voice is wry, wise and utterly original. Here, MinOn delivers a spellbinding odyssey through the past of a migrant family from Far North Queensland.' Lech Blaine

'Ambitious and inventive ... First Name Second Name takes themes of racial, familial and sexual identity and explores them in an entirely original way.' Judges' comments, Queensland Literary Awards

About the Author

Steve MinOn was an internationally awarded advertising copywriter and a restaurateur before becoming a writer of fiction. He grew up in North Queensland and he now lives in Meanjin/Brisbane. Steve has written often about outsiders and his family's mixed-race ancestral history, and his articles and short stories have been published in SBS Voices, Mamamia and various anthologies. He won the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer in the 2023 Queensland Literary Awards for First Name Second Name.