The Boss of Taroomba

Set in the dusty Australian bush town of Taroomba, this novel follows Engelhardt, a piano tuner with artistic aspirations who finds himself surrounded by a rough, unrefined society that has little patience for sensitivity or dreamers. When he attempts to share his musical gifts with a group of local young men, his performance is met with mockery and contempt. But everything shifts when Naomi Pryse, the formidable woman who essentially runs Taroomba, enters the scene. Her kindness toward Engelhardt stands in stark contrast to the brutality of everyone else around him, and their growing friendship suggests something deeper taking root: a story about acceptance, self-discovery, and the possibility of being truly seen in a world that values practicality over passion. Hornung, better known for his Raffles detective stories, brings his eye for outsiders and social outsiders to this quieter, more tender tale of an artist navigating a world that mocks what it cannot understand.