Just Let Me Be
{{Short description|Book by Jon Cleary}}
{{infobox book |
| name = Just Let Me Be
| image = File:Just Let Me Be.jpg
| caption = First edition
| author = Jon Cleary
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = Australia
| language = English
| series =
| genre = Crime fiction
| publisher = Wener Laurie
| release_date = 1950
| media_type = Print
| pages =
| isbn =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
Just Let Me Be is a 1950 novel from Australian author Jon Cleary. It was his third published full-length novel.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131133176 |title=BOOK REVIEWS---. |newspaper=The News |location=Adelaide |date=14 July 1950 |accessdate=18 October 2015 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23027748 |title=Younger novelists merit more attention. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=18 November 1950 |accessdate=18 October 2015 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Premise
Joe Brennan, an ex-serviceman, returns home to Coogee after World War II. He gets a job as a milkman and intends to make enough money to marry his girlfriend Connie.
He accidentally kills a man while defending local gangster Bill Pepper and is persuaded to hide the body.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18197758 |title=Violence Breaks Out At Coogee. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=3 February 1951 |accessdate=6 March 2012 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Reception
The Sydney Morning Herald wrote "The details are exact. The dialogue, slangy but not self-conscious, is convincing. On the other hand there are a number of characters
who never emerge as more than routine and conventional figures."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18197758 |title=Violence Breaks Out At Coogee |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=35,295 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 February 1951 |accessdate=11 August 2024 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}
=Awards=
Republication
''Knife in the Family'' 1957 TV Version
The novel was adapted for British TV in 1957 under the title Knife in the Family.{{cite news|title=TV Guide|newspaper=Evening Standard|date=11 September 1957|page= 6}}
It was the first acting job in England for Australian actor Rodney Howe who arrived in England seven months previously.{{cite news|newspaper=Nottingham Evening News|date=11 September 1957|page= 8|title=This time his packet will be safe}}
The Liverpool Echo said "there was nothing to hold the interest of even the most tolerant viewer."{{cite news|newspaper=Liverpool Echo|date=12 September 1957|page= 10|title=Norman Cook's television news}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51775983 Serialisation of novel in The Australian Women's Weekly 26 May 1954: 65 Supplement] Accessed 6 March 2012
- [http://0-austlit.edu.au.library.sl.nsw.gov.au/run?ex=ShowWork&workId=C1uf Just Let Me Be] at AustLit (subscription required)
- [http://0-austlit.edu.au.library.sl.nsw.gov.au/run?ex=ShowWork&workId=C9Kt You, the Jury] at AustLit (subscription required)
- [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1274989/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cl_sm Knife in the Family] at IMDb
{{Jon Cleary}}
Category:1950 Australian novels