Joe Cinque's consolation

I just finished re-reading Joe Cinque's Consolation by Helen Garner. For those who haven't heard of the book before, it's a true story about a law student who killed her boyfriend with an overdose of heroine. The case fascinated me because the law student was studying the same course at the same uni at the same time as me (though I never knew her until watching the story on the news).

A few weeks ago, when I was stuck in a three day long committee meeting, I started chatting to another academic, a chemist, who was sitting next to me in the meeting. Coincidentally, he went to the same uni at the same time as me too. I bought up the case during a casual chat over lunch. It turns out that the chemist had shared a house with the killer's best friend (who was also charged and appears in Garner's book).

So...my intrigue was reignited and I decided to take the book off the shelf for another read. The story painted a picture of Canberra that was strangely familiar and foreign all at the same time. The physical places in the story I knew well.... The law school.... the Supreme court....Garema Place. It's highly likely I would have crossed paths with some of these people in lectures or at the uni library. But the names are unfamiliar and I do not recognise any of the faces. I guess that's not a bad thing at all....it was a very sad and sordid case.