Paul Rushworth-Brown sits down with Chris Voss to talk truth, fiction, and the silences that shaped a nation
When historical fiction author Paul Rushworth-Brown appeared live from Las Vegas on The Chris Voss Show, the conversation quickly turned from storytelling to truth-telling.
At the heart of the interview was Outback Odyssey, Rushworth-Brown’s latest novel — a sweeping post-war survival story set in 1950s Australia that’s quietly been gaining traction in the United States. But behind the dust-covered landscape and raw outback setting lies something deeper: a story Australia still struggles to tell.
“I was thrown down the stairs in a Darwin pub once,” Paul shared, recalling his younger days in the outback, “because I refused to leave when my Aboriginal mate was refused service.” That moment — like so many others from his lived experience — finds echoes in Outback Odyssey, a novel shaped by red dirt, cultural collision, and the weight of untold history.
The interview didn’t shy away from the hard questions. Voss, known for his bold conversational style, dove straight into the themes at the core of the novel: racism, reconciliation, and why so many Australian stories remain buried under layers of national amnesia.
Outback Odyssey
“This isn’t just a novel about surviving the outback,” Paul said. “It’s about surviving the silences. The things we weren’t allowed to say, or hear, or even remember.”
While Outback Odyssey has found an eager audience overseas — praised for its authenticity and allegorical depth — the response at home has been more muted.
“This is the novel starting conversations overseas that Australia’s yet to have,” Paul said. “And that’s fine. Because every truth has its time — and sometimes it takes a little distance for people to see what’s right in front of them.”
Voss was quick to point out the parallels between Paul’s personal journey — from coach of the Pararoos to overlooked author — and the erasure that plays out thematically in the book.
“There’s a reason people are connecting with this in the U.S.,” Voss remarked. “It’s not just the writing — it’s the courage behind it.”
From Yorkshire to the outback, from the red dust to the page,Outback Odyssey is more than a historical novel. It’s a challenge — one that invites readers to reckon with the truths they’ve inherited, ignored, or denied.
And as Paul Rushworth-Brown proves in this interview, sometimes it takes a story to spark the conversations a country’s not quite ready for.
🎥 Watch the full interview on The Chris Voss Show: https://bit.ly/3GK3qFy 📘 Learn more about the novel: https://bit.ly/43P4noC
Why Is the Australian Media Ignoring Outback Odyssey?
📍 By Amanda (on behalf of author Paul Rushworth-Brown)
“Spurned by mainstream media. Embraced by readers. Destined to become an Aussie classic.”
That’s not just a tagline—it’s the reality behind Outback Odyssey, a novel that is quietly shaking the foundations of Australian storytelling. While overseas readers and film industry figures are praising it for its emotional resonance and cultural power, back home the silence is… telling.
So let’s ask:
Why are Australian media and cultural institutions so reluctant to embrace Outback Odyssey?
🔥 Because It Centres a Woman Who Defies the Norm
At the heart of Outback Odyssey is Amanda Olsen, a strong, layered protagonist raised by a First Nations surrogate mother. She is not a sidekick or love interest—she is the moral centre of the story.
Amanda embodies quiet strength, resilience, and spiritual clarity. She doesn't conform to the romanticised archetype of white femininity in the outback. She pushes back. She listens to Country. She protects what others overlook.
That kind of character doesn’t fit easily into traditional publishing moulds, especially not in a story that refuses to smooth the edges of history.
🔥 Because It Doesn’t Turn Away from the Hard Stuff
This novel explores trauma—both personal and generational. It portrays the crushing weight of dislocation and the toll of war, and it asks us to look honestly at mental health in rural communities, where stoicism often masks silent suffering.
The story also walks through the shadow of historical policies that tore families apart and left cultural scars still visible today. Without being didactic, Outback Odyssey honours those silences—and calls them by name.
🔥 Because the Author Refused to Look Away
Paul Rushworth-Brown is an Australian writer, born in England, who has spent decades grappling with the injustices faced by First Nations people—then and now.
