The Artist Is a Thief — Stephen Gray

This gritty, unflinching philosophical detective novel addresses themes of Aboriginal rights, privilege, and art. Margaret Thatcher Gandarrwuy is an internationally renowned Aboriginal artist whose works command high prices, until a new painting is unveiled. It is discovered slashed, with the words “The artist is a thief” hastily scrawled across it. Jean-Loup Wild, a Melbourne financial consultant, is sent by an Aboriginal civil rights group to investigate and is caught between the art world, with its wealth, fashions, heroes, and sophisticated private language, and the Aboriginal community, with its poverty, social problems, kinship ties, and unchanging traditional law. While operating in these dual worlds, Jean-Loup delves deeply into the layers of Australian society, discovering the prejudices at the bedrock.