Long-listed for the 2006 Miles Franklin Literary Award, this is a striking first novel of contemporary life and manners from award-winning biographer (Rose Boys) and poet, Peter Rose.The castJulia Collis: a brilliant but unconventional publisher, more than a little controlling of her m nageCandy Collis: an opera singer with a bright future and a dark motherMatthew Light: a young actor, taken under Julia's wing as a teenage boy, obsessively in love with Roman AnthemRoman Anthem: the 21-year-old grandson of a legendary Australian prime minister, renowned for his good looks, despised by JuliaThe sceneValhalla: an incestuous household of steely alliances, lopsided infatuations, and dark impulsesThe plotRoman Anthem is missing and no one knows why.Witty, satirical and full of intrigue, set against a backdrop of opera, publishing and politics, Peter Rose's first novel is unlike any other Australian fiction.