He was disgusted by what he learned:
The systemic mistreatment of Indigenous people
The deaths in custody
The ten-year gap in life expectancy
The historical denial of voting rights
The way reconciliation is still postponed or politicised
His response wasn’t just outrage. It was story. Outback Odyssey is his attempt to hold space, to bear witness, and to listen more than he speaks.
🔥 Because It Arrived in a Moment of National Reckoning
The 2023 Voice referendum asked Australia to listen—and the result revealed how far we still are from consensus.
But Outback Odyssey doesn’t speak in headlines or slogans.
It shows. Quietly. Through dust and silence. Through corroborees and firelight. Through a white man who learns to unlearn.
Through a woman who was never meant to lead, but does.
It connects memory to place.
Land to legacy.
Truth to storytelling.
🔥 Because Bureaucracies Don’t Want to Share Their Dirty Laundry
Let’s be honest. Australian cultural institutions often act as guardians of national myth rather than champions of truth.
Stories like Outback Odyssey are “too real,” “too political,” or simply “too hard to platform.” They reveal the underbelly of the colonial story we’re still trying to export—one of rugged men, noble frontiers, and empty land.
But this book says otherwise.
The land wasn’t empty.
The silence isn’t healing.
And the reckoning is long overdue.
Maybe the real fear isn’t that Australians will read it.
It’s that the world already is.
So, Why the Silence?
Because Outback Odyssey challenges everything we’re still afraid to say out loud.
Because it honours Indigenous knowledge without appropriation.
Because it believes women are keepers of cultural memory.
Because it weaves fiction with truth—and doesn’t ask for permission to do so.
📚 Outback Odyssey is available now.
🎬 The screenplay is complete.
💬 The conversation has already started—just not in the newspapers.
A sweeping tale of land, legacy, and lost gold – where one young man’s
journey into the heart of Australia becomes a powerful reckoning with its soul.
Set against the untamed beauty and brutal realities of
19th-century Gippsland, Outback Odyssey is more than a gripping
historical adventure—it’s a poignant exploration of identity, survival, and the
enduring legacy of colonisation. As the sunburnt earth whispers the stories of
its First Peoples, a new narrative emerges—one that bridges past and present,
myth and memory.
At the centre of the story is Jimmy, a young
Yorkshireman adrift in a strange new world. Lost in the harsh frontier, he is
rescued and mentored by a wise Aboriginal stockman of the Munarrakalai people.
Under his guidance and through the deep teachings of the Elders, Jimmy sheds
the blinders of empire and begins to see the land not as something to tame, but
as a living, sacred entity—rich in story, meaning, and spirit.
His transformation is profound. But just as he finds
belonging, an old weathered map surfaces—tied to the infamous 1877 SS Avoca
gold heist. What begins as a search for stolen treasure turns into a perilous
odyssey through betrayal, greed, and colonial violence. Ghosts of the past
rise, and Jimmy must navigate a landscape where every step uncovers buried
truths—about the country, its people, and himself.
With the ancestral Munarrakalai way of life under threat,
Jimmy’s journey becomes more than survival—it becomes a fight for remembrance,
for justice, and for truth.
Told through the lens of historical fiction, Outback
Odyssey is an allegorical reflection of the nation’s ongoing struggle to
reconcile with its past. Echoing the spirit of Australia’s 2023 Indigenous
Voice referendum, the story places the reader inside the beating heart of a
divided land—asking what it truly means to listen to First Peoples, to respect
ancient knowledge, and to walk forward together.
Richly cinematic, emotionally raw, and historically
grounded, Outback Odyssey is perfect for readers who love epic
storytelling with purpose—and for producers seeking a timely, visually
striking, and socially resonant project. It is a call to honour the land, to
hear its heartbeat in the stories of its people, and to consider the legacy we
choose to leave behind.
