Hell's Doorway is a 1932 adventure novel by Australian author F. J. Thwaites.[1][2]
Plot
Vallance Hunter is a Sydney medical student whose mother is dying of cancer. Vallance euthanizes her and is sent to prison. After two years, he escapes from Goulburn Gaol and goes to live on a cattle station in the Wolgan Valley run by a grazier and his daughter. He falls in love with the daughter and goes blind.[3]
Background
Sales of the novel boomed after it was read out on 2UE radio.[4] This led to Thwaites' novels being routinely adapted for radio.[5]
The novel sold over 27,000 copies within its first year.[6] Sales of The Broken Melody and this were described as "remarkable".[7]
Reception
The book critic in the Sydney Morning Herald said that "Mr Thwaites writes vigorously and extracts the last ounce of excitement from the sensational elements of his plot. His characters, however, appear to be somewhat unreal, probably because Mr Thwaites has not mastered the art of writing good dialogue, and because he is regrettably prone to sentimentality."[8]
References
^"His Second Book". The Land. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 5 August 1932. p. 24. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
^"FJ Thwaites author of 32 novels". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 August 1979. p. 8.
^"SWITCHGIRL'S FOLLIES AT 2SM", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, 27 (19 (May 8, 1936)), Sydney: Wireless Press, nla.obj-712038814, retrieved 9 March 2024 – via Trove
^"READERS HERE GO "HIGHBROW"". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. 3, no. 111. New South Wales, Australia. 24 June 1933. p. 4. Retrieved 10 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
