author
Louis Stone
1871–1935
A sharp observer of Sydney street life, he is best remembered for Jonah, a vivid novel of working-class Redfern and Waterloo that became an Australian classic. His fiction and plays drew on the places and people he knew firsthand, giving his work an energy that still feels immediate.
1 Audiobook
Jonah
by Louis Stone
About the author
Born in Leicester, England, on October 21, 1871, he migrated to Australia with his family as a boy, first to Brisbane and then to Sydney. He grew up in modest circumstances, trained as a teacher, and later worked in New South Wales schools while writing fiction and plays.
His best-known book, Jonah (1911), is widely regarded as a landmark Australian novel for its lively, realistic picture of larrikin life in inner Sydney. He also wrote Betty Wayside and stage works, building a reputation as a talented writer with a strong ear for everyday speech and a close knowledge of urban life.
Although his books did not always sell well during his lifetime, his work has endured because of its memorable sense of place and its importance in Australian literary history. He died in Sydney on September 23, 1935.