🎬 Short Film/TV Pitch
Deck Synopsis (Producer-Focused)
Outback Odyssey
Genre: Historical Drama / Adventure | Setting: 19th-Century Australia
A young Yorkshireman finds himself lost in the unforgiving
wilds of Gippsland—only to be saved by an Aboriginal stockman who introduces
him to the spiritual and cultural lifeways of the Munarrakalai people. As Jimmy
learns to see the land through Indigenous eyes, a mysterious map tied to the
1877 SS Avoca gold heist sends him on a perilous quest where the ghosts
of colonisation, greed, and betrayal still haunt the present.
This is a sweeping, character-driven historical epic that
parallels Australia’s modern-day reconciliation efforts, including the national
dialogue surrounding the 2023 Indigenous Voice referendum. Outback Odyssey
is ripe for adaptation—a story rich in visual texture, emotional depth, and
cultural resonance, perfect for global audiences hungry for stories that
matter.
Think The Revenant meets High Ground with the
soul of Tracks.
Australian Author/Interviewer Paul Rushworth-Brown on Booked Up With Beth.
In this fascinating conversation, Paul delves into the rich tapestry of his novel—a story of resilience, love, and reconciliation set in the rugged 1950s Australian outback. Outback Odyssey weaves together themes of land rights, cultural identity, and the healing power of community—topics that remain as urgent today as ever. Despite this, it’s been disappointing to see how little attention Australian media has given this uniquely Australian story, especially when international interest continues to grow. We’re grateful to Beth for spotlighting Paul’s journey and for giving Outback Odyssey the platform it deserves. Let’s keep these important conversations going—watch the full interview here on YouTube and help us champion Australian stories!
@PaulBrown630 @MaryHildenbrand-yo9yk
🌊 Excerpt 1: Jimmy on the Boat Coming Over
"In this excerpt, we find Jimmy on the deck of the RMS Orion, staring out across the water as England disappears behind him. It’s a moment of quiet reflection and unspoken promise—the beginning of his journey into the unknown. It’s the weight of leaving everything behind, and the hope that somewhere in Australia’s red earth, he’ll find a new beginning."
"Jimmy stared at the RMS Orion, a floating marvel on the brown, murky waters of the River Thames, Australia’s main emigration point. Its colossal shape dwarfed other floating craft moored nearby. From his reading, her corn-coloured hull and white upperworks featured promenade decks, sliding glass doors, and sliding walls. He was impressed by the sight of the enormous smokestack and one colossal mast. The interior was bathed in chromium and adorned with Bakelite fittings; she exuded a sense of airiness and spaciousness.
As Jimmy embarked, the ship groaned, and the hum of the engines reverberated through the decks. The mooring ropes squealed their displeasure as they strained against the bollards. The creak of timber and the scream of the foghorn sounded a warning to passengers. Families and loved ones dockside waved and shouted their goodbyes. While walking to the port side, Jimmy waved not to loved ones but to England."
🔥 Excerpt 2:
Jarrah’s Initiation Ceremony and the Spirit of Belonging
"Here, Jimmy steps into a world he’s only just beginning to
understand—a world of ancient wisdom and deep respect for the Land. Guided by
Jarrah, he enters an initiation ceremony that will leave its mark not just on
his skin, but on his heart. This scene shows how Outback
Odyssey honours First Nations culture and how Jimmy learns to
listen to Country and its spirits."
"The men gathered around, wrapped in possum skin
cloaks and started to chant. Jarrah mixed ochre and animal fat and painted a
curved line like a wallaby’s tail on his forehead. ‘The wallaby is your totem
and will always walk with you,’ Jarrah said with his gravelly voice.
Jimmy thought of Jenili, the injured wallaby he had rescued; this totem was
fitting.
‘Tonight, you will see its spirit and learn its wisdom,’ Jarrah explained,
wiping red and white ochre on his chest, representing the Mob and Dreamtime stories.
