A Minor Fifth
G. S. Dickson

Aussie rock icon Billy Ordain is dead. But how and when he died is more than anyone can tell.

Five people who knew Billy tell their stories of him, charting his ascent to fame — from learning music as a suburban teenager in the 60s, to his apotheosis as the most lauded, biggest selling artist in the country. Five people who knew him remember loving him, helping him, being stepped on, ignored, betrayed.

Five people who knew him all saw him leave this world, but in different ways and in different decades. Amid the noise and hype of celebrity culture, in the mirrored madhouse of the media, who’s to say what’s really real?

A bitter industry satire, a vast human comedy, an experiment in tragedy, A Minor Fifth looks through multiple viewpoints at the legends we construct around all-too-human individuals. Funny, moving and mind-bending, it is a love letter to Australian rock music.

'David Mitchell and William Faulkner must have decided to write a novel together. It is funny, sad, moving, engaging…It’s incredibly innovative, the point of view shifts, it takes a lot of risks but it’s an incredible book.' — Rohan Wilson, author of The Roving Party and To Name Those Lost