2 Jul 2018

Fiona Kidman: teddy boys, the Jukebox Murder & executions

From Nine To Noon, 10:07 am on 2 July 2018

In setting out to write her latest novel, Fiona Kidman tells Kathryn Ryan she intended to write about the fragility of young lives: how they can change suddenly and completely. This developed into This Mortal Boy, the fictionalised account of one of the final executions to take place in New Zealand. Albert Black, 20, was hanged at Mount Eden Prison just before Christmas in 1955, for the murder of 18 year old Alan Jacques on Queen's Street. It was popularly referred to as the Jukebox Murder. The novel is set amid the growing panic over apparently delinquent rock 'n' roll teenagers, following the inflammatory Mazengarb Report.