‘You must remember the patterns of this painting as they contain stories,
messages, and spiritual meaning. When you return to the village, the final part
of the initiation will be with friends, Elders, and your new family.’
The chanting grew louder, and the men threw eucalyptus leaves into the fire.
Jimmy inhaled and closed his eyes; he felt calm, eventually entering a
dreamlike state. That night, he imagined Jenili standing before him, speaking,
‘I am your totem, the spirit of our people, strong and in balance. From today,
you carry my spirit and the duty to care for the Land and all living
creatures.’ When Jimmy opened his eyes, the fire was reduced to glowing embers.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but he felt sweaty and groggy."
🔥 Excerpt 3: The Discovery of the Chest
"This passage marks the
beginning of a thrilling quest—a discovery that changes everything. In the
heart of the outback’s silence, Amanda and Jimmy unearth a long-buried secret,
and with it, the promise of treasure, mystery, and new dangers ahead. Let’s see
what they find and how their journey begins to shift from a search for gold to
something much deeper."
"With the rifle still in her hands, Amanda stood
on the veranda the rain pouring on her. The storm was in a frenzy, and she
watched it stampede across the Land; her father’s words were in her head. She
inhaled deeply and made the storm’s energy hers. This was her Land now, her
legacy. Try to take it off me, you bastard!
The next day, Amanda rose early, stood on the veranda, looking at the sunrise,
and felt hope for the first time. Her uncle’s threats had not disappeared, but
she knew more than before that she was strong enough to meet him head-on if
need be.
As she looked at the beauty of the Outback, its fierce and unyielding spirit,
she felt a faint smile tugging at her lips. It was a spirit she shared, a
resilience forged by the Land itself."
💘 Excerpt 4:
A Moment by the Billabong
"In this passage, we see
how Jimmy and Amanda’s journey together is more than just survival or
discovery—it’s about finding each other in a world that demands both strength
and vulnerability. Beneath the vast sky and the still waters of the billabong,
they share a moment of connection that transcends everything around them. It’s
a scene that shows that even in the harshest places, love can take root and
flourish."
"Reaching the billabong, Jimmy was surprised by
its isolation and beauty. The water was still, and Red Gum trees towered over
the place on all sides.
Getting off her horse, Amanda reached for her saddlebag. ‘Ngarra provided us
with damper, dried fruits, and some cold meat,’ she said with a smile,
arranging lunch on a woven cloth.
Jimmy got up, stretched his legs, ‘You were serious about the swimming.’
‘Of course. It’s the only way to cool down.’ Standing, Amanda undressed and
took off her dress, revealing the simple, modest swimsuit she had on
underneath. She gave Jimmy a naughty look before walking towards the water.
‘So, are you going to join me in the water or not, Jimmy Brown?’
Jimmy exhaled, he took his shirt and trousers off and was left in his swimming
costume. The afternoon's heat was bearing down on his chest as he followed her
to the water’s edge.
First, she walked in, the water swirling around her legs and then she pushed
herself off and dived in. She was covered in water droplets that shone in the
sun when she came up. She pushed her hair back and laughed, ‘Come on, Jimmy!
Are you scared of water, or what?’
Jimmy paused for a second and got into the water. The water felt cold on his
body, a welcome feeling. He came towards her, his stroke was free and relaxed
as if he had all the time in the world.
They floated there in silence for a while, and the noise of the bush fell
silent. Amanda came closer, her hand touching his. Looking into his eyes and
losing her breath, she looked at him with longing. She gave him a soft smile,
leaning towards him and kissing him.
Jimmy’s hand moved to the small of her back, the curve of her body pressing
against his. His lips parted slightly, and he kissed her neck and shoulders.
She let out a slight sound of contentment against his chest.
It was like they were in a different world. She put her legs around his waist
giggling. His hands slid up the length of her thighs, and she could feel his
closeness in her arms, which made him feel dizzy with desire."
Whether you're launching a new book, celebrating a shortlist, or just passionate about storytelling—we want YOU in the spotlight.
