The Tilted Cross

The Tilted Cross is a novel by Australian author Hal Porter.

Plot outline

The novel is set in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1845–46. It follows the last few months in the life of Judas Griffin Vaneleigh, a transported forger and suspected poisoner.

Critical reception

A reviewer in The Canberra Times was not as enthusiastic as some of his colleagues: "Porter's baroque style gives his wordage full play. He spins his words like a thick spider's web and in the depths of the web he sets an evil collection of characters... They move dimly and poisonously in the mess of words like red-back spiders stirring in a thick web in a dark corner."