Author Aidan Prewett takes in the painting central to his book’s plot.
Aidan Prewett sat at his desk with a baby in his arms during a COVID-19 lockdown researching odd Melbourne histories, when he stumbled upon an unsolved mystery involving a Spanish painter, a weeping woman and a locker at a train station that intrigued him.
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The Shepparton-born author, who’d had three non-fiction books previously published, was inspired by his three young children to try his hand at a picture book, despite claiming that he “can’t draw”.
“I had a newborn on my lap while I was writing ... I wanted to do something about quirky facts about Melbourne ... of course there's thousands of weird things that have happened in Melbourne over the years,” Prewett said.
“But the one that really stuck out to me was this theft of a Picasso, which I had never heard that a Picasso had been stolen from the National Gallery right here in Melbourne (in 1986).”
As soon as he made the discovery, he scrapped the picture book idea.
“This is a novel waiting to happen if ever I'd heard of one,” he said.
Three months later, he had his first draft of The Picasso Ransom.
In June, this year, it was released.
The book is Prewett’s first fiction novel.
“I wrote this story from the perspective of the thieves themselves and how they did it, how they got away with it, how they sent these ransom notes, which are very, very funny, and then how they finally returned the painting,” Prewett said.
“It's an unbelievable piece of Melbourne folklore, and it would remain unbelievable if it wasn't for the fact that we have the newspaper articles from the time and we have people who were there who investigated it and who lived through this crisis.”
Despite the painting in the true story being found undamaged without any injury caused in a locker at Spencer Street Station (now Southern Cross Station), who did it and how it all unfolded remains a mystery.
“If we don’t have real answers, I thought, well all right, I’ll make it up and try and make it as entertaining as possible,” Prewett said.
He said his fiction novel debut was easier to write than his former works — and “so much more fun” — because it was not necessary to get the facts right; rather, he could unleash his imagination to fill in the gaps.
That creativity has seen his debut fiction novel soar to the top of bestseller lists across the country, including Avenue and The Nile bookstores, Readings Books, Farrell’s Bookshop and a few smaller stores, too.
Critics have heaped praise on Prewett’s book.
Bestselling and award-winning author Rachael Johns described it as “fun, witty and thoroughly original; by far one of the best debuts I've read in years”.
Amanda Hampson, also a bestselling author, called the book “an absolute delight”, labelling it “the perfect escapist read” and a “quirky and charming ‘late-in-life’ escapade”.
Prewett is stoked with the reviews and said it was “going great guns”.
“A friend of mine sent me a picture of my book on the shelf at Shepparton Big W and my heart just melted because that was where I went as a kid to buy my Lego.
“And then another friend sent me a picture just the other day, and there was only one copy left ... so they’d sold through about 20 copies in the space of two weeks.
“I was over the moon.”
The author grew up in the Goulburn Valley and still regularly visits his parents in Congupna.
The father of a 10-, eight- and five-year-old, and former Goulburn Valley Grammar School student, will head back to his old stomping ground for a free Q&A with local fans this September.
Prewett and former News journalist Chloe Warburton, who attended primary school in Congupna together, where Prewett’s parents still live, will be ‘In Conversation’ at Collins Booksellers Shepparton at 11am on Saturday, September 19.
There will be copies of The Picasso Ransom available to purchase and have signed by Prewett during his visit at the book store.
