Books

Patrick Marlborough
Nock Loose

Larrikin humour has a strong and established tradition in Australian popular culture, if not especially in its literature – something Western Australian writer Patrick Marlborough is determined to change with their anarchic, first published novel, Nock Loose. A story that is by turns irreverent, satirical, incisive and interrogatory, at the heart of this smart, funny tale sits the bogan outpost town of Bodkins Point and its reluctant hometown heroine, a gifted archer, retired Olympian and former stuntwoman named Joy.

Best known for two things – producing a globally acclaimed archer and hosting an annual globally renowned medieval festival called Agincourt – Bodkins Point is a tiny country town populated by a mix of agriculturalists, petty criminals and a handful of well-meaning, decent folk who are all battling to recover after the intense destruction wrought by a man-made fire that destroyed huge swathes of the town. Hit hardest was Joy, who lost not only her lifelong home and career memorabilia but, most horribly, her beloved and eccentric teenage granddaughter, Hannah, who burnt to death.

Understandably, she is consumed by grief and also fury at the ute-load of drunken medieval cosplaying hooligans whose irresponsible behaviour was responsible for starting the fire. To that end, much of Nock Loose is devoted to exploring her retributive quest for revenge. Over the course of nearly 300 pages, however, Marlborough does much more than just that. They deftly interweave elements of the past and the present, introducing the reader to Joy’s broader life story and her drunkard, criminal father who discovered and then exploited his daughter’s preternatural archery talents.

It also lays bare the chequered history of Agincourt and the ways the festival has both damaged and boosted the reputation and environment of Bodkins Point. Marlborough breathes vivid life into Bodkins Point, whose medieval festival was inspired by their real-life experience reporting on Western Australia’s annual Medieval Carnivale for the now defunct internet magazine Vice in 2016. The novel cleverly includes an appendix of information about the town’s fictional history that features lyrics to town ballads, entries from an online fan forum called “Agincourtiers” and the festival’s list of “Doths and Don’ts” for attendees.

At its best, Marlborough’s raucous, idiosyncratic storytelling calls to mind elements of works by Thomas Pynchon and Kurt Vonnegut. With considerable narrative aplomb and unmistakeably Australian humour that never sacrifices the humanity of its characters for cheap laughs, Nock Loose is a quirky, entirely new and accomplished postmodern Australian novel.

Fremantle Press, 288pp, $34.99

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on September 6, 2025 as "Patrick Marlborough, Nock Loose".

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