The many truths of josef batten

After 21 years of trying, I completed my novel, The Many Truths of Josef Batten. I have temporarily withdrawn the novel from sale whilst I work with an editor on an updated version. Please see an update here.

What began as a few scattered pages two decades ago has grown into a literary fiction novel about a man shaped by war, solitude, and the search for meaning through art.

Book cover November 2025

Josef Batten, born in 1930s Poland and orphaned at birth, becomes one of the world’s most celebrated war photographers, yet lives as a ghost behind the camera, emotionally cut off from the world he documents.

After a breakdown in the late 1980s, he vanishes. When he re-emerges, it’s with a new focus: as a portraitist capturing the intimate beauty of human connection.

At the heart of his transformation is Adam Laidlaw, a young man who sees Josef not as a legend, but as a human being.

Set primarily in Broome, Western Australia, The Many Truths of Josef Batten is a story about trauma, memory, art, and the redemptive power of friendship. It asks what it means to truly see and be seen, and whether healing is possible after decades of detachment.