NOTE FROM JB: Yeah, I’m always happy to temporarily turn my blog over to someone and get good content on someone else’s dime (hey, I am a writer after all). But it is always a true pleasure to have a guest post from Madeleine D’ Este. There are few writers active today whose work I enjoy as much. If you asked me to reduce to a single sentence what appeals to me about her writing, if I’m going to eschew “because it’s really cool,” I will have to go with “She has a unique gift for crafting tales which explore the intersection of eccentric characters and eccentric locations.” Never has that talent been as remarkably on display as it is with her latest offering, Radcliffe.
Madeleine knows about my passion for music. And I know, every time she has a new release, I can look forward to having an “official soundtrack” for the piece dropped in my inbox. I knew her soundtrack for Radcliffe would be something really special. I was not disappointed.
RADCLIFFE PLAYLIST
My new novella Radcliffe was released in August 2023 from Deadset Press.
A three-storey ramshackle house in North Melbourne is full of secrets. Tamsin is led to the building by a voice inside her head – a voice that tells her ‘Death is Coming’. With no respite from the eternal summer heat, can Tamsin find out who death is coming for and solve the riddle of Radcliffe?
Radcliffe is a gothic tale about a weird apartment building full of weird women. Meet the characters and their songs; Bunty, Defne, Cecily, Riko and Tamsin.
BUNTY
The longest resident of Radcliffe, Bunty is an octogenarian ex-ballerina always has a tale from her days on the stage.
‘A Night on Bare Mountain’ – Mussorgsky, Berlin Orchestra
A Night on Bare Mountain features in a compilation produced by the V&A ‘Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes 1909-1929’ accompanied many hours of editing Radcliffe.
DEFNE
Defne is a late-blooming photographer with a penchant for the grotesque. Growing up in the 90s, Alanis would have rocked Defne’s suburban world.
You Oughta Know – Alanis Morrissette
Curiously, this is an example of how characters are not autobiographical, because I’ve never been a fan of this song and yet it’s perfect for Defne.
CECILY
The twenty-something psychology student Cecily is fascinated with the human condition and diagnoses everyone she meets.
Only Human – Rag n Bone Man
This song was also often playing in my dodgy 24-hr gym when I escaped from editing.
RIKO
Riko is a twenty-something industrial musician and DJ.
Corporate Slave – Snog
This song is from the grandfather of Australian industrial music, David Thrussel aka Snog. While I imagine Riko’s music to be more abrasive, something like Snog would have lit her original fire. I saw Snog live in 2022, supporting Pop Will Eat Itself in Melbourne. The show was amazing and bonkers.
GAIL
Gail is a reclusive writer with a dark past.
Red Right Hand – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
How could I do Australian gothic without Nick Cave? Needless to say, writer Gail has some anger issues as well as a way with words.
TAMSIN
The main character Tamsin is a tax accountant and auditory psychic.
Love is a Losing Game – Amy Winehouse
Life has been a little unfair to Tamsin and she would have spent many nights singing along with Amy’s pain.
RADCLIFFE
The first song I thought of when Jon asked me to put this post together. A weird apartment building full of weird women? A gothic tale?
Happy House – Siouxsie and the Banshees
Madeleine D’Este
Madeleine D’Este is a writer of dark mysteries. Growing up in Tasmania and studying law (but never practising), she lives in inner city Melbourne surrounded by books. When not writing, D’Este enjoys podcasts, knitting, forteana, indie films, kettle bells and coffee as ‘black as midnight on a moonless night’.
Radcliffe is available from all good ebook platforms and in paperback from bookshop.org.
Jon Black Writes 