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A gritty and heartfelt gay coming-of-age story set in the world of FIFO workers and tradies in Western Australia, from the author of the bestselling Invisible Boys.
Giacomo Brolo, aka Jack, is a mess. He works piecemeal construction gigs in remote WA, drinks himself to oblivion and is estranged from his family and friends. He's consumed by a self-loathing all too common for closeted men who have grown up in a world of hate and shame.
But then Jack returns to his regional hometown of Geraldton for a family wedding. He hasn't been back since he fled at the age of eighteen, and his past soon catches up with him.
Turns out Jack's deeply conservative Italian family would prefer he remained in the closet. Then he finds out he may have conceived a son with his teenage girlfriend, and now Jack needs to convince her and her new husband that he's fit to be a father figure. And whatever happened to Xavier, the former schoolmate who Jack was in love with and whose rejection spurred him to leave Geraldton in the first place?
Is Jack doomed to live a dead-end life – or can he open himself up to the possibility of love, found family and connection?
Author: Holden Sheppard
Trade Paperback Published 3 June 2025 384 pages
Holden Sheppard hits again with the blunt edge of Australian queerness in his latest novel, King of Dirt. Continuing his work in the gay coming-of-age genre, the author writes with signature realism about sexuality and relationships between men in small-town settings. King of Dirt follows Giacomo ‘Jack’ Brolo, a closeted tradie and self-described ‘boof-head’, as he travels to his hometown of Geraldton after an absence of 16 years. Set to reunite with his estranged family, Jack also seeks to reconnect with his childhood friend and first love, Xavier. This is not a new narrative in Australian fiction – a gay male protagonist tormented by a culture of hyper-masculinity attempts to reconcile with the homophobic attitudes of his immigrant family while engaging in a series of casual hook-ups in an effort for self-discovery – but there is something refreshing about Sheppard’s ability to take this narrative to a place of genuine intimacy and resolution. For this reviewer, King of Dirt is most successful in its quiet and tender moments; Sheppard’s characters are shown to be capable of true connection, and although they deal with conflict and discrimination, their storylines are neither hopeless nor simplistic. King of Dirt is recommended to readers who enjoy Christos Tsiolkas and Peter Polites."
- Books+Publishing reviewer: Abe Theobald