Beautiful Revolutionary

`Woollett has wisely chosen to forgo the fetishism of death and Jim Jones that is so often the focus of this tragedy. With Beautiful Revolutionary, Woollett has created an utterly intoxicating portrait of the lives of those seeking to build something new in a world that seemed to be losing its mind. Although we know what awaits us, Woollett masterfully weaves a suspenseful and complex story about people - of their dreams, beliefs, ideals, and lives all coming to a horrific end - in a way that is uniquely hers. Woollett is electric.'

`Laura Woollett's imaginative retelling of the Jonestown tragedy does what only fiction can do - endows Jim Jones and his inner circle with a sense of humanity. She formulates answers to unknowable questions - how could otherwise sane people be pulled into Jones's web of evil? What happened that last, tragic day? A lyrical and sharply rendered tale of innocence lost and ideals betrayed.'

`[D]ramatic and intriguing, the quality of Woollett's prose is the most enjoyable aspect of this novel ... Reading Beautiful Revolutionary, it is easy to imagine how so many people could have been captivated and controlled by a man such as Jones ... [A]n excellent work of literary historical fiction.' 4.5 STARS

`In this rich and skilled reimagining, Woollett joins the sprawling, doomed, and endlessly fascinating juggernaut of the Peoples Temple as it careens from fraught, idealistic inception in late-sixties California to desperately tragic demise in Guyana a decade later. Equal parts earth and ecstasy, pulsing with life, this book takes us deep within the lives of Jones's followers and the unfurling of their inevitable, dark drama. Climb aboard, and hold on tight.'

`Beautiful Revolutionary is some of the most exciting fiction I've encountered. It fearlessly explores the human elements that attracted masses to the Peoples Temple and to Jim Jones - fear, lust, the need to be loved, and the urge to feel a part of something larger than the self. This story cuts close to the bone, unrelenting and irrefutably true, over and over. Laura Elizabeth Woollett is an immense talent, and this is a bracing - and necessary - read.'

`Meticulously researched ... Woollett's prose is arresting-vivid without being flowery, subtle but still affecting. While the plot is dramatic and intriguing, the quality of Woollett's prose is the most enjoyable aspect of this novel ... This is an excellent work of literary historical fiction.'

`Woollett's writing makes this story an electricity storm. The clouds are weed smoke and the lightning charging through that haze is pure sexual energy. I'm almost half-way through and feel wholly transported. The world is both real and surreal; these characters alien and freakishly familiar to me. Completely gripping, and dripping with detail never overdone.'

`Beautiful Revolutionary has had me completely mesmerised - it has been so long since I've been so utterly engrossed and absorbed in a novel. The shifts in perspective are masterfully handled and offer a fascinating and nuanced portrait of Jim Jones' Peoples Temple. I do love cult novels and this is one of the best of them. The tension build to the inevitable conclusion is incredibly well done. I have nothing but love for this book, five beautiful stars. It's my number one Australian novel of the year.'

`She has taken years of extensive research, including interviews with surviving members of the Jones cult, then bent these facts into fictional shape ... She follows Joan Didion, another sharp-eyed observer of the Californian scene in the '60s and '70s - another writer who appreciated how genuine human impulses could be harnessed and warped by the wrong kind of leader.'

`In order to write Beautiful Revolutionary, Laura Elizabeth Woollett spent years researching the Jonestown massacre. She interviewed surviving members of the People's Temple and the families of those who died, creating an in-depth portrait of an era and one of its most extreme manifestations ... perfect for fans of Emma Cline's The Girls and The Family by Chris Johnston and Rosie Jones.'

`It's easy to see why Woollett is one of Australia's leading young writers. The characters and observations are incisive and gripping, and prose masterful and electric.'

`[The] highlight of this book is Woollett's prose style, which beautifully conveys the details of what is going on while at the same time wielding a less is more touch and power of suggestion, to maximise the psychological and physical tension of the story ... Beautiful Revolutionary is part twisted love story, part dark, noirish, crime novel. I recommend it.'

`Laura Elizabeth Woollett has embarked on a brave quest with Beautiful Revolutionary - and the risk has paid off, with her historically rich and breathtakingly entertaining story about one female hippie searching for life's meaning in all the wrong places.'

`A beautifully-written and certainly compelling novel.'

`The book is the author's interpretive fictional account, overlaid on a well-researched framework of fact and first-person description ... Her writing is thought-provoking and at times luminous.'

`Absolutely mesmerising. I didn't want this to end ... This story is meticulously researched and gets into your heart and mind and remains there for quite some time ...[Woollett's] a master of character and atmosphere.'

`Laura Elizabeth Woollett's Beautiful Revolutionary grabs attention from the beginning, not with narrative hooks but with the sheer penetration of its prose. Woollett's debut novel is an imaginative refiguring of the Jonestown massacre story ... a truly exciting writer.'

`Woollett's novel is brimming with historical detail and her depiction of Jonestown is impressive ... A well-written account, it raises important questions about the desire for faith, especially in a time of crisis, and the dangerous appeal of a powerful personality dressed up as a revolutionary.'

`It's a novel that benefits from deep research worn lightly, and from Laura Elizabeth Woollett's sensitivity to the perversity of human character and behaviour.'