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📅 July interview slots are filling fast. Book now and let your story travel farther.
An Interview That Shines a Light on Australia’s Past and Present
Join bestselling author Beth Hildenbrand as she interviews our own Paul Rushworth-Brown, the acclaimed author of Outback Odyssey. In this deeply engaging conversation, Paul delves into the rich tapestry of his novel—a sweeping story of resilience, love, and reconciliation set against the breathtaking, yet often harsh, backdrop of the 1950s Australian outback.
Paul Rushworth-Brown is known for his evocative historical fiction, capturing the rugged landscapes and the untold stories of the past with vivid detail and emotional depth. Drawing from his own roots in both England and Australia, Paul has a keen sense of place and a profound respect for the land and the communities it sustains. His writing is not just about recreating the past—it’s about giving voice to those who lived through it, and to those who continue to feel its echoes today.
Outback Odyssey is more than just a historical fiction novel. It’s a journey that explores Australia’s cultural identity, its complex history, and the ongoing process of healing. Paul skillfully weaves together themes of land rights, the clash between First Nations and colonial legacies, and the unyielding spirit of community. These are not relics of the past; they are themes that resonate just as urgently today, reflecting issues that continue to shape Australia’s national conversation.
Yet, despite the novel’s powerful message and rich portrayal of Australia’s heritage, it has been disappointing to see how little attention it has received from Australian media. This is especially striking given the international interest and acclaim that Outback Odyssey has garnered overseas. In many ways, this underscores the challenge of getting Australian stories—especially those that tackle uncomfortable truths—into the national spotlight.
We’re incredibly grateful to Beth for her insightful and thought-provoking questions, and for providing a platform that allows Paul to share the heart and soul of Outback Odyssey. Her curiosity and empathy have created an interview that is as moving as it is informative, offering viewers a rare glimpse into the mind of an author who is dedicated to both storytelling and truth-telling.
For readers and viewers alike, this conversation is more than an interview—it’s an invitation to engage with the stories that have shaped, and continue to shape, our understanding of Australia. Let’s keep these important conversations alive and help champion the voices that tell them.
Watch the full interview here on YouTube and be part of the growing movement to celebrate and support Australian stories. 🌏📚
Paul Rushworth-Brown is a British-born, Australian historical fiction author known for his rich, immersive storytelling and deep engagement with the past. He has written several novels, including Skulduggery, Red Winter Journey, and Dream of Courage: Facing Fear Head On, but is best known for Outback Odyssey, a novel that delves into Australia’s rugged post-war outback and explores themes of land rights, cultural identity, and reconciliation.
Paul’s writing style is characterised by vivid, cinematic scenes, authentic historical detail, and a commitment to giving voice to those often overlooked in official histories. His works not only entertain but also invite readers to reflect on the legacies of colonialism and the enduring power of community and connection.
In addition to his writing, Paul has a background in history and research, which infuses his novels with a deep respect for the land, the people, and the complex stories that shape both. With Outback Odyssey, he invites readers on a journey that is both deeply personal and profoundly relevant to Australia today.
As the sun dipped below the jagged ridge of red rock, Jimmy’s pulse quickened. The outback’s vast silence was broken only by the distant cry of a curlew, its haunting wail echoing across the plains. He paused, sweat clinging to his brow, the weight of the past heavy in his gut.
Jarrah’s voice was steady, his eyes fixed on the horizon. “The land remembers,” he said quietly. “It carries our stories, even when we forget them.”
Jimmy swallowed hard. He had come here for answers—to find the truth about the map, the gold, and maybe even about himself. But now, staring into the endless expanse of red earth and spinifex, he felt the enormity of what lay ahead. The journey wasn’t just about the treasure. It was about belonging. It was about coming to terms with a history written in blood and silence.
He tightened his grip on the old tin box in his hand, feeling the etchings of the past pressing into his palm. In the distance, the first stars blinked awake, and for a moment, everything seemed possible.
