Ron Thomas, Weaver of Words and Worlds
Australian historical fiction so intimately written you’ll experience it firsthand.
A fan of historical, crime, and military fiction? Click to learn more about Ron Thomas, an Australian author with an obsession for storytelling. With his books, Ron weaves intimate history and captivating characters to bring to life the events of the world around us. Discover the adventures of ordinary people like swagmen, horse breakers, nurses, and refugees, and gain a fresh perspective on history. Get lost in the stories that make Ron Thomas one of the best Australian male authors today
Explore the world of unforgettable characters and experience the thrill of horse racing, woodchopping, and more, from #Manchester to the Western Australian outback. Discover true stories like the shark arm case and the cultural and historical significance of places like Villers Bretonneux and the Adelaide Arcade. And don't miss Ron's latest historical fiction book, Somewhere South of Capricorn, now available. Click on the image to get your copy now and continue your journey through Ron's captivating world of storytelling.
Ron Thomas, an Australian author, has achieved a major milestone with a million published words. But Ron's success isn't just about quantity - his readers love his captivating stories and characters. Click to check out some of the rave reviews and see for yourself why Ron's scribbles have earned him such a dedicated following.
Ron’s Books
Make your acquaintance with unforgettable swagmen, horse breakers, nurses, and refugees, and experience the thrill of horse racing, woodchopping, and more, from Manchester to the Western Australian outback. Discover true stories like the shark arm case and the cultural and historical significance of places like Villers Bretonneux and the Adelaide Arcade. Australian historical fiction books do not get any better than this.
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It is the 1980s and the prosperous years are gone. Drought and depression are biting hard across the outback. The falling price of wool triggers violent confrontation between the pastoralists and the shearers’ union. Banks across Australia begin to close their doors as property values plummet. Thomas Landerville is a small landholder… Read More
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Daniel Landerville’s roots are embedded deep in the red earth of the Australian outback. It is a time when Empire is paramount and many Australians, even native ones, think of England as ‘home’. His boyhood affinity for horses becomes both is business and his passion. When the clouds of the Great War gather over Europe…Read More
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A boy’s desperate family circumstances lead him to signing on as a cabin boy on Delaware Belle, a packet ship plying between Plymouth and New York. As he becomes a man, curiosity about the lands beyond the Belle’s ports of call gradually becomes and insatiable wanderlust. It leads him to places and adventures he could have never imagined. Read more
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When blitzkrieg begins with an attach on Fort Eben Emael, the phoney war is over. Amid the confusion, Radio Belgium informs the nation that a new Belgian army will form in the west and the young men are ordered to evacuate westward, ahead of the Panzer army. So Jacques Schuermans leaves home and family to join the westbound refugee stream…Read more
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When leaders and nations choose to go to war, their decisions and stories become the stuff of history. But there are millions of other stories about ordinary, little people, people whose lives are changed by the decisions they have no say in and may not even be aware of. These, too, are stories worth telling. Hanro’s story is one…Read More
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The streets of Darlinghurst are dangerous. It is 1930 and razor gangs compete for domination of the turf. Leaving home isn’t optional when Gilbert Magg’s drunken father chases him from the house with a carving knife. He quickly finds that the back streets hold dangers of their own. With a name like Gilbert Maggs and a shock of red hair, he is inevitably going to…Read More
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Charlie Khat is studying archaeology at Sydney University. He loves it, along with his part-time job at the museum, his cricket, and his mates, and considers himself to be thoroughly Australian. But he’s also a refugee from Cambodia, a Khmer, a brown-skinned man in a white society. His adopted country is vainly resisting the need to... Read More
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Moss Side was a hard place in the 1920s. Gangs dominated the streets, and the Bloods were the meanest gang in Moss Side streets. Ernest Roberts was their most feared enforcer, and whether it was in the boxing ring or on the street, Ernie reckoned he was the toughest, hardest son-of-a-bitch around. Then, suddenly, dire circumstances changed…Read More.
My lifelong love for storytelling began at the knees of masters, listening to the tall tales and true stories of my grandfather Jack Westheider and his racing pigeon fancier friends. Every Saturday in the racing season, a bunch of ‘Jackie’s’ old mates would gather in his backyard, by his cabbage patch, to await the arrival of his pigeons from exotically named places like Bundaberg and Gympie. With time on their hands, the yarns would start flowing, often with an impressionable young boy sitting cross-legged among the cabbages sucking in every word. Those old blokes knew how to tell a story all right! Their tall true tales were undoubtedly the beginning of a lifelong love for stories well told and ultimately of my career as a writer. It's no wonder that the main character in my first book, Solly's Way, was a story-telling swagman.
After a successful career as a Managing Director, I returned to my passion for writing, blending my fascination with history and fiction. As an Australian author of historical fiction, crime fiction, and military fiction, I weave together intimate history to bring to life the events of the world around us. From the drought-ravaged Australian outback in the 1890s, depicted in Solly's Way, to the razor gang wars of 'Darlo' (Darlinghurst) in Dark Angels, my stories connect readers to the lives of ordinary people like swagmen, horse breakers, nurses, and refugees. I draw inspiration from the many places I've visited during my 40-year working life, like Angkor Wat, which became the backdrop for The Dreaming Stone.
A fascination with words
I love to write about 'intimate history,' telling the stories of ordinary people impacted by the events of the world around them. My books bring history to life through the eyes of everyday people, not superheroes. You'll discover the adventures of a swagman, a horse breaker, a nurse, a refugee, and more between the covers of my books. Through these characters, I aim to connect readers to history in a new and interesting way, allowing them to experience it firsthand. My characters laugh, love, hate, and cry just like us, making them relatable and human. With my stories, my goal is for readers to live a while with my characters and gain a fresh perspective on history, one that lets them connect to it intimately.
My ultimate goal is to give readers a fresh perspective on history, connecting them to the world through the stories of my characters. Join me on my journey as I continue to explore new places and tell more captivating stories of Australia's living history.