Publisher: Macmillan (Trade Paperback – 1 July 2025)
Series: Standalone
Length: 399 pages
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
A rising author in the field of Australian drama and historical fiction, John Byrnes, had a very interesting book back in 2025 that I have been meaning to review for a while, Sins of the Fathers.
Byrnes is a relatively new Australian author whose work I have been rather enjoying in recent years. Byrnes career started back in 2023 with his cool thriller Headland, a compelling modern crime fiction novel with some interesting dramatic twists around it. Headland ended up being one of my favourite debuts of 2023, and I made sure to read his next novel, the historical saga The Youngest Son (one of my favourite Australian novels of 2024). It looks like Byrnes intends to continue his focus on Australian historical epics going forward, as his third book was the intriguing and exciting novel from last year, Sins of the Fathers, which followed several compelling characters through several major events of the 1910s.
Plot Synopsis:
In 1910s Australia, the sins of the fathers leave behind a bloody legacy in this historical epic saga, perfect for fans of Peaky Blinders.
Two fathers, their sons and the feud that binds them.
In the early years of the twentieth century, Billy and Tommy Smith are growing up on the mean streets of Sydney’s Millers Point. It’s a hungry, hard-scrabble life, made even worse when their violent father returns home from a long stint in prison.
In the wealthy eastern suburbs, Charles Davies is living an entirely different life, the beneficiary of his father’s business acumen and insatiable, unyielding greed. Charles wants for nothing – except perhaps his father’s approval.
When an incident on The Point leads to the deaths of both Charles’ and the Smith boys’ fathers, a hatred is born that will follow the three men through their lives. In an epic saga taking them from Sydney to Gallipoli and the killing fields of France in World War I, to the melting pot of Darwin and the opal fields at Lightning Ridge, the men’s paths all lead to one final revenge.
But in the end, what price must be paid for the sins of the fathers?
Sins of the Fathers was a very good historical fiction read that thrusts several damaged youths into the grinder of early 20th century Australian history. Starting off strong, the book primarily begins in early 1910, when violent father of Billy and Tommy Smith is released from prison back into their already hard lives. As the Smith children attempt to survive in harsh poverty, their lives take a dangerous spin when their father is murdered, and the evidence points to crooked businessman Arthur Davies, who soon also dies. This leads to a life-long, mostly one-sided feud between the Smiths and the spoiled son of Davies, Charles, who is determined to get revenge for the slights against him. This revenge plot also extends to the Smith’s young neighbour Angeline, who serves as a love interest to Tommy throughout the book.
After these early chapters, the plot of Sins of the Fathers keeps jumping ahead every couple of years, with the protagonists examining some key historical events that impacted Sydney in the early 1910s. Naturally, this leads to the three male characters of the book getting enlisted in the Australian Army for World War I, with the Smiths and Charles Davies eventually ending up on the same battlefield, with disastrous results for all involved. At the same time, Angeline remains in Sydney and serves as an interesting fourth point-of-view character, as she uses her business acumen to survive and gain status. Back in Europe, the three male characters are eventually separated and start making their own way in the world in their own standalone adventures. The exception is Davies, who continues to attempt to get revenge and gain money by attacking his apparent rivals. Byres explores some interesting different historical locales and periods throughout the second half of Sins of the Fathers, with some intense and exciting adventures befalling the cast. Everything eventually leads up to all the characters reuniting towards the end of the book, as the protagonists attempt to overcome one last plot from Davies. The end result is a very compelling and intense standalone narrative, that drags you in with its fun characters and cool historical content.
At this point Byrnes has settled well into the historical fiction groove, producing a complex and layered narrative across several entertaining characters. Making good use of a split between four key characters, Byrnes did an excellent job exploring the turbulent 1910s in Sins of the Fathers, with some great dives into key elements of early Australia and World War I. This exploration of this crucial decade served as a captivating backdrop to the personal narratives of the four main characters, and the mixture of personalities and their separate struggles allows for a highly enjoyable read.
The resulting narrative is loaded with action, adventure and some excellent examples of personal determination, which allows for a very fast-paced read. I also loved the thrilling intrigue that surrounds the book’s antagonist, Charles Davies, who is a devious and entertaining brat incapable of taking responsibility for his actions. Byrnes did such a good job creating another repellent villain here with Davies, and watching his various schemes against the protagonists and others really amps up the stakes of the book as the reader is eager to see him fail. I frankly had the most fun with Davies’s various chapters, and it was an entertaining foil to perspectives of the more likeable protagonists. Throw in some interesting twists about the death of the Smith’s father and the resulting rivalry between them and Davies, and the entirety of Sins of the Fathers plot really comes together into a clever and deeply personal historical journey.
Overall, I was quite impressed with John Byrnes’s second dive into the historical fiction genre, and Sins of the Fathers proved to be a strong and highly exciting piece of Australian fiction that you could really sink your teeth into. An addictive epic that expertly showcased some key Australian moments and locations in the 1910s, Sins of the Fathers was a great read, and I am excited for whatever historical adventure Byrnes comes up with next.
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