The First Stone — Helen Garner

In the autumn of 1992, two young women students at Melbourne University went to the police claiming that they had been indecently assaulted at a party. The man they accused was the head of their co-ed residential college. The shock of these charges split the community and painfully focused the debate about sex and power.

'This is writing of great boldness and it will wring the heart... an intense, eloquent and enthralling work...' - AUSTRALIAN

'This was never going to be an easy book to write, its pages are bathed in anguish and self-doubt, but suffused also with a white-hot anger...' - GOOD WEEKEND

'Travelling with Garner along the complex paths of this sad story is, strangely enough, enjoyable. The First Stone [is] a book worth reading for its writing...' - SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

'... Garner has ensured one thing: the debate about sexual harassment... will now have a very public airing. And it will have it in the language of experience to which all women and men have access...' - AGE