Holden Sheppard Stuns With Powerful New Novel King Of Dirt

Holden Sheppard has undoubtedly set standards high for himself after the raging success of Invisible Boys.

Now six years later, after the follow up success of his second book The Brink, Sheppard returns with his first book written for adults, King Of Dirt.

And it is everything we hoped for and more.

King Of Dirt Delivers In Spades

For his third outing Holden Sheppard returns to the dusty outback of Western Australia.

While Invisible Boys started in Sheppard’s home town of Geraldton, King Of Dirt launches straight into this gritty and raw story in the dusty town of Eucla, before ultimately finding its way home to Gero (Gerladton, WA).

King Of Dirt introduces Sheppard’s latest character Giacomo “Jack” Brolo, a construction worker living a solitary life as far from home as he can get himself.

Self exiled from his family and friends Jack is at first, deeply unlikable, full of self loathing, a character so set on his own self destruction it blinds him.

Jack’s self loathing is triggered by his own knowledge that he is attracted to men, something he has long known and always suppressed. Flirting with danger he downloads and deletes Grindr in the midst of the dusty outback, temptation always far out of reach as it stirs his restless soul.

It’s not until fellow worker Spencer unexpectedly minces his way onto the job site that Jack is confronted with the reality of his attraction.

Fuelled by his interactions with Spencer, Jack takes up the invitation to return home to Geraldton to see his family for the first time in over a decade, a decision that will ultimately challenge everything he thought he knew about his life so far.

As a character, Jack Brolo is complex, he exists as the very antithesis of the sterotypical gay man.

Jack is a fast car loving, bourbon drinking, flanno wearing, emotionally stunted bogan lacking in motivation and aspirations, who also happens to also be attracted to men.

Any fan of Holden Sheppard and his life outside his work will know that much of the above reads as almost a caricature of Holden himself, because Jack Brolo is essentially is a version of Holden that could have existed and in some ways still does.

Holden is that fast car loving, bourbon chugging, footy fanatic bogan, a title he wears with pride.

However Jack Brolo almost serves as Holden’s “Sliding doors” moment, the person he could have become had it not been for the love and support he found through his family and eventually his husband.

Sheppard has spoken openly of his struggles with mental health in the past and while he credits the characters in Invisible Boys as each representing different parts of his personality he has spoken openly about King Of Dirt showing more of himself than any of his other other works.

This is abundantly clear in King Of Dirt, there’s a raw vulnerability that seeps through the pages and tears at the seems of Jack Brolo’s untethered rage as he fights to overcome his past when he can barely see a future for himself. Holden’s past struggles and pain are smeared across the pages as they echo a pain of what could have been for himself had his life turned out differently.

Coming home

But all is not lost for Jack Brolo, whilst King Of Dirt is rich with pain and angst it is ultimately filled with hope.

Brolo hopes to find the love and acceptance from his family that he has feared he’ll never find, he hopes to find Xavier, the one man that made him realise his true feelings before he fled Geraldton and ultimately he hopes to find a new version of normal that makes him feel sane.

However finding himself back in Geraldton Jack quickly discovers those things are much further out of reach than he ever imagined.

His deeply conservative Italian family seem just as he left them and Xaiver seems nowhere in to be found.

After attending his cousins wedding Jack’s life is turned upside down more than he could have ever expected.

A chance counter with his ex girlfriend and her teenage son at the wedding reveal things are set to change for Jack as he discovers he left more family behind in Geraldton than he realised.

Now Jack must come to terms with potentially becoming a father whilst he struggles to navigate the continued weight of expectations from his family, just as the love of his life walks straight back into the picture.

There’s a lot to love about King Of Dirt, it’s raw unapologetic authenticity draws you into Jack Brolo’s world and struggles to let you out.

It’s another win for Holden Sheppard who has shown he can go from strength to strength in writing real, raw and unapologetic queer Australian stories.

News that Sheppard already has his sequel for Invisible Boys, Yeah The Boys, in the works for 2026 is exciting, especially given that it will include a crossover with characters from Invisible Boys, The Brink and King Of Dirt.

Holden is currently touring Australia with a series of in-conversation events for King Of Dirt. 

 

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