ABOUT
THE BOOK

‘So then, here it is. The unadorned un-self-flattering gospel, the never-before-told story our intricately intertwined lives … Listen: I know things that no one else knows. Trust me.’

Manhattan, 1996: the trial of the Vanderbilt claimant is finally coming to an end. The case – long, complex, riven with unknowns, attracting huge media and social interest – has been seeking to establish whether or not a certain man is the son of the fabulously wealthy and well-connected Vanderbilt family. The son went missing, presumed dead, while serving in the Vietnam War. There is huge fortune, prestige and status at stake. But is the man – a handsome cattle farmer from Queensland – really the Vanderbilt heir? And if so, why does he seem so reluctant to be found? From one of our foremost novelists, The Claimant is a compelling and ravishingly readable novel about the fluid, shifting and ultimately elusive nature of identity and the reasons why people seek to change their names, their identities or their personalities.