Our People
13 November, 2025
Finding inspiration in unlikely places
A talented author who spent his formative years growing up in Stawell has made waves in literary circles this year following the release of his latest novel. Eden is the follow-up to Mark Brandi’s award-winning debut novel Wimmera, earning rave reviews for telling the gripping tale of a man who’s trying to pick up the pieces after a lengthy stint behind bars.
“Eden is the story of a bloke named Tom Blackburn who has just gotten out of jail after a long stretch inside and, like a lot of prisoners re-entering society, he really struggles to adjust,” said Mark about his new book.
“The story essentially is about his efforts to overcome his circumstances, but complicating matters further is the emergence of a secret from his past.”
Over the course of several releases, Mark has found a stylistic groove that resonates with readers.
“All my books have focussed on people really at the margins of society,” he said.
The Rip, my second book, was about a woman sleeping rough on the streets of Melbourne with a heroin addiction, and all my stories have dealt with people really struggling.”
Mark tapped into first-hand professional experiences and insights to shape the storylines in his latest epic tale.
“This book is the first one that has focused on the prisoner experience, and I think that was born in part from my professional background,” he said.
“I worked in the department of justice for about 10 and years and I was a political advisor for a few years to the Corrections Minister.
“One thing I saw working in that role is that you pretty much have the same cohort cycling through prison again and again, and often the people with substance abuse issues, people with mental health issues, those who were poor and couldn’t find housing just kept going back in.”
The sobering reality that two-in-five prisoners end up back in jail within three years was prominent in Mark’s thoughts during the development of Eden.
“I suppose I was kind of grappling with that in my mind and wanted to write from that person’s experience, a first-person account of what that would be like, but really the actual spark was for it in a practical sense came from a visit to the Melbourne General Cemetery which is just a couple streets away from where I live,” Mark said.
“My paternal grandparents are buried there but also my father is buried there, and I was there with my mum visiting my dad’s grave, and we encountered a bloke who was sleeping rough in the cemetery, he was there for about a week with a little camp set up, and I just got to thinking about what’s brought him to this place.
“What are the things that have happened in his life that have led him here and sleeping in the cemetery? That was really when the rubber hit the road, that was the spark.”
Mark made a point of mentioning that Eden was an opportunity to tie up a few loose ends from his first book, Wimmera.
“I suppose I had a sense of unfinished business with that book, so in part, I wanted to go back and write about that world again.”
Mark has fond memories of growing up in Stawell and enjoyed a unique upbringing as the son of immigrants who had decided to buy a country pub despite having zero experience in the hotel business.
“My parents bought what was, it’s no longer sadly, the Commercial Hotel in Stawell which was an old goldmining pub,” he said.
“They ran it, sort of on-and-off, for over 30 years, they bought it in the ‘60s.
“I’m Italian, my parents were Italian migrants and dad had never set foot in a pub really before he decided to buy this place that was just like a run-down pub, it was closed up at the time, and he and my mum moved up from Melbourne and cleaned it up, got it all ready and opened it and ran it very successfully over a number of decades.”
“Myself and my three older brothers grew up mostly in the pub and a couple of different houses around Stawell,” said Mark.
“It was a great experience growing up in the town, you know it was kind of that bucolic cliché of being let out the front door in the morning and your parents don’t really care where you are as long as you’re back by dark, and you go fishing and yabbying, playing sport with my mates, there was great freedom growing up there.”
Eden by Mark Brandi is out now, and available from most major book retailers.
Read More: Stawell