Safe Return Doubtful

Australian Literature though about Britain – Historic Fiction – published first in 2006 and a reissue in 2026

Robert Dadd’s murder was announced in the Kentish Independent in the summer of 1843 along with two portraits, one of the victim and one of the killer, his son Richard. Both portraits were drawn by the son.

The book is an account of the year in Richard Dadd’s life that leads up to the murder and briefly continues into his incarceration at the Bedlam psychiatric hospital.

In 1842, Richard Dadd accompanied Sir Thomas Phillips, a former politician, on a Grand Tour of Europe and the Middle East, acting as his illustrator. He sketched and painted the scenes, people, and landscapes they encountered while Sir Thomas paid for everything. It was a good arrangement for both, Dadd got to travel and vary his art, and Phillips got a set of bespoke postcards to show off once back home in England.

This really was a pleasant surprise. Though fictionalised, Higgie sticks pretty close to actual events. As the reader knows what is going to happen, it is fascinating to examine Dadd’s behaviour for any inkling of insanity. Higgie is Australian, and this is a debut novel, though in 2026 it is a reissue, it just about got a publisher in 2006, and didn’t do well. Her style of writing suits this sort of historic fiction well. She is better known as an art critic, but hopefully with this reissue the book we’ll get the attention it deserves, and thereby Higgie may be encouraged into more.

My GoodReads score 4